Sorry Friday was rough for you.
If you could have been with us Saturday, I think it would have been a vastly-different experience.
In a phrase: home run.
We sent out four teams of two guys in khaki shorts and Red Cap shirts and caps. They looked great — very professional. Each team had a custom sign and a different segment of the parade route to cover. Each team carried about 200 caps with them, and I packed my car with 400 more to replenish their supply if needed.
Within less than HALF AN HOUR, I got the first call: “we’re out”. Ten minutes later, another team called, same message.
We handed out all caps within 90 minutes of hitting the street.
John, with enough inventory and a more-aggressive distribution system, we could have EASILY done 3000… maybe 5000 or more. Once our guys set up a position and got started, they were SWARMED. They actually stopped a few times and moved further down the route to get more coverage.
Unbelievable.
I’m attaching a few unretouched pics to give you a feel for the day. Just click on the image to view the gallery.
Monday morning, when I came down the elevator in Element (a downtown apartment building) with a few caps in my hand, a guy next to me said “great promotion — those things were everywhere yesterday.”
The only instrument we tried that didn’t work were the rain checks: when a team ran out, we couldn’t get a significant number of people to stop and give us their address. However, if we re-visit this approach in the future, we might be able to tweak it and get some additional mileage.
Gasparilla was a trial balloon, and you never know how well you’re going to do until the first one is behind you. Well, now we know: slam dunk. We’ve already started researching other outdoor events through the year that might offer similar opportunities.
As I mentioned Friday, I underestimated the quick-turn cost of the signs we used. The total cost of the concept, copy, design, project supervision, street teams, signs and rain checks is going to run $1500-$1700 instead of $1000. I had to make a decision to keep going last Friday when we discovered this overage, because if we had stopped to track you down and get a green light — we would have missed the boat. (For example, we went through three sign companies before we got someone who could do the project in our timeframe, and even then we picked up the signs Friday night. And still had to attach them to poles that would get them up high enough to be seen.)
If you think we were out of line to make that call, we’ll eat the difference. With a win this big, the last thing I want to do is leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Best,
John