West Coast Entertainment Marketing

Ask yourself this-When was the last time you saw a 1,200-pound horse enter a four-star hotel, sign his hoof print on the hotel receipt, take an elevator ride to the 23rd floor, sunbathe on the suite deck with a backdrop of downtown Detroit skyscrapers, stop for a shoe shine in the lobby, and order room service consisting of apples and oatmeal cookies?

Would this kind of horsing around grab your attention? Is it just the weirdest thing you could imagine? It certainly garnered bales of publicity for the World's Toughest Rodeo at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. It even appeared nationally on various local TV stations as a mini-feature to close out the news. All this when we had already spent our advertising budget and needed a carrot to dangle in front of the media for a "free" story on our event.

With a little horse sense and a lot of creativity, marketing professionals can create publicity stunts that give their clients added visibility and drive attendance to their events and attractions.

How did we top the horse in the hotel? The next year, in January, we drove attention to the rodeo with a cattle drive-in downtown Detroit! We invited local news reporters to come check out Detroit's horsepower by test driving a real horse on a cattle drive through downtown roads into Joe Louis Arena. It was a perfect way to round up media attention for a photo opportunity. The added exposure helped to sell more tickets to the Rodeo that year.

Use creative publicity to get your clients noticed. As advertising budgets continue to shrink, you need to expand your creative efforts to sell your events.

Consider this: In 1989, tickets for many family entertainment shows such as the Harlem Globetrotters, Sesame Street Live, and Disney on Ice averaged about $12 per ticket. In 1999, tickets for these same shows average around $15-an increase of only 25 percent. In 1989, the average morning drive 60-second radio spot cost about $100. In 1999, that same spot costs more than $200-an increase of more than 100 percent.

As advertising costs skyrocketed over the past 10 years, the costs for tickets to these family events has remained relatively stable-encouraging the average family of four to attend events. With limited advertising budgets, how does a family event promoter still get the word out about their event? Successful promoters are relying on effective and attention-getting publicity to sell tickets.

Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey created "The Circus Experience" to sell more tickets and provide publicity opportunities. As soon as the doors open, kids and parents are invited down to the circus floor and can participate in some of the circus experiences such as walking on a tight rope--12 inches from the floor, trying on a clown costume, or learning how to juggle balls! It provides a great photo opportunity for local newspapers and TV stations.

Publicity provides the "free advertising" necessary to let the market know your event is in town. Test it yourself. The next time you decide to take your family or friends to an event or attraction, pay attention to what catches your attention. Was it a commercial on radio or TV? Did an ad in the local paper catch your eye? Or was it a special publicity stunt that grabbed you and made you feel like this was one event you didn't want to miss?

Christian owns West Coast Entertainment Marketing™ a marketing consulting company specializing in event and attraction marketing. His current clients include The Seattle Aquarium, Tacoma Dome and SFX Entertainment. He can be reached at (206) 632-3285

Jones Soda World Record Ski Team
Sets One of Four World Record Attempts

A(Seattle) World record history was broken today as 15 Jones Soda World Record Hydrofoil Team Members were successfully pulled 1 nautical mile behind one boat setting an unofficial Guinness Book World Record. The previous record is 12, however has not been substantiated by Guinness Book, making the Jones World Record Attempt possibly the first. Thirty hydrofoilers started the attempt from Seward Park south on Lake Washington towards Renton.

The 137-foot Klondike Express towed the Jones Soda hydrofoilers, a jet propulsion powered catamaran that normally cruises at 46 miles per hour with 350 people on board. They were attached to the ship by a 260-foot ski-spar custom built by Nichols Bros. Boat Builders of Whidbey Island, WA.

Hydrofoils are similar to a large ski, however it has a seat with a shock absorber and a submersible fin that raises the ski up off the water one to two feet in the air. Sky Ski (www.skyski.com) is one of the largest manufacturers of hydrofoils.

The Jones Soda World Record Water skiing team was unsuccessful in their attempts to set a new world record in Barefoot, which was never attempted due to the "choppiness" of the water. "After churning the water for the other world record attempts, and the sheer number of support and spectator boats, the water was just too rough to go barefoot," said Charis Biesold, president of the Seattle Show Ski Team and host to the Jones Soda event.

Probably the most disappointing from a skier standpoint, however most interesting logistically from a spectator standpoint was the unsuccessful attempt to set a world record with 120 Jones Soda Water Skiers. The Klondike Express, a jet propelled catamaran simply was sucking too much air into the jets due to the mass of human force against on her stern.

"It was quite an amazing site to see all those water skiers back there," said Nina Jones, Captain of the Klondike. "I tried like crazy to get her to pull all those skiers out of the water, but she just couldn't get it done! Everyone including all the volunteers, skiers and support boats were working with me for over 90 minutes trying to get the ropes attached to the boat. The Jones Soda Skiers - all 120 of them actually kept pulling me back to the park! She said. I had to keep pushing forward to prevent getting stuck on the rocks."

Getting the ropes attached to the boat was a carefully orchestrated symphony of people, rope, boats, jet-skis, support boats, maneuvering, sweat and determination. "I was amazed at how well all the volunteers and skiers w ere working together to make it work," said Christian Gerling, producer of the event. "We had nearly 33,000 feet of rope we had to attach to the 260 foot ski-spar and it felt as if the people were like notes off a musical score-some coming in while others hang back, waiting for their chance to shine. You could feel the energy of the crowd as they focused intently. I put the microphone up to the walkie-talkie so everyone could share in what Captain Nina and her crew were doing, trying to keep the boat balanced and centered. You probably could actually hear pin drop if it weren't for the helicopters hovering overhead - truly a gripping experience I will never ever forget!"

On the second attempt, occurring at approximately 6:00 p.m., 27 skiers were stable on two skis after being drug through the water for nearly ½ mile. While not breaking any records, the fact that we were able to put all the pieces in motion a second time, saving precious daylight hours, the volunteers and skiers worked hand in hand to nearly cut the time in half for attaching ropes to the Klondike Express.

The Jones Soda World Record Water Skiing Event was created as a charity fund raising opportunity for the Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) of Washington. One in Seven Americans has some sort of learning disability.

"It was a spectacular event for us," said Ron Hume, Executive Director of the LDA of Washington. "We truly appreciate all the hard work and energy all the skiers and volunteers put into this event. People came from as far away as Alaska, Missouri and California for this event, and we couldn't have been happier with the turnout. The sheer numbers of people this event takes to make happen to reach a common goal is similar to what we do on a daily basis - helping people reach daily goals in life to succeed," Ron Said.

As part of their sponsorship, Jones Soda will be putting the LDA of Washington message on their "happy" soda labeled products. "This will give the LDA of Washington a national awareness campaign as well as a percentage of the sales goes back to the charity, said Peter van Stolk, President and CEO of Jones Soda Co., who's company recently moved to Seattle from Vancouver, B.C. Canada. "This event captured the spirit of Jones - new, exciting, challenging working together to reach a common goal - I was amazed at how much work went into such a short moment in time!"

The 260-foot ski-spar turned out to be one of the most amazing feats of this record attempt. Nobody has ever made a ski-spar that nearly doubles the length of the towboat. Bill Curley and Bruce Young, both Boeing Engineers are to be congratulated on a design that was awe-inspiring at the least.

"We didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into when we started this project back in July, said Bill Curley," one of two ski-spar engineers. "After I flew up to visit Captain Nina in Alaska to look at the Klondike Express, I was amazed at the power the ship had for her size. After some measurements and calculations, I was able to come to some conclusion of what size ski-spar we needed to make, and 260 feet is about the maximum we had thought she (the Klondike Express) could handle. The only test I was unable to do was hooking a line to a glacier and pulling it through Prince William Sound! He said with a laugh." We did our best to try and make this work and I'm proud of everyone's efforts to make this happen. Being a hydrofoiler myself, I was glad to see we made at least one record," Bill said.

West Coast Entertainment Marketing produced the Jones Soda World Record Water Skiing Event in cooperation with Seattle Show Ski Team. It was sponsored by Nichols Bros. Boat Builders of Whidbey Island, and Phillips Cruises & Tours, owners of the Klondike Express.

So the question remains, will there be a second attempt, possibly with a different towboat? "We certainly have the equipment necessary to make the attempt, however we (the sponsors and producers) need to re-group and decide collectively on future endeavors," said Christian Gerling.

WOMEN'S SOCCER VICTORY TOUR COMING TO THE TACOMA DOME
America's Soccer Champions take the Game Indoors

For Immediate Release:
Contact:
Christian Gerling
(206) 632-3285

July 13, 1999 - SFX Family Entertainment, SFX Sports Group, Julie Foudy and Carla Overbeck announced Monday that America's champions of soccer will play in their first-ever indoor soccer tour this Fall. Today the Tacoma Dome confirmed that The All-American Soccer Stars (which includes all of the 1999 World Champions) will play in the Tacoma Dome on Sunday, December 12, 1999 at 4:00 PM competing head to head against a world all-star team.

The WORLD SOCCER VICTORY TOUR will give fans an exclusive opportunity to see the new World Champions play up-close in an intimate, indoor setting. The indoor environment will allow for explosive soccer action and dynamic scoring possibilities. Twelve All-American Soccer stars will be at the Tacoma Dome, which will include a game-format of four quarters featuring the Soccer Stars against a world all star team to be chosen from international teams around the world.

Tickets range from $18.50 - $37.50 with a discount for kids 12 & under. Tickets go on sale Sunday, July 18th at 10:00 AM at the Tacoma Dome Box Office and all TicketMaster Ticket Centers. Charge by phone in Seattle at (206) 628-0888, Tacoma at (253) 627-8497 and Portland at (503) 224-4400 or On-Line at www.ticketmaster.com.

"The one thing we've learned recently is that our fans want to see more of us and more of soccer, said Foudy. "We're answering their call."

"This is a win-win situation for everyone," added Overbeck. "We get the opportunity to say thank you to all the fans who came out and supported us during the Cup, and we get to play more of the game we love."

The All-American Soccer Stars (AASS) represents the collective group of players who played for America in the recent 1999 Cup Finals in Los Angeles. SFX Sports Group represents the AASS for off-the-field marketing initiatives. The WORLD SOCCER VICTORY TOUR is the first event created in collaboration with the AASS.

The tour will be produced by SFX Family Entertainment and SFX Sports Group, both part of SFX Entertainment. SFX Entertainment is the world's largest diversified promoter, producer and venue operator for live entertainment events and a leading fully-integrated sports marketing and management company specializing in the representation of athletes and broadcasters, integrated event management, television programming & production and marketing consulting services in the sports, news and entertainment industries.

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