Why:

Shephard's Beach Resort, a premier and established entertainment resort in Tampa Bay, needed to market their special events…with a different twist. Traffic to the resort had become stagnant for these events due to the perfect storm of an economic downturn (limiting access to traditional media funds for advertising), shifts in media response, and emerging new media allowing audiences to be reached at a more "social" level.

How:

Red Frog knew this was a job for the dynamic trio – great creative for the events, a mix of new media channels and experiential components to get the message out. Over the years, this client had invested their media dollars on traditional sources– print, newspaper and radio.

Red Frog trimmed these budgets by 50%, and built more targeted schedules within these channels (focusing media placement directly to the target market is like replacing machine gun spray with an Olympic Sharpshooter). We then streamlined the use of the client's existing social media sites, such as Facebook and Myspace, creating new fan pages to market promotions for upcoming events to "friends" and making randomly selected fans "VIP".

Facebook only specials were sent out to the "VIP" Facebook fans giving them an opportunity to invite others to join - who doesn't want to be a "VIP"? Facebook ads were integrated into the marketing mix for special events and promotions with all ads being "geo" and "demo" target focused directly to the Shephards market. (Students university specific , men 21 to 45 and women 18 to 40 in and around the Tampa Bay area).

Text messaging was leveraged as a tool for capturing new data during special events at the resort. Traffic sources included traditional media such as print and radio offering a coupon with a "text in" offer along with non-traditional out of home advertising, including airplane banners towing a promise for a FREE DRINK.

On the experiential floor, teams of brand ambassadors were assembled (and dressed in costume to match each theme) to walk high traffic target market areas and pass out promotional materials.

Specific event themes included an opportunity for social sharing and full audience participation. For the Fourth of July, " The Shephard's Nation" was born. Shephard's brand ambassadors carried large protest signs with the phrases "Fight for the Right to Party!" and "We are the Shephard's Nation" (nothing like a staged protest party to draw a fantastic press response). The interest drove traffic to a micro-site designed specifically to liberate partiers and give them the right to stake their claim to the party scene. On Facebook, fans posted their right to party and onsite, the resort featured a 20 foot oversized banner for the people of the Shephard's Nation to sign, declaring their right to party.

"Kickin' it Old Skool" on Labor Day, Red Frog booked legends Vanilla Ice and Rob Base (2009) and Young Mc/Naughty By Nature (2010). Red Frog brought together creative and ingenuity to create a phenomenal event and record crowds. With its own unique portal, www.oldskoolweekend.com to promote the event as well as host an online breakdance video contest, the winner to receive a free bar tab the night of the event (present to win). Breakdancers were hired and sent out with fat boy shoelaces and neon as brand ambassadors to perform in flash mob style troops while passing out free drink certificates and VIP cover cards. Old Skool T-shirts were designed specifically for the event staff and of course available for sale. And, to keep the crowd further engaged, a graffiti artist was onsite performing- spray paint in hand.

Results:

Integrating event-themed creative, experiential marketing and new media tools to promote special events at Shephard's has proven to be successful and vital to the increased revenues and the bottom line. The building of databases through opt-in-text has given Shephard's a turn key database contact to promote future events, as have the daily increasing friend and fan counts on social media sites Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare. Experiential promotions have generated a press response giving Shephards a measurable amount of "free media" time and in every instance driving traffic to a micro site for further measured results. Reduced media costs posted against increased traffic and sales have given Shephard's an exponential return in ROI. This resort (and very happy client) has seen steady, higher than average numbers for special events, reporting 4% and higher 2009 over 2008 and 3% higher 2010 over 2009 We admit we toot our own horns to boast pride in these numbers in a down economy when most resorts are reporting losses of 10 -15%. That's a true testament to the power of creative, non-traditional promotions!

Spring Break Unrated

Spring Break and Clearwater Beach are like peanut butter and jelly. They just go together. Word of mouth is a key player in the Spring Break experience, one student craving a party as much as the next. But, retention can be wavering- what is hot today definitely isn't tomorrow and as students graduate and grow up you have to replace annual attendance by at least 25%.

Spring Break UNRATED was developed to capture the attention of the media, and to use press exposure nationwide to grab the interest of soon to be visiting students.

Early on Spring morning, residents and tourists to the famous stretch of white sand awoke to find themselves "invaded" by Naked Mannequins.

Hundreds of forms lined the sand, sidewalks, storefront entrances, and even sat in parked convertibles at a gas station whose owner was happy to help with the stunt.

The mannequin staging attracted immediate media attention from FOX, ABC, NBC, and local affiliates like the popular Bay News 9 and MJ Morning Show. By 12 noon the stunt was number one on search engines for those who Googled "Spring Break" and within 3 days the resort had received over 100 calls for interviews, quotes, and most importantly, booking a room for a week's stay.