Maggie Ellison, Event Marketing Strategies; Paula Beadl, Carnival Marketing; Tracey Gardner, Mississippi State Fair; Tracy Whittenfeld, Washington State Fair, Puyallup; Jessica Bojorquez, Tandem Partnerships. (VT Photo)
REPORTING FROM LAS VEGAS — Finding ways to maximize benefits for both sponsors and guests using VIP experiences at fairs was discussed at a panel held at IAFE Conference & Trade Show, Paris Hotel & Casino, Nov. 30. VIP experiences at fairs are becoming more popular from a consumer and sponsor perspective, and fair organizers have been coming up with creative ways to please both.
KEEP THE SPONSORS ENGAGED
“You always want to find a way to keep your corporate clients and sponsors happy and feeling like they are getting bang for their buck,” said Maggie Ellison, Event Marketing Strategies, the agency of record for Ohio State Fair, Columbus. “The past couple of years we’ve been trying to integrate ways to give our sponsors increased value.”
Ellison said that one of the events that Ohio State Fair has successfully integrated into their sponsor package is a ‘Best of Fair Foods Dinner’ geared toward fair sponsor executives.
“It is a wildly successful VIP event,” said Ellison. “We have about 65 corporate sponsors and we typically don’t deal with the top decision-makers at those companies and wanted a way to bring in the top people who wouldn’t ordinarily come to the fair. So, we provided the people we work with day-to-day and their bosses a special day-pass admission, VIP parking and the dinner for them and their entire family.”
The dinner consisted of everything from funnel cakes to corn dogs to cotton candy. “We target five to 10 people per company,” she said. “Two hundred people came the first year,” said Ellison. “It’s great to get that face-to-face connection with our sponsors.”
Another perk that Ohio Sate Fair employs is a special VIP-only hospitality suite on the fairgrounds. It’s a trailer with air conditioning, complementary WiFi and free beverages, and open only to VIP guests.
There’s also a ‘Sponsor Breakfast’ held before the fair opens. “We welcome everyone in the local market to a hotel-sponsored breakfast where we provide information and hand them their physical box of credentials,” she said. “We use it as an opportunity to answer any questions they have.”
“These things engage the sponsors and make them feel included at a higher level.”
Other VIP-sponsor sweeteners include creating a skybox for sponsors at grandstands and tours of activation areas.
“We had a new sponsor this year at our fair,” said Jessica Bojorquez, Tandem Partnerships, which services Alameda County Fair, Pleasonton, Calif., and OC Fair, Costa Mesa, Calif. “It was a fast-food chain with each individual store contributing. So we invited the general manager of each store to the fair, gave them free admission, free parking, free food and drinks and then we brought them to the activation. It gave us a chance to mingle and get to know them. It was a really great experience and we want to grow this and do it for other sponsors.”
Alameda County Fair holds a party in the director’s lounge for sponsors. “As we all know, making people feel special and different is our main goal,” said Bojorquez.
A lot of money doesn’t have to be spent to create a special experience. Alameda County Fair created an event called ‘Cocktails and Corn Dogs.'“I made a lot of money from that event,” said Bojorquez. “Corndogs are cheap and the liquor was cheap and sponsors came aboard just to get an invitation to that event.”
Another idea presented was a Holiday Christmas Party for sponsors. “It’s a way to involve sponsors year-round and long after the fair has ended for the year,” said Ellison.
VIP EXPERIENCES NOT JUST FOR SPONSORS
“One of the things we always look at is what are the pain points that our visitors are experiencing and what can we do to ease that," said Paula Beadle, Carnival Marketing, Washington State Fair and Oregon Sate Fair, Salem.
“People typically spend five to six hours at Oregon Sate Fair and one of the things we kept hearing was that guests’ phones were running out of battery,” said Beadle. “Everyone’s heard of charging stations, but we elevated that to the ‘Comcast Recharge Lounge’ where we had comfy furniture, a coffee vendor, TVs and signage on the window, so you could see out but no one could see in. It really felt like a VIP experience and also provided a service.”
Washington Sate Fair activated a VIP area in their grandstand called the ‘Blue Couch Lounge’, sponsored by a local bank. “We brought in blue couches, full bar service, food, television screens and the only people who could come in had to have a concert ticket,” said Beadle. “It cost $30,000 to build, which the bank paid for in addition to their sponsorship contribution. It was packed and the place to be.”
“We find on weeknights that people get a little stressed out about how they will make it to the fair, eat, and see a concert, “ said Tracy Whittenfeld, Washington State Fair. “So we added on a VIP experience upgrade that included a meal, a beverage, a lanyard that gives them special access, some goodies, some give-aways and we always raffle off an upgrade to two front-row seats, which is a huge driver of ticket sales for this event.”
Another VIP experience was born because talent fees have gotten so high. “We really wanted to have Tim McGraw, but his fee has gone through the roof,” said Whittenfeld. “So we created a special bundled Tim McGraw VIP package.” It cost $350 for seats in the first eight rows, a VIP dinner, free parking, a collectable poster, a button and a swag bag that included a copy of McGraw’s book “Humble And Kind."
Another upsell was for a Jimmy Buffett concert where fans received a special souvenir hurricane glass, a tropical meal, silk leis and a fun pass for fair activities.
“We limited this to 300 people so the guests who did upgrade felt special,”
said Whittenfeld. “We are continually shocked at how many people will splurge on the VIP packages but we’ve learned that the money is there if the value is there.”
Interviewed for this story: Maggie Ellison, (614) 792-5600; Jessica Bojorquez, (415) 705-5507; Paula Beadle, (971) 701-6567; Tracy Whittenfeld, (253) 845-1771