I worked with a "Promoter" to market a party during NBA All Star Weekend in Houston. His job was to get as many people in this building as possible...get them drinking and having the greatest time ever. The rapper Nelly was also trying to do a party that weekend, so the Promoter tells Nelly that he has locked down the greatest spot for a party and that he would brand the party around his label. Nelly agrees.
So the Promoter renames the club from its original name to Club Derrty (Nelly's record label) On all the promotional material he called it Club Derrty giving the impression that Nelly actually had a club in Houston (which he didn't). The Promoter bought Billboard space strategically along the main freeway coming from the airport for advertising. He then bought space in the main mall in Houston for just that weekend where he setup a kiosk. At the Kiosk were 3 tv's he bought from Walmart, that had commercials running for the event. He had 3 women wearing t-shirts that said Club Derrty and Apple Bottoms jeans to promote Nelly's clothing line. He had balloons and free bottled water. But, most importantly he had tickets for sell at the booth. The event was Friday, Sat and Sun...so he setup on Thursday to reach all the people just getting in town who would eventually go to the mall.
He had a local street team distribute flyers at all the other All Star Weekend Events He ran radio spots and TV spots via cable. He created VIP passes and whatnot as giveaways from the booth (They cost far more at the door)...but the stroke of genius was he got Jermaine Dupris (JD) to host the event with Nelly...Now JD wasn't a big name draw, BUT JD was known for getting to a party and calling up other stars that were in the area. Which he did and drew in nearly all the major acts, which the Promoter had video taped. JD called up Lil Wayne, David Banner, Style P, Jadakiss, Snoop Dogg, and many more that actually performed on stage. ALL FOR FREE!
The Promoter then took the first night's event and made a commercial from it and then ran it on the screens at the kiosk in the mall and online. Which of course drew in more people.
Anyway, the weekend was a success which led to many more successes. The point that I am getting at is that:
I worked with a PROMOTER to market a party during NBA All Star Weekend.
I worked with someone who's only concern was packing the place with people that would pay $100 to $500 at the door to get in and then buy high priced drinks at the bar . He didn't host, he was not the Dj, he wasn't trying to be on stage with the performers. In fact, he spent most of the time at the door watching the tickets sells and dealing with irate people who were trying to work an angle to get in for free or at a discounted rate. He was on it from top to bottom till the last person left the building each night to make sure that the owners property was just as he had received it.
For any Event...ANY EVENT, you need someone who is there to see that the event is a success for all parties there. Someone who is innovative and has the desire to blow people's minds. Someone who is seriously detailed and a hands-on person. Someone who has marketing your type of event down to a science!
ANYTHING LESS, YOU'RE GAMBLING!
So for those who are looking to do events on any scale, and for those vendors who are setting up to make money at these events...the first question should be, WHO IS PROMOTING THIS EVENT? This could be THE determining factor of your success.
I've attached a link where you can see footage of the Promoters event.
View the event here -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjZVLpOIu6Q
Posted By: Anthony Stewart
Friday, December 31st 2010 at 1:19PM
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