Cholito hipsters

Last month I attended one of the best parties in L.A.  No, I’m not talking about the Oscars.  I’m talking about the Brisk Bodega-Star Wars Cantina party, presented by Brisk Tea. Now ostensibly the party was intended to present and offer party-goers samples of Brisk Tea.  But by partnering up with LucasFilm, Brisk was able to offer another element of intrigue at its party: an exhibition of art conceived by emerging, young artists, and based on the iconic characters from the “Star Wars” film.   But still, that wasn’t enough. There are many critical success factors for event marketers but for me one of the most important is the experience that comes from having the “right crowd.”  Sure, you can partner up with the “right” promoters and event producers but if on that big night you don’t get the right crowd, you run the risk of having a flat event.  And there was no question that the Brisk Bodega party had a better-than-usual buzz because the experience was elevated by the people in attendance. And what made it so special?  Brisk certainly drew the right consumer prospects–young, hipster and socially influential–but it also attracted a very diverse crowd: Asian, Anglo, Hispanic, black.  Sure, we were in LA, and in a very hipster part of Hollywood, but as all of us marketers know, it’s not easy getting the RIGHT crowd to come to your party. So, as I’m standing there observing the scene (and of course, listening to the amazing sounds of Jay-Z producer, DJ Just Blaze), I meet some friends and some of the guests, and I casually offer up my remarks of approval.  One of the Latino guests agrees and says that it’s not everyday that you can get cholito hipsters to come to your party.  I chuckled, but knew precisely what she was talking about. Now, explaining cholito hipster now would require much more space than I have here, and I’m certainly not promoting a novel way of consumer segmentation, but suffice it to say that the Brisk party offers up another example of how far we’ve traveled on the marketing front. There’s been plenty of ink about whether we’re moving into a full-fledged multicultural period in marketing.  But based on my casual observations at events I’ve attended, and from plenty of interaction in the social media space and the blogosphere, I’m beginning to think that we’re moving into a post-multicultural period. Marketers will not be tasked with trying to get people of every color to sing their TV jingle in unison; they will be tasked with making people feel welcomed.  And that won’t come from being on the right TV network.  It will come from playing in the right values system.