2015 was the first summer of Downtown at Sundown, a weekly summer concert series put on by the Brookings CVB. It was met with great success, but the CVB approached us to help them find ways to make it even better. They had two main goals in mind: to have more downtown business involvement, and to gain more sponsorships. With these goals in mind, my group and I came up creative ways to meet these objectives. 

 

Our first target market were downtown businesses. We suggested implementing a “Power Hour” and “Encore Hour” one hour before and after the event. During the Power Hour, downtown businesses would be open and could offer special discounts, sales, or giveaways to customers. During Encore Hour, restaurants and bars would have the same opportunities for customers to stop in after the concert is over. To bring awareness to this part of the night, it would be included on the posters and flyers, but most importantly we created window stickers for businesses to put up to indicate that they were Power Hour and Encore Hour participants. 

 

To gain more sponsorships, we came up with creative ways for them to be represented both at the event and outside of it as well. Businesses would be able to choose their level of involvement based on cost and resources. We suggested that the CVB rent a photo booth, and whoever sponsors each night would get their logo printed on the bottom of the film strip. Another option would be to implement a drawing for gifts and coupons donated by sponsoring businesses. As an added bonus for sponsoring, a business would receive a “proud sponsor” sign to put in the yard or window.  

 

Our final ideas to compliment these two larger ones would be for increasing attendance. We suggested radio ads, billboards both in Brookings and on Interstate 29, and creating a Snapchat geo-filter for attendees to use while they are at the concert.