Kim Coles Comes Down South
The Problem: Patriot Hall hired The Crawford Austin Agency to handle the media relations for their comedy show headlined by actress/comedian Kim Coles. Since 1986, Patriot Hall has been a central part of the Cultural Center and a beloved staple in Sumter, SC. The venue is known for elaborate productions, weddings, celebrations, business meetings, art showings, performances and musicals. Their mission is to bring communities together through the Arts. The venue focuses on family-friendly entertainment. Based on the review of the primary research conducted by the client, via online and mail surveys, taken from past event goers and the use of tracking of purchases and social media hits, the target demographic was determined to be the following: adults 25-54 with the majority of previous attendees between the ages 25-34 and 45-54. 51% of attendees are married and 42% of the respondents have children under the age of 18. Through phone interviews, we found that 90% of the respondents (75 people out of the 300 attendees) from the last performance, preferred clean acts and preferred entertainment with religious undertones. Based on the research, we determined that we would target both television and radio outlets in Columbia, SC (closest television and radio market to the county) and the local Sumter newspaper.
The Solution: Audience identification: The target market determined through research are Sumter county residents between the ages of 25-54 with the largest age segments between 25-34 and 45-54; who have at least one child under the age of 18
Goal: To increase the attendance of family friendly events at Patriot Hall by 20%.
Objectives: To increase ticket sales by 20% (360 tickets) for the first comedy show night at Patriot Hall. To secure at least two television interviews, one print feature and one radio interview to promote the upcoming comedy show featuring Kim Coles.
Strategies: Use media pitching with specific information about the venue, its history and the popularity of Kim Coles to secure Live media interviews during the 7 days leading up to the show to drive ticket sales.
The Results: The agency was retained on Monday, April 8, 2019 and the comedy night event featuring Kim Coles was on Friday, April 26, 2019. Since the agency was on a short contract, the agency used its strong relationships with the media in Columbia, SC to call reporters and anchors directly of the highest rated local television shows to pitch live interviews. A quick media kit was put together of clips of Kim Coles’ previous comedy shows, along with a press release, a promotional flyer and promotional videos of Patriot Hall. One of the biggest external challenges was that Kim Coles was only available to do media interviews two days prior to the event. Therefore, the agency developed another pitch to have the Executive Director of Patriot Hall do early media interviews to help raise awareness of the venue and drive ticket sales. An internal challenge was the limited shoestring advertising budget for the comedy show. To combat this issue, the agency developed a deal with the largest local radio station (100,000 watts station) to become an event partner and in exchange for advertising dollars, the station would have the mid-day and evening DJ’s promote the event via live on-air promos, do a ticket give-a-way for free tickets two weeks leading up to the show date and provide an on air interview within 3 days of the show. The success of the media relations’ effort was evaluated through the increase in ticket sales for the event and the amount of interviews and feature stories the agency received. The event sold 500 tickets total, which is 140 more tickets than the target number for ticket sales. The agency exceeded the media interview goals by securing three television interviews, two live radio and a feature story in the local paper .
