Creating a fun, interactive experience using Pinewood Derby makes Coolfire Media red hot!

August 19, 10:21 PMSt. Louis Business Commentary ExaminerPamela Raymond

Coolfire Media is on to something. How do you engage clients in a rousing competition that pits teams against each other and no one leaves feeling humiliated? Where teams prove their prowess through craftsmanship and costumes? If you guessed the Coolfire Media Pinewood Derby, then you would be correct. In partnership with Ad Club St. Louis’ Ad Club Young Guns, Coolfire Media has created an experience that is as much fun as playing in the sandbox at recess with a cocktail.

COOLFIRE’S SPIN ON THE DERBY

Pinewood Derby kits were handed out to Coolfire Media’s most creative clientele. Each team came up with a theme, designed their car and came together for the annual event which took place on August 6, 2009. Add music, bottomless Imo’s pizza, adult beverages (the sangria generously prepared by Alec Gleason, Coolfire Media account manager was my personal favorite), and the natural competitive spirit that drives the St. Louis advertising world and you have a very, very…well, it was nothing short of a ridiculously good time.

WHAT IS A PINEWOOD DERBY?

The pinewood derby is a traditional racing event for Cub Scouts districts in the Boy Scouts of America. With the help of parents, Cub Scouts build their own cars from kits containing a block of pine, plastic wheels and metal axles and race them on a track propelled only by gravity.

The adults at Coolfire Media hijacked this concept and gave it a grown up feel with bragging rights going to the fastest car and the car with the most pizzazz and creative design. Prizes were also handed out in categories like Best Themed Pit Crew, Overall Winner and Slowest Car. Slowest car? Ouch. Maybe there IS a bit of humiliation in this process.

Costumes ranged from paying homage to the Addams Family, a bevy of toga clad racers, to a memorial tribute to Billy Mays of Oxy Clean fame. The cars were not your sweet, childlike creations but imaginative and detailed with a generous dose of bravado. The weak need not apply to this derby.

THE COOLEST

Coolfire Media is an integrated digital media marketing services company that specializes in ideation, brand strategy consulting and… Read the Full Story

No comments yet.

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI