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Public Tours: How to Set Up a Tour of Your Brand

Introduction

Although you're spending [insert huge number here] chasing customers through streets, malls, bars, trade shows, hotels, and stadiums, you could be forgetting about a subsection of the target that may prefer to come to you.

Long used almost exclusively by food and beverage companies, public tours of corporate facilities are quickly becoming fashionable among some of the unlikeliest of brand characters. Witness the doors opening at Boeing's 98-acre manufacturing facility in Everett, WA, where visitors check out cranes moving parts, fuselage beamed together with lasers, and planes making their way through production. Or the 2.5-hour tour at Airborne Express in Wilmington, OH, where guests get a look inside the shipping giant's operation and follow packages along 15.5 miles of sorters and belts. Or the three-hour trek offered by Kohler in Kohler, WI, taking curious folks from a design center to a molding area, to a kiln room and then a spa for a little luxury.

The Opportunity

By nature, people are curious creatures. Curious to find out more, why, how—and above all, get access to places that few go. Allowing the public into your headquarters, manufacturing facility, or corporate campus accomplishes three things. First, it satisfies that innate craving for access. Second, it serves as a chance for people to see and learn about the brand in ways few 18-wheelers or sponsorships can. Third, it provides the ultimate setting for a brand connection: A clutter-free environment weaved together with the objects, products, and messaging the company was built on in a way that creates fun, fosters education, generates memories, and builds a better understanding between you and them.

"Tours support the marketing efforts of the company," says Sue O'Leary, manager of tours and gift shops at Anheuser-Busch, which has free one-hour tours running at three brewing centers for 500,000 visitors a year.

The tour of Ben & Jerry's manufacturing plant in Waterbury, VT, has turned into the most-visited attraction in the entire state (300,000 visitors a year at $3 a pop). The 30-minute tour starts with a movie about the history of the company, followed by a walk into a glassed mezzanine above Production to watch ice cream being made. Next is a product room with samples, Q&A games, trivia contests, and a self-guided tour through a memorabilia room.

"People eat, smell, taste, and touch the brand," says Lucas Jenson, the company's market research and consumer-services manager. "This isn't a tourist attraction. This is about building deeper relationships, and there's definitely an ROI."

Nine Elements of Brand Tours

There are some challenges, of course. Security for one. And safety, liability, and those pesky FDA health codes. There are nine components you'll need in place before hanging out the Open sign.

1. Space. Carve out tour space around the facilities in a way that won't disrupt business but gets visitors as close to the action as possible. Sit down with facility managers to discuss which areas work and which are biotoxic. Once the space is selected, paint a path guests will stay on (sensitive areas may have to be cordially roped off).

2. Guides. Even more critical than hiring a typical field staff, they should spend time with different departments learning about the brand. You'll need a dedicated tour manager, assistants, reservation check-in person, plus the guides (Kohler uses retired factory workers).

3. Reservations. The only way to plan for traffic is to accept bookings. Create a page on your Web site to set schedules and take reservations. Walt Disney World uses a tour hotline and email address.

4. Price. Although many tours are free, EM suggests you charge. An admission will pull targets dying to check out the brand and weed out the bored uninterested tourists. Assume the tour will run at a loss as a marketing expense.

5. Tour Content. Match it more to what the target wants than whether you're going for awareness, trial, or relationships—you'll get all three. What do they want to find out and see? How much do they want to learn? Typically, tours should enlighten guests about the history of the brand, how the product or service is created, where it all happens, some behind-the-scenes facets, and interesting or fun facts. "People are in awe when they see what we do," says Wei Fraser, marketing manager with Eli's Cheesecakes, which offers 45-minute tours of its 62,000-sq.-ft. bakery plant in Chicago.

Smart marketers go beyond typical freebies and incorporate pilot SKUs or in-development products. Tour guests are the ultimate focus group for R&D efforts.

6. Lines. If they're willing to come to you, don't make them wait. String together elements to engage crowds. Ben & Jerry's, for instance, peppers the space where folks wait in line with Adirondack chairs, postcard coloring kiosks, lemonade and smoothie stations, and a Flavor Graveyard. Anything to create a show, before the show.

7. Length. Estimate traffic, then time the tour from there. The primary goal is handling the throughput; the secondary goal is to come up with a manageable tour the consumer won't find too short or long.

8. Takeaway. There should be a souvenir handed out. A certificate or emailable photo (keeps the communications going and builds the database) are examples.

9. Ancillary products. A retail component may kick in some extra revenue. Gift shops, food stands, and product kiosks can draw crowds of fans.