 partnered with VIA Studio to help this small-but-mighty non-profit market their two biggest fundraisers: the massively popular 

Between marketing two large-scale events with a non-profit budget during the holiday season, navigating the unpredictability of consumer behaviors in a pandemic, and bridging the gap between Halloween and winter holiday audiences, VIA was in for a challenge.

Through deep collaboration with Parks Alliance of Louisville, the VIA team crafted and executed a comprehensive, flexible, thorough, and successful marketing strategy.

With only 2.7% of gross revenue spent on marketing, this is significantly lower than the B2C industry average that falls between 5-10%.

While the primary goal was to increase ticket sales, one of the biggest secondary goals was to create a connection between Jack O’ Lantern Spectacular (JOLS), Winter Woods Spectacular (WWS), and Parks Alliance of Louisville (PAL). We knew that connecting the three audiences would drive year-round awareness of PAL.
VIA settled on these goals in 2021:

1. Communicating that the events were happening and JOLS transition back to walk-thru

2. Adapting to a pandemic-affected media landscape

3. Utilizing the JOLS audience to help grow WWS fans

4. Driving email newsletter sign-ups for PAL to integrate audiences 

Tucked away in the majestic woods of Iroquois Park, JOLS and WWS needed a strategy that would increase awareness, attendance, and connect audiences — all while outperforming 2020’s performance — the year VIA grew PAL’s digital audience by 22%.

Let’s take a closer look at the marketing tactics we implemented.

 We took advantage of the opportunity to reach potential customers on the go and created promotional print pieces, transit boards, billboards, and more.

 Working with amazing media partners, we created video spots that featured on broadcast and streaming television — and in digital ads.

We launched an integrated marketing campaign and remarketing campaign to increase the number of tickets purchased across a number of strategically-targeted demographics and geo-locations.

We teamed up with streaming and audio services like AudioGo to stream audio ads and targeted “over the top” (OTT) video streaming ads.

We took PAL’s expanding email list and consolidated their audiences into a single, opted-in Mailchimp list so they can communicate year-round with a robust audience of park fans.

We launched organic and paid campaigns in an effort to deepen engagement with existing audiences, while enhanced targeting and audience expansion grew their reach.

 In-depth insights into our audience and the ability to implement analytics and precise attribution at every step of the customer journey allowed us to use a relatively small advertising budget to maximum effect.

In addition to creating a marketing strategy, our team utilized fly-through drone footage which we edited into shorter, more engaging clips to run Instagram and Facebook Story ads and use for organic social.

Through strategic use of analytics, remarketing, and attribution, we were able to utilize a relatively small ad budget in the most effective way and continue to increase ticket sales year-over-year. In more ways than one, this knowledge was invaluable to our partners at Parks Alliance of Louisville, primarily because it allowed them to deepen their understanding of the communities they serve.

Calling the performance successful is an understatement — it was spectacular.

There was a strong return on ad spend (ROAS) of 35x, with only 2.7% of gross revenue spent on marketing which is significantly lower than the B2C industry average that falls between 5-10%.

We set a record high for Jack O’Lantern Spectacular as they saw their highest attendance and revenue to date

, with Winter Woods growing as one of the must-do winter events in a busy Louisville.

We grew ticket sales across almost all age demographics, with an overall increase of +318% in total ticket sales and +80% increase in out-of-state sales. Video performance on social media was outstanding. We saw hundreds of directly-attributed sales, over 800 shares, and a 15% click-through rate (CTR).

Overall, Parks Alliance of Louisville saw a 38% increase from 2020 in their digital audience of social media and email subscribers.

Marketing large events with small budgets is a challenge, but the VIA team finds innovative and strategic approaches to make results happen. We’re excited to develop a marketing strategy for the events in 2022, but before then, stay tuned for more work that’s coming soon with the great folks at Parks Alliance of Louisville — and this time it’s branding work.

“Working with state-of-the-art videographers allowed us to capture and showcase the scale, depth, and detail of these amazing experiential events.” - Ben, Director of Strategy 

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 came to us to help their marketing better reflect the growing issue of hunger, and their current trajectory and standing in the community as a leader.

As the largest food bank in the region, Dare to Care is one of Kentuckiana’s most trusted and needed charities. In 2021 alone, through their robust network of local partner agencies, they provided tens of millions of meals to Louisville and the surrounding 13 counties in Kentucky and Indiana.

Following our strategy-driven processes, we dished up Dare to Care with a wholesome marketing strategy and creative execution 

Since it had been six years since they last retooled their marketing, our recommendation was to give their audience a refresh while maintaining relationships with their tried-and-true donor audiences. We developed a campaign strategy that aligned with the expanded media landscape and built an audience of younger prospective donors.

The resulting campaign spans broadcast, streaming video and audio, radio, out-of-home, and social media throughout Louisville and the surrounding 13 counties.

We listened closely to Dare to Care’s marketing and strategy stakeholders, better understanding what hunger means to Kentuckiana in 2022.

In a grassroots effort to understand the Dare to Care brand, we toured their Community Kitchen and met with members of their staff who spend each day figuring out how to use every pound of food and every dollar donated to feed the most people.

We leveraged our extensive experience with other nonprofits to provide Dare to Care with a new perspective of their position in the community and how successful non-profit messaging and targeting has evolved since they last updated their messaging and marketing a half-decade ago.

This new perspective lead to our contemporary approach inspired by a trending social media style; the transition.

Working in deep collaboration with Dare to Care’s small-but-mighty development and communications teams, we created a new audience profile that would begin to expose them to the next, younger generation of donors, while retaining their current faithful givers.

With considerable changes in the media landscape in the past six years and a new

focus on younger prospective donors, we expanded their reach to include streaming TV (notably Hulu), cable, streaming audio with Spotify, and finally a considerable focus on YouTube and TikTok. (Paid search, social and email communications are of course part of the mix as well!)

What resulted was the most sophisticated and widest-ranging media campaign that Dare to Care has ever seen.

 we produced: 10, 15, and 30-second video spots for television, streaming, and social media — fitting our concept and copywriting to the wide-ranging needs of the current video environment.

In addition, we developed headlines for print ads, out-of-home billboards, and transit shelter designs.

Finally, we developed a robust copy bank and image assets for varied use for organic and paid social media.

Our campaign for Dare to Care achieved and exceeded its goals. 

Our revamped media plan greatly increased impressions over the prior year.

The number of “traditional” broadcast, cable and radio units grew twofold (2x) and pushed out 4+ million digital impressions through streaming TV, Hulu, Spotify, Youtube and TikTok - all 

with only a 10% increase in media budget 

We substantially increased website traffic among younger demographics, and 

increased the number of individual donors by 2% over prior year

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