ReUNION@CityHall
Pride San Francisco
Noble Beast Foundation
During Pride San Francisco, several hundred thousand tourists descend into "The City" to celebrate diversity. ReUNION@CityHall was the first time the City Hall had been rented out to a community funraiser/dance event for the purpose of raising funds to promote a voter registration drive, and also donate funds to Maitri Compassionate Care, an AIDS hospice.
As Marketing Co-Chair for this all-volunteer organization, I was tasked to brand and develop an integrated marketing program to build excitement and momentum for this event series. My co-chair partner was charged with developing relationships with community sponsors, forge alliances, and community outreach.
Branding & Positioning
I designed a logo, that was styled after the then-nouveau 'dot.com' sensibilities. We leveraged the "official" status of the event with Pride San Francisco and held that as our tagline. Noble Beast's tagline was also developed for inclusion, "Be Part of It." and dovetailed into our event's thematics and messaging.
A large part of the core gay audience were males and respond favorably to sexually charged and attractive imagery. To encouraged diversity imagery of woman and an African American were included in the brand's portfolio. However it was important to be respectful of the location, City Hall, and so our challenge was to build attendance, while marketing to core audience attendance drivers.
Primary messages/drivers included music, celebration, intensity, and physique. And, these messages were called out in postcards, posters, video and lightboxes.
Web Trailer Video
A 3-minute Hollywood-styled theatrical trailer was developed and released a month before the event to drive momentum.
Poster, Promotional Postcard Series, Consumer Advertising (specialty entertainment newsweeklies)
To differentiate and market to a variety of subcultures, we decided to embark on a 4-part self-mailer/post card series so that participants would self-identify and attend. These were distributed every 3 weeks, 8 weeks before the event to generate "buzz."
Ads were also placed in selected media on a tight schedule.
Results
The event was sold out 3 days prior to the date, a first in the event's history, and over 2,500 guests attended.
Of note, in attendance, were Mayor Willie Brown, Supervisor Leno and other local celebrities.
It was also the most talked-about event during Pride that year, and following years, our promotional program was copied by our competition.
The event raised $20,000 to fund a voter registration drive for the local democratic candidates.
Poster and Promotional Postcard Series
