ShareChristian Outdoor Music Festivals
Ichthus Festival 2011 | Purple Door Festival 2011
Clients: The Ichthus Festival (6/15-6/18) and Purple Door Festival (8/12-8/13) are multi-day music, media and ministry events hosting tens of thousands of people and more than 150 artists combined. Each festival features artists from various genres, including adult contemporary, rock, indie, punk, alternative and more, and have had performances from popular major and indie label artists such as Paramore, Relient K, Switchfoot, Hillsong United, Chris Tomlin, Underoath, Lecrae and others.
Challenge: Both clients were long-running annual festivals known throughout the Christian community. Bohlsen Group was hired to enhance marketing efforts, media outreach and event promotion. The team needed to provide smart, creative communications strategies that raised awareness and produced bottom-line results through increased ticket sales.
Solutions: Bohlsen Group developed a promotional plan focusing on media outreach, social media outreach, targeted promotional opportunities and grassroots campaigning.
Bohlsen Group drafted and issued press releases on festival activities, worship services and other angles. We created custom pitches and press materials for regional outlets, and we reached out to specific contacts and media outlets for feature stories, calendar listings and general coverage. We connected the press with venue personnel and event performers for advance interviews and general coverage.
Engaging consumer audiences, we crafted interview questions for performers to answer in pre-recorded interviews and festival "shout out" footage, which was used in social media promotions. Bohlsen Group reached out to area Christian organizations and youth groups offering ticket discounts and promotional opportunities. We created an enter-to-win contest hosted on HM Magazine's website and promoted through its social media channels; the winner garnered a pair of tickets and media access to the Purple Door Festival to report on the event.
Establishing our target audiences, we determined appropriate specialty websites and bloggers in local news, entertainment, Christian life and community niches to pitch mentions and ready-to-run articles.
Results: Bohlsen Group arranged multiple interviews with TV network affiliates WTVQ, WHTM, WKYT, FOX and WPMT and public radio stations WKYU, WDCL, WKPB and WKUE. Bohlsen Group also garnered substantial print coverage in regional outlets as well as local and county papers, including Lexington Herald-Leader, The York Daily Record, Harrisburg Patriot News, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Go Lackawanna, The Lebanon Daily News and the Huntington-WV Herald-Dispatch. Additional awareness was built through an e-partnership with HM Magazine; digital chatter through social channels and “likes” increased from new, quality content provided by festival performers and facilitated by Bohlsen Group.