The Challenge:
Blue Tie Gala was a unique annual fundraising event for the Children's Bureau of Southern California. The event united award-winning chefs and wineries in California for an interactive cocktail hour, multi-course sit down dinner with wine pairings and decadent dessert room. Because this gala was one of several fundraising events organized by and benefitting Children's Bureau, it was a challenge to keep the brand identity cohesive between all events and the organization as a whole.
My goals were to increase ticket sales and sponsorships, revenue from the silent auction and awareness of both the event and organization, working with a tight budget and deadline.
My Solution:
The marketing and ad strategy for the Blue Tie Gala events in 2017, 2018 and 2019 was focused on influencer partnerships with the chefs participating in the event in addition to email marketing, paid social and paid ads. Social media content for Children's Bureau in the months leading up to the Blue Tie Gala was coordinated with the event's theme and color scheme to ensure brand cohesion between the event and the organization.
My Role:
For both Blue Tie Gala and Children's Bureau, I developed and implemented the annual marketing and communications strategies (including social media, email marketing, public relations and blogs) and led the graphic design efforts for all event touchpoints and print and digital marketing materials for the organization. As the Communications Chair and Partnerships Lead, I worked with marketing and communications teams at restaurants and hotels to ideate, film, edit and post collaborative content. Partnerships included Lasheeda Perry of the Food Network and Netflix, Mitzi Reyes of the SLS Hotel and David Lefevre of MB Post, Fishing with Dynamite (with appearances on Iron Chef and Master Chef).
Success:
Blue Tie Gala was a unique annual fundraising event for the Children's Bureau of Southern California. The event united award-winning chefs and wineries in California for an interactive cocktail hour, multi-course sit down dinner with wine pairings and decadent dessert room. Because this gala was one of several fundraising events organized by and benefitting Children's Bureau, it was a challenge to keep the brand identity cohesive between all events and the organization as a whole.
My goals were to increase ticket sales and sponsorships, revenue from the silent auction and awareness of both the event and organization, working with a tight budget and deadline.
My Solution:
The marketing and ad strategy for the Blue Tie Gala events in 2017, 2018 and 2019 was focused on influencer partnerships with the chefs participating in the event in addition to email marketing, paid social and paid ads. Social media content for Children's Bureau in the months leading up to the Blue Tie Gala was coordinated with the event's theme and color scheme to ensure brand cohesion between the event and the organization.
My Role:
For both Blue Tie Gala and Children's Bureau, I developed and implemented the annual marketing and communications strategies (including social media, email marketing, public relations and blogs) and led the graphic design efforts for all event touchpoints and print and digital marketing materials for the organization. As the Communications Chair and Partnerships Lead, I worked with marketing and communications teams at restaurants and hotels to ideate, film, edit and post collaborative content. Partnerships included Lasheeda Perry of the Food Network and Netflix, Mitzi Reyes of the SLS Hotel and David Lefevre of MB Post, Fishing with Dynamite (with appearances on Iron Chef and Master Chef).
Success:
- Blue Tie Gala strategy reached 14.6 million people annually
- Increased referrals to the event page from social media by 400% with no increase in ad spend
- Secured sponsorship by Los Angeles Magazine to save the agency $10,000 in marketing costs
- Blue Tie Gala ticket sales from social media and email marketing accounted for 50% of total pre-event revenue, an ROI of 1,500%
- Helped to raise $400,000 at the event