his or her “role,” will perform all the duties that are required. Be
prepared to give the celebrity a crash course on why he or she is
at an event, what he or she will do, background on the program,
as well as a briefing of the sponsors and other VIPs involved in
the event. This can mean sending background information or a
brief video to the celebrity one to two weeks prior to the event.
Then a member of the event staff should accompany the car or
limousine that is picking up the celebrity. This person should
carry 3 5 cards with brief points and information on the event.
He or she should also have a brief video that can be shown to the
celebrity in the car, followed by a summary of the events and a
question-and-answer period.164 Chapter 7 Marketing Festivals, Fairs, and Other Special Events
You Get What You Pay For!
The saying goes you get what you pay for and, when us-
ing celebrities, this is often the case. Celebrities do not
like to say no to public appearances, but they do like to
be compensated. Celebrities are also more responsible
when they are being paid to be at an event. Many events
have had a celebrity donate his or her services, only to
cancel at the last minute. A number of years ago, a pro-
moter organized a charity tennis tournament. He looked
around town to find an honorary chairman—a high-
profile celebrity who played tennis and would lend credi-
bility to the event. The promoter did some research and
discovered that a popular local news anchor was an avid
tennis player. The promoter contacted the news anchor,
who agreed not only to serve as the honorary chairman
but, more important, to play in a lunchtime celebrity ten-
nis match against one of the event’s sponsors. A week be-
fore the event, the promoter confirmed the celebrity’s par-
ticipation, but when it came time for the tennis match,
the celebrity did not show up, disappointing all the par-
ticipants who were looking forward to meeting him and
watching him play tennis. However, during the past two
years, the promoter has paid over 200 celebrities to make
appearances at his events and in only two cases has he
had no-shows.