[SEL] A topic for discussion.......How to promote a show.

[Jerry Evans]

At 04:02 PM 17/06/2008, you wrote:
>Guys and gals,
>Here is a topic for discussion. How do clubs promote their shows to get
>maximum show displays and to get maximum spectator traffic?

<Big Snip>
Hi Curt,
         Excellent idea for a topic.
         Here is what we do, with a bit of background info first.
         Let me be quick to point out that our club show has become the 
biggest in South Africa but is still a small show in comparison to most of 
the shows overseas. (I'm willing to stand corrected here but I think that 
our total club membership (cars, engines and tractors) is around 200 
members and less than 1/2 of those are active members). We are also spread 
out over a wide geographical area.

         Our club is mainly a vintage car club and us old engine guys (less 
than 10 in the club) and, dare I say it, FATG's are pretty much lumped 
together and are only a small part of the club but our display usually gets 
a lot more interest than the cars and is (possibly) bigger with working 
displays of both steam and IC powered threshers, balers, corn shellers, 
grinders and the like. The general public seem to prefer the working 
engines as opposed to a field full of parked cars (or tractors :-)) and we 
always have great interest and good crowds around the engines. (I don't 
think that it is JUST because we always insist on setting up nearest the 
"BEER TENT" - Arnie would love it!) <grin>.

         Now for the show itself:
         a) Our club grounds are too small for a show of this size so we 
have an arrangement with the local University to use their grounds which 
are very beautiful with grass and plenty of trees on the banks of a river. 
They are also more centrally situated for a show.

         In return the University shares the profits with the club and does 
most of the administrative work as well as advertising and promotion using 
their own resources. They also handle sponsorships. We've only had this 
arrangement with them for the last 3 years but it's worked well so far and 
they have been very helpful. They've done things like supplying electricity 
points all round the grounds, ablution blocks, planted extra grass, built a 
caravan and camping area with cooking facilities, ablutions and electricity 
for visiting exhibitors who get to stay and camp on the grounds at no 
charge. We do not charge exhibitors entrance or camping fees (that does not 
cover the guy who brings 1 small aircooled engine or the like and a massive 
caravan and family for a free weekend -he's got to be a proper exhibitor 
but we do not have many problems like this).

         The University runs a "charity scheme" whereby they feed needy 
students a free meal once a day and they use their share of the proceeds 
for this. That also allows them certain tax benifits.

         b) Sponsorships:
         i)We (and the University) look for Sponsors and for the last few 
years our main sponsor has been Chevrolet South Africa who give us a very 
generous ZAR 120,000.00. This goes toward costs like advertising etc. In 
return Chevrolet gets some good publicity and also a few tax benifits. A 
few years ago we got into the Guinness Book of records for having the 
longest convoy of vintage Chev's to travel a set distance. They also get a 
free stand at the show as well as "naming rights" for the show - hence it 
is called "Chevrolet Wheels at the Vaal" ("Vaal" is the name of the river 
running through the showground and "Vaal Old Wheels" is the name of our 
club.). We used to have many motor companies exhibiting but Chev stopped 
this and now they are the only motor vehicle manufacturer at our show but 
that's O.K. because their sponsorship is greater than all of the others 
combined.
         ii) We find smaller sponsors for as many things as we can. For 
example, last year, SA Lister (Lister engines) supplied petrol (gas to you 
Yanks) and diesel for all the stationary engines running at the show. Each 
engine exhibitor also got a very nice "Lister" shirt to wear at the show 
and they (Lister) had a few banners up near the engines. This was great for 
us as we could offer visitors from other clubs "free petrol and a shirt" as 
an incentive to bring their engines. In return they got publicity as well - 
last year we got into the Guinness Book of Records again  - for having the 
most vintage stationary engines running at the same time for 3 minutes. (I 
think it will only be published in the next edition).
         (((( Big note here:- We only had about 320 engines running which 
is a lot for South Africa
(about double the number we are usually able to attract to a show) - I know 
the number is very low compared to overseas shows but hey, we are much 
smaller than you guys and we started it - now it's up to you guys to 
improve on it - Guinness charges quite a lot of money to stage something 
like this and this money also came from the Lister sponsorship.)))

         iii) Sponsorships also helped to reimburse us club members for 
transport costs to get our engines to the show. Some of us made up to 11 or 
12 trips just to get engines there! With fuel costs what they are today, 
this is a very big consideration for club members.

         c) Advertising & Promotion:
         Fortunately for us (there is some disagreement among club members 
as to wether it is actually an advantage - see note later) the University's 
advertising & public relations division has taken this over (but with 
constant communication with the club). The University has a very capable 
"Public Relations" division and the head of this division has also become a 
committee member of our club. They organize (amongst other things):
         i) Local radio "talk show" interviews, advertising and other 
coverage in the months leading up to the show. (Mostly free of charge).
         ii) Local & National press coverage and editorial articles also in 
the months leading up to the show. This includes normal newspapers & 
magazines as well as speciality publications. This preferably takes the 
form of "editorial articles" (no charge) but with some "Paid For" 
advertising as well.
         iii) Flyers/leaflets/posters distribution for some months before 
the show. This includes leaflets being sent to other clubs, leaflets being 
handed out at other shows, leaflets being handed out to motorists at 
traffic lights and parking lots. Posters being displayed at shopping centre 
notice boards (malls to the Yanks) and the like. The printing of these 
leaflets/flyers is usually done by the University's "in house" print shop 
(cheap) or in other cases a sponsor is sought.

         d) Fund raising (before the event):

         i) The club strives to find a donor for something to "raffle". For 
the last 3 years it has been a Volkswagen "Beetle". Once a vehicle has been 
"acquired" (sometimes the club buys one) raffle tickets start getting sold. 
This year it is a "Beetle" again -  a really nice original one in good 
condition - the winner can drive it away!. This beetle has been displayed 
at all the shows in the last few months and raffle tickets have been sold 
at ZAR 10.00 each. As of last weekend ticket sales have already surpassed 
the purchase cost of the beetle and the sale of tickets has not even 
"hotted up" yet. (Our show is only in the first week of September). This 
month 2 books of tickets (total 20 tickets) will be mailed to each club 
member with his (or her) newsletter. There is also a prize for the seller 
of the most tickets so selling of tickets will "hot up" now. Most members 
just take the easy way out and buy all the tickets themselves :-). The 
"draw" for this raffle takes place on the last day of our show.

         ii) Aforementioned "sponsorships". We all try to get sponsorships, 
no matter how small, for anything worth sponsoring. eg. If the guys who 
make our "vintage" piston rings want, they can supply a banner or small 
sign to be displayed at the show for a minimal cost. Every little bit helps 
and goes to the club coffers.

         e) Other stuff:
         i) We also have a "flea market" and sell space to anyone wanting 
to bring "whatever" to the show. This also includes food stalls and liquor 
outlets (gotta be sure that there is enough! - Why does Arnie's name keep 
springing to mind? - gotta meet him one day).
         ii) Free Space to emergency personnel and the like - just so that 
they will be there to stitch "Little Johnnie's" hand back after he stuck it 
in that flywheel that he was told not to touch! We do not fence our engines 
in and there are no barriers between public and engines. WE DO ALWAYS 
attend our engines when running and common sense prevails. We encourage 
spectators to come close within reasonable limits. WE WATCH KIDS!!!!
         iii) Our show runs for 3 days, Friday thru Sunday. The Friday is 
actually pretty quiet with many exhibitors actually only arriving and 
"setting up". On the Friday we offer free entrance to "organised school 
groups" or others like "old age homes" etc. (previously arranged). A school 
can bring in a busload of pupils on an educational outing and we will go 
out of our way to demonstrate stuff to them. The advantage to this is that 
many of them go home that night and "beg Daddy to go to the show tomorrow".
         iv) We also organize things like local actors & singers to make 
appearances and give shows. Some people only come only for this but so long 
as they pay the entrance fee but that's O.K. (It's all income)
         v) Entrance fee for the show is kept low. Usually about the price 
of a beer for adults and the price of a "Coke" for kids. That way we get 
the whole family there without breaking the bank.
         vi) We offer "free parking" in the showgrounds with security 
guards on patrol - vehicle theft is BIG in South Africa.

         Pretty much what we try to do is offer a family the chance of a 
great outing with as much entertainment/education as possible at an 
affordable price. It works - we (and the University) usually make a decent 
profit.

         A few "afterthoughts":
         i) We also sell space on the river to companies making boats and 
usually have a good turnout there.
         ii) We "licence" an operator to offer "river boat" cruises.
         iii) We have a small tractor pulling passenger wagons around the 
show (not free - you buy a ticket - again for the price of a beer - the 
kids love it and it brings in funds).


         Now to get back to the part where I mentioned that there is some 
disagreement amongst club members regarding the University handling so much 
of the organising (and getting a good share of the profit).
         These members balk at the thought of "someone else making a 
profit" from our endeavors, but they are forgetting certain facts.
         i) Without the use of the University Campus we would not have a 
showground.
         ii) Without the use of the University's administrative structures 
we would not get the kind of publicity that we have or the organizational 
capabilities.
         iii) "Our share" of the profits would be much less than we got 
before now if it were not for the University's input and we "went it alone".
         iv) This is our hobby, we enjoy doing the show and it is a great 
opportunity to sit and drink beer with our mates and show off our machines. 
We are not in this hobby to spend time "organizing" shows - we're also 
personally not in it for profit but it's nice to get some funds into the 
club coffers.
                 All I want to do is take my engines to the show and enjoy 
time with "like minded" friends and meet new ones. It's also good to be 
able to show the younger generation how things worked "in the old days" and 
possibly infect a younger person with the same "sickness" that we all 
suffer from.
         I personally do not have the time to attend endless meetings and 
devote many weeks to organising a show. It's my HOBBY dammit, I battle to 
find the time to restore engines, let alone get involved with organizing a 
show.

         Strangely enough, in previous times (pre University involvement) 
when the club organised anything they really battled to find "volunteers" 
to do any work. Now these same "non volunteers" are the ones complaining 
that "someone else" is making a profit.

         O.K. Curt, That's enough for now - this reply took this 2 finger 
typist over 4 hours - that's my contribution to the topic.

Keep the revs up (or down)
Jerry Evans
Near Johannesburg in Sunny South Africa.
Etched Brass Engine Plates made to order:
www.oldengine.org/members/evans/plates/index.htm