Venue on the Lake

Hello Blog World! I feel as if I have failed you because it has been so long. I made a trip to Chicago, and it was non-stop the whole time, but got some good sponsorships to report back on, think: Navy Pier and Wrigley Park. First, I want to go back in time to the weekend before this last one when I was lucky enough to see an idol of mine, Miranda Lambert, any girl that can sing like that and be married to Blake Shelton qualifies as an idol in my book. High standards I know, but we saw her at the Meadowbrook U.S. Celluar Pavilion on Lake Winnipesaukee in Gilford, NH. I know you are probably thinking "Its New Hampshire, Do they even know what sponsorship is?" Yes, and read on!

The first sponsorship that caught my attention was the Hino Truck parking sign. It makes perfect  for a car company to sponsor where cars are parked. It was consumers are thinking about cars when they are seeing other cars around them so why not offer a suggestion of the type of car to think about with your sponsorship? Also, you are in New Hampshire so trucks make sense. A majority of the shows are country at this venue so it goes with the demographic. The only down fall I see is that I'm not exactly sure what Hino Trucks is.

The next sponsorship is the most obvious. The naming rights of the for venue by U.S. Celluar Pavilion. It seems as if U.S. Cellular has found a region that makes sense for their coverage options. I also think that by sponsorsing this venue they are attempting to get the bang for the buck that won't cost them a lot of money. They are accomplishing their goal of awareness in the area without having to sponsor a large venue like the TD Garden. It helps them to localize themselves.

Above is the program for the show, and it includes the U.S. Cellular logo as well as the Eastern Propane logo because Eastern Propane sponsored the Country Concert Series for the U.S. Cellular Pavilion. Extremely smart on the part of the Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion because it is great creation of sponsorship opportunities. They went beyond the standard signage and sponsor set ups, and saw that there was value in sponsoring a concert series overall. Maybe one show isn't worth it for the sponsors to pay to sponsor, but a whole collection of similar shows makes sense. Throughout the show they did giveaways to other shows in the Eastern Propane Country Concert Series. I also received emails leading up to the show and throughout the year promoting the line up of shows that included the Eastern Propane logo and name. The tickets had the logo and placed the show as part of the Eastern Propane Series. All these logo placements add up to a very valuable partnership that didn't necessarily have to be created. They also received on site activation as part of their deal (as you can see from this photo below), which is smart of the brand because it isn't too consumer friendly so it allows for the brand education to happen.

 

On site activations are a popular way for venues to make money. The venue has patrons coming to the events, and the sponsors want access to these consumers. Especially if the venue is attracting the right demographic of consumers for the brand. As you can see below, there were a lot of outdoors type brands (i.e. boats and construction equipment), alcohol and food round out the other brand types on site. All make sense with the type of people that attend country concerts. The key to a good activation is having ways to engage people in order to encourage them to deter them from their other goals like getting food or drinks or using the bathroom. You also need to give them something to walk away with in order to make sure the message you are trying to relay to them sticks.

Also see the Jack Daniels Bottle below, this is great for Jack Daniels because they aren't paying staff to be there or paying for the materials that would be handed out, but by putting a large blow up bottle up you are getting recognition, and many people are going to stop and take a picture with the bottle. That picture will stay with the consumer as they leave the event so you got initial and continued awareness all from having a bottle blown up with no staffing or material costs. Genius!

Pop Corners handed out free samples of their product as the concert was ending and people were leaving. Very smart because even if you are making an initial investment of giving away free product, think of all the consumers that you could be gaining because you put the actual product in their hands.

So did I prove you wrong? New Hampshire and Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion do know how to do partnerships. Nothing too complex, but what they did do, did not go unnoticed. I feel comfortable singing their praises, but please let me know what you think. Have you gone to any concerts this summer or any venues at all that had good activation?

Look for a post soon about Chicago, as well as my thoughts on how Historic Ball Parks are making it work.

Go forth...