Event Marketing: How to Successfully Promote Events, Festivals, Conventions, and Expositions

Press Kits A press kit is a more comprehensive tool used to

relay as much information about an event and its purpose as pos-

sible, packaged in an attractive folder or portfolio imprinted with

the name of the sponsoring organization, the event, a logo, and

other pertinent information. Typically, press kits may contain:

■Press releases

■Photos

■Media alerts

■Requests for coverage

■Press conference announcements and invitations

■Speeches

■Background news stories

■Videotapes

■CDs or DVDs

■Organizational information

■Biographies

■Folders, brochures, postcards

■Advertising specialty items

Internal and External Event Public Relations

Smaller, individualized promotions such as advertising, remote

broadcasts, stunts, and gift or prize giveaways are becoming an in-

creasingly popular technique to be used for bringing attention to

a more generalized product, service, or event. Our earlier example

of a parade to call attention to the circus coming to town, together

with coordinated advertising and posters, is a technique for using

a specific celebration to call attention to a larger event.

Here is a more recent example. A local “oldies but goodies” ra-

dio station, WBIG, arranged with a major shopping center to have

a Valentine’s Day celebration in the mall to be broadcast live. The

features would be a remote broadcast center, amplifiers, a stage,

and a disc jockey to attract the crowd. The key draw was the hir-

ing of a calligrapher (a hand-lettering artist) who had designed

several original Valentine’s cards and who would be on stage to

hand-letter special inscriptions for all of those wanting a spe-

cial (and free) handcrafted Valentine’s message to take home to

loved ones.

The station promoted the event liberally over its airwaves and

advertised in local papers. At the event, the music, the awarding

50 Chapter 2 Event Promotion, Advertising, and Public Relations