MediaPost was kind enough to mention our Camarena Taco Truck program in a recent article. The article credits us with pioneering the branded taco truck. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I do know that Camarena’s approach is very different from what Dos Equis is doing.

The Dos Equis truck offers consumers the chance to taste “foods” they may never have tried. Or may never want to try. Crickets, hog stomach…

By comparison, the idea behind the Camarena truck is rooted in authenticity. The idea was not about handing stuff out; it was all about tapping into local communities in relevant ways and making a contribution to the culture. To do that, we partnered with reputable local chefs in each market and asked them to create recipes that they would be proud to serve, which happened to include Camarena Tequila as a key ingredient.

I get the other approach: cut through the clutter. But in most cases, I don’t like it. Brands will get a lot more value out of creating value for consumers. Fit in to a community, and make a contribution, and you have a much better shot at earning fans and customers.

This may be the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while.

Now I’m a bit of a coffee nut and also a serious fan of design and technology, so this one pushes all the right buttons for me personally. Plus, you can make coffee with your iPhone!

But even if you’re not into those things, you’ll understand that this is some serious innovation in a category that needs it badly. Search Amazon for Espresso Machine, and you get over 1,200 results, most of which are basically the same. Sure they have different logos on the front; some are silver while others are black, and you have a handful of different options for feature sets. But the last real innovation the category saw was the K-Cup, introduced nearly a decade ago and knocked off by everyone in the business, including retailers like The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

It’s not that any of those machines are bad, but none of the competitors really distinguishes itself from the others. By contrast, the Scanomat TopBrewer is elegant, functional, convenient, and above all, interesting.

Think about this: What can you do to make your brand or product all of the above?

Then think about this: Buy me a TopBrewer and I’ll make you coffee anytime you want to come over.

Throughout the summer, you can find the Madria Fruit Stand popping up at beer festivals, bridal shows, arts fairs and other lifestyle events. Brand Ambassadors will be on-hand, having conversations, cutting up fresh fruit, and serving sangria samples.

If you have an event and want the Madria Sangria Fruit Stand there, hit us up here.

In this interview with Seth Godin, in promotion of his 300th book We Are All Weird, Seth does a great job of explaining why Rebel Industries exists (thanks, Seth!).

Weird means people who are embracing individuality instead of working hard to fit in.

He goes on to say that the world is splitting into two groups: one that wants everyone to stay the same, and another that encourages individuality, tribal behavior, and weirdness.

Clearly, the tides of change favor the latter group, and this is the group that Rebel serves. We market to the gamers, music fiends, tuners, foodies, art enthusiasts, social media mavens, and others who define themselves by the things that make them “weird.” We understand what makes these people special, and what makes them tick. And we know what it means to brands who make products and deliver experiences that these people want.

What about you? What makes you weird? What tribes do you belong to? And what brands are doing a good job of appealing to your weirdness?

How sick is this video?

I’m a little biased. I’ve known Red Foo for 20 years. Been to his mom’s house. Gave him career advice (which he probably didn’t need and certainly didn’t follow), when he was a teenager sleeping on the floor of a studio off of Crenshaw Blvd. He produced a track for my first record deal — a demo deal with (then Columbia Records a&r) Randy Jackson for a girl group I managed. Okay, I know a demo deal isn’t a real record deal; that’s not the point.

The point is I want this guy to win, and he is. Big. People all over the world are unable to keep themselves from dancing to this track. Even the Kia Soul hamsters are in on the fun. So what’s the problem?

I don’t get Kia. It’s obvious that want to be cool so bad. And they’re close. The first round of Soul commercials (sock monkey, robot) weren’t bad. The hamsters are brilliant. Then they have some half-assed experiential programming — you know, hire the usual guys to do the usual parties, get coverage on the usual blogs. Who cares? They’re like Scion-lite with better TV spots.

What if they facilitated these Party Rock flash mobs? Set-up shuffle contests and impromptu dances everywhere? Capture it all on camera and really take that movement to the fullest? Make Kia Soul synonymous with dancing your ass off. Start with the shuffle and move on to other kinds of dances, done in public for fun and profit. That’s a brand that sounds like fun.

Rebel Industries kicked off a 12-event series for New Amsterdam Vodka last week at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, UT.

Guests at the Slamdance opening night party were the first to experience the New Amsterdam Shave Lounge, an early 1900s-style barbershop / bar setup that offered free straight-razor shaves, shoe shines, and of course cocktails.

You can read Event Marketer’s coverage of the program here

The New Amsterdam Shave Lounge will be seen 11 more times this year at key special events around the country. Hit us up to find out where, or to suggest an event that you’d like us to sponsor.

Marketers give the food truck craze extra miles with social media integration.

“The assumption from some chefs is that they know how to make these recipes, so they’ll do it their way, but if you have consumers waiting a half hour for food, that’s a problem and you’re not going to leave the kind of brand impression you intended,” says Josh Levine, ceo at Rebel Industries. “It’s balancing fresh food and speedy service.” The goal is for consumers to linger for 10 minutes or so to discuss the product with brand ambassadors as they wait for their food.

Read the full article on EventMarketer.com

Don’t be one of those people!

Think about where you are wasting time that you can get back, for yourself. That time you could be sleeping, working out, practicing your art, traveling, or putting to good use to make more money for yourself and help Rebel Industries build a better company. You could be learning, exploring, growing. Or just having more fun.

How many meetings are you in that you don’t need to be in? Or that don’t need to happen at all? How much time are you spending commuting to an office you don’t really need?

How many conversations are you having more than once with the same people? How many times do you have to repeat yourself because other people aren’t communicating?

How much time is spent because someone was out of the loop? Because expectations were not clearly communicated? Because what was said was not understood?

It’s amazing to think about what we might be able to accomplish if we could just get out of our own way.

“When you say ‘I got lucky.’ you got lucky because you didn’t know what was going to happen. So the corollary is if you know what’s going to happen, there’s no risk, there’s no luck, and there’s no uncertainty in whatever it is you’re doing. Therefore, shouldn’t your objective to be to know what is going to happen? Your pursuit should always be to remove the unknown from the equation.”