Detroit Local Case Study #2: Experiential Marketing At Its Best

By Mary Aviles

One year after her wildly successful public installation project, The Flower House, Lisa Waud orchestrated Detroit Flower Week. It was a week of “floral designers and enthusiasts learning and connecting in the spirit of #flowerhousedetroit through lectures, workshops, conversations, and meals.” The week culminated in an unbelievable communal dining event in Adam Strohm Hall on the third floor of the Detroit Public Library.

The evening did not disappoint! (There is no one else in the world who could have inspired me to sample a plate full of crickets…except possibly Stephanie Izard…)

I was again struck by Lisa’s unique ability to market herself and her team using innovation, collaboration, and unique experience as her vehicles. Not to mention, her ability to turn something historically negative to floral designers and farmers—the arrival of frost—into something positively opulent.

The Flower Renaissance Dinner was essentially the most elaborate wedding reception I’ve ever attended (sans bridal couple), but that didn’t occur to me while I was dining. I was mesmerized by the dream-like décor of the room itself and fully immersed in the conversation happening around me. It wasn’t until I was enjoying the decadent Bon Bon Bon at home that I realized how effective a marketing opportunity the evening was for the chefs, event planners, floral designers, and photographers—even the venue itself.

Speaking of the event planner, I was awed by how fantastically Haley Lertola of Detroit Cultivated showcased her capabilities. I thoroughly enjoyed dining next to her biggest fan, her mother Cyndi. I was proud of her once removed—maybe because of some feminist sense of ya ya sisterhood or maybe because, when I think of myself at 32, I was nowhere near as sure of myself and my business.

During her brief address, Lisa mentioned that social media had changed the way she runs her business. I wholeheartedly agree. I’d go one step further and say that social media has changed my life—it has opened up a whole new world of connections and potential that have altered my entire perspective in such fulfilling ways. Reach out if you’re looking for ways to connect social media into your marketing strategy.