Getting married can be quite a production. There\u2019s the venue, food, drinks, dessert, flowers, decorations, and invitations to think about, not to mention the couple\u2019s attire, officiant, photographer, videographer, entertainment, and a wedding party to choose as part of the perfect day.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s no surprise that some couples are keen to have pros at managing massive productions take the reins. We\u2019re not talking about wedding planners, though\u2014we\u2019re talking about brands.<\/p>\n
Last month, the expense management platform Ramp held an experiential activation in New York City, during which the company conducted a wedding for a couple, with The Office<\/em> star Brian Baumgartner serving as the officiant and Christian Joseph, aka The Rizzler, serving as the ring bearer. Ramp joins a growing list of brands to play host to a couple\u2019s nuptials: In July, Hellmann\u2019s mascot, Manny Mayo, married a couple in Vegas after they won a contest for a brand-sponsored wedding, and in February, Whataburger sponsored a \u201cWhataWedding\u201d for a couple in Las Vegas after first supporting six weddings at different locations across Texas on Valentine\u2019s Day in 2020. Since 2017, Taco Bell enthusiasts have gotten married at the brand\u2019s Las Vegas Cantina after the brand first held a contest offering couples the chance to tie the knot at the location.<\/p>\n That brands would want to be associated with weddings isn\u2019t surprising to agency execs, who say that as companies look to associate with positive, breakthrough moments, it\u2019s possible that sponsored weddings could see an even bigger surge.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a peak emotional moment for people,\u201d Heather Miller, managing director at McGarrah Jessee, the ad agency behind Whataburger\u2019s wedding work, told Marketing Brew. \u201cIf you can associate a brand with love and happiness and commitment, it\u2019s just creating this positive memory\u2026that transcends transactional loyalty.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond that, weddings get people to pay attention\u2014often for the right reasons. \u201cEspecially for such a divisive hellscape that we\u2019re in right now, I feel like legally marrying two people is probably the easiest thing you can do to raise eyebrows without raising eyebrows,\u201d Katie Dyer, strategy director at Mother LA, said.<\/p>\n For Ramp, the wedding, part of an hours-long in-person activation, the initial plan was for the wedding to be a staged bit. A week before the activation, Kendall Tucker, head of creative experimentation at Ramp, realized she kept getting asked whether the stunt was a real wedding, and decided it was worth listening to.<\/p>\n \u201cI messaged the Ramp team, the entire company, and I said, \u2018Is anyone willing to get married next week?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI got three couples within an hour who said they would do it. I got eight couples that were like, \u2018We\u2019ll renew our vows.\u2019\u201d (The company ultimately went with the first couple who reached out.)<\/p>\n Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The final execution turned out even better than she expected. \u201cThey wrote their own vows,\u201d she said. \u201cI cried watching it. It was so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n The turnaround time on a brand-sponsored wedding can vary. For Ramp, it all came together in a week. According to an account from Heather Schroering, the bride from the Hellmann\u2019s-sponsored wedding, she and her fianc\u00e9 found out \u201ctwo and a half weeks\u201d before their wedding that they\u2019d won.<\/p>\n \u201cOur mayo-fueled wedding was an unhinged fever dream which spared no feral joy,\u201d Schroering wrote in Bon Appetit.<\/p>\n Finding ways to make the wedding true to the couple while also \u201ckeeping it fun, real, and culturally on point\u201d was crucial for Hellmann\u2019s, according to Brent Lukowski, senior director of marketing for US condiments at Unilever. The idea for the wedding came about as a promotion for the company\u2019s new Chicken Tender Dips line\u2014a play on the union of chicken tenders with the dips.<\/p>\n \u201cFor Hellmann\u2019s, the magic is in the details\u2014from a marriage certificate signed in mayo to Manny hitting the dance floor with guests,\u201d Lukowski wrote in an email. \u201cTying it all to National Chicken Tender Day added the perfect timely twist and boosted engagement even more.\u201d<\/p>\n The wedding and the content generated some 2 billion impressions and 270 earned media placements, according to Lukowski, who noted that sentiment was 95% positive.<\/p>\n In the case of Whataburger, McGarrah Jessee held \u201cseveral planning calls\u201d with the couple to find out ways to make the big day feel authentic to them, Miller said, adding that the couple was awarded the wedding a month prior to the nuptials.<\/p>\n \u201cWe of course had creative ideas, but we wanted to make sure they felt really comfortable with them,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it was conversations and planning like you would for any wedding. We just ended up being the wedding planners, which is a fun role for an advertising agency to take on.\u201d<\/p>\n Are brand weddings here to stay? To Miller, the next brand wedding will need to raise the stakes in some way, as \u201cthe bar for creativity and spectacle is constantly being raised.\u201d<\/p>\n If the recent fascination with simple brand pop-ups is any indication, though, brands don\u2019t necessarily have to go all-out if they find a way to be part of some consumers\u2019 big life moments.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels like we\u2019re kind of harkening back, in a way, to a simpler time when it comes to brand activations right now,\u201d Dyer said. \u201cI would like to see brand-sponsored paying off mortgages or car loans\u2026student loans would be nice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWedding bells<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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