I Heart Smashing $#!&!

I love Sarah.

Sarah is the owner and operator of Sarah's Smash Shack. A charming little retail spot in San Diego that survive of 100% pure experience.

So here's the pitch for this: Day got you down, feel like unwinding or releasing some of that frustration that has built up during the week? Has your company just accomplished a HUGE project and there is a lot of pent up anger still lingering? Just gone through a bad breakup, been fired from your job, or just feel like breaking stuff? Come to Sarah's Smash Shack. Walk in, pick out stuff you want to smash, suit up, and smash that stuff on a huge steel wall! Bring in your own MP3 and you can even smash things rocking to Metallica or Celine Deon.



Yep, that's it. A store where you break things. Like I said, it's 100% pure experience, and that's why I'm using her business for this blog entry.




I found this store on a Cherryflava blog entry a while back. By the way, I am absolutely a Cherryflava fiend and if you don't have them on your reader...do so now.

I have no idea how this will do as a business. Hell, Sarah could be closed for business by now, I have no idea how profitable running this shop and selling dime store ceramic and glass to people is. What I do know is that Sarah could be a hell of a marketer. She understands how important human experience is. She also understands how viral human experience is. When it's good and you have found something that speaks to people, it spreads like a California wildfire.

So here's what us as marketers can learn from Sarah.

1. Human Experience is simple- We humans are pretty smart monkeys, but every last one of our motors run on the same emotional fuel. Of course this is nothing new to marketers/advertising, but its something that most experience marketers can't seem to grasp. At the base of your campaign, stop and figure out what emotion you want the consumer to feel and make sure that line draws directly to how you want people to feel about your brand.

2. Human Experience is contagious- Yep, the world is made up of a ton of different stories that people tell other people all day long. The larger impact you can make on someone's day, the longer it will stay in their head and the more people they're bound to tell. Since blogging and social networks have virtually broken down the walls of sharing, the game has been changed. Now, make sure the experience has enough of an impact and see your message carried through the winds of the internet all over the globe.

3. Humans need to tell your story. You're not human- We would rather the human experience gets shared by the people that experience it. You really don't count, because your a sneaky marketer. umm...let me break this down. Go ahead and tell your perfect story to your boss in a cute powerpoint recap. It's ok, we all have to. At least you'll keep your job and may even move up the ladder...However, if you care about the impact to your market and you want push your message and this experience as far as it can go, you'll want it to come from the horse's mouth. I'm not saying you can't help seed it, but the more naturally your message comes across, the more relevant your brand becomes.

4. It's ok to stack the deck- If you want your message and your experience marketing to take off, it's ok to stack the deck. It's not ok to lie, but it is ok to make sure the people that you want to experience your campaign the most do. It's ok to invite bloggers, press, local connectors, athletes, city officials, etc. However, we don't need to make it obvious. Humans love mystery, make the invitation part of the experience.

The bottom line is that the human experience has been fueling our decisions for a long time and it's been hardwired into our mind. the internet isn't going to make new rules for this, it's just going to cover it in rocket fuel and hand out matches.