Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival 2014 Entry

BEST MEDIA RELATIONS CAMPAIGN

#61

1. OVERVIEW

A. Introduction & Background of Campaign/Event:

Celebrating 31 years of beautiful hot air balloon launches at dawn, stunning evening balloon glows, world renowned musical entertainment in concert, wine tasting, food and wine pairings and family entertainment. The Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival has branded the Temecula Valley as the place with "the Balloon and Wine Festival" and is one of the highest attended events in Southern California.

Located on the border of San Diego and Riverside Counties, the Festival has an enormous pool of media within its reach, with three very large demographic market areas. These areas include Los Angeles/Orange County, Riverside/San Bernardino and San Diego. Major media offices are located anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours from our Festival site.

Each year our challenge is to provide something "new" and exciting, that can entice the producers, editors, and photojournalists to take the drive to our Festival for live coverage, while providing pre-event publicity in the weeks and months prior to the event. Following the 30th Anniversary and experiencing a decline in the number of print media, we had additional challenges and focused our attention on the visual beauty of the balloons in flight.

B. Purpose/Objective of the Media Relations Campaign:

The purpose of the media relations campaign is to increase event awareness and attendance, while improving sponsor and event partner marketing benefits and engagement. To do this, data from event surveys and attendance profiles were analyzed and matched to media outlets and contacts for their interests and audience demographics. We then provided targeted public relations and promotional campaigns for key media members, and created methods for the media to provide unique experiences for their audiences and readers alike.

Partners & Sponsors Campaign Targets:

 Temecula Valley Wineries  Temecula Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau "Visit Temecula Valley"  "Defy Gravity" the Wicked Corporate Balloon  Balloonists involved in Balloon Launches  Chefs providing cuisine for our Food and Wine Pairing  Chefs and the sponsor for our Food & Beer Pairing  Major Area Daily Newspaper - Press-Enterprise/OC Register

Media Targeted for Campaign and Exclusives based in and providing content for our 3 Southern California DMAs:

o San Diego County o Riverside/San Bernardino (includes Palm springs & Desert) o Los Angeles/Orange County Media Objectives, Targets improve coverage of gourmet and visual attributes of the Festival:

 Wine Industry Writers and Media  Craft Beer Industry Writers and Media  Radio Stations and Programs that matched either the concert genre and audience, foodies, or photographers  Television News Producers and Anchors  Newspaper Entertainment Editors and Photographers

Campaign Opportunities Included:

 Private Wine Tasting Tours  Exclusive Interviews with Wine Makers  Exclusive Interviews with Chefs  Exclusive Prize Packages to Festival  Exclusive Prize Packages  Media Day Hot Air Balloon Flights  Participation in Contests and Scavenger Hunt

C. A Detailed Outline of Entire Media Relations Campaign:

The Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival Media Relations Campaign starts immediately following the current Festival held the first weekend in June annually. At this time we recap successes, meet with media representatives to discuss enhancements and or shortcomings of our promotions, and outline next year goals. Reports from participating media are analyzed for their effectiveness and new strategies are developed. The Festival 2014 Theme of "Rising to New Heights" was established in October, 2013. Components to the campaign included:

 Strong & Dominant publicity in regional newspaper, magazine, entertainment periodicals  Consistent and frequent exposure on Southern California Television and Radio  Social Media campaign that includes fan interaction with media sites and sponsors  Sponsored Advertising  Paid Advertising leveraged in Sponsorships and social media engagement  3rd Party Sponsorship Participation with local print sponsor  On-air interviews and ticket giveaways  Exposure at public events held by media sponsors  Online contests and points reward programs  Strong online presence for Festival and Media Partners  Minimum 3 weeks of broadcast exposure  Minimum 3 weeks print advertising OCTOBER – DECEMBER:

The 2013 Festival results were provided to the media partners and a proposal was requested and approved utilizing the new theme of "Rising to New Heights." Exclusive offers were discussed with partners. During this time the new theme was announced to the public, posted on the Festival Facebook page, and initial exclusive offers were provided to returning guests.

"Wicked - the Musical" hot air balloon was discovered on the east coast. Organizers pursued the balloon pilot and marketing team, inviting them to attend the Festival. Additionally a plan to add a musical element to the evening balloon glow was devised.

Proposals and partnerships with media were requested from:

 KISS FM/Clear Channel Los Angeles  NBC/TV  Clear Channel San Diego  KFROG – Inland Empire  Go- Country – Los Angeles  Time Warner/Fios Network/Direct TV marketing  San Diego Union Tribune  Inland Empire Magazine  KPRI- San Diego  Mobile App providers

JANUARY-MARCH

Produce Long-Range Press Coverage and Local Coverage through:

 Headline Entertainment Announcements  Holiday Gift Shopping and Advanced Ticket Sales  Calendar Notices released to media contacts in Southern California and Nationally  Vendor and Volunteer publicity  Campsite Sales/Opening  Ticket and Souvenir Sales  Social Media Feeds  Exclusive Interviews and Tours  Media Events and Activities  Mobile App  Balloon Glow Activity and Promotion  EBlasts o Holiday Ticket Sales o Concert Headliner Announcements o Reserved Seats and Upgrades o Valentine's Day Promotion o Awards o Advanced Ticket Sales o Camp Sites on sale o Vendor Applications and Openings o Exclusive Festival Experience on Sale APRIL-JUNE

Produce continual awareness and top of mind recognition for event utilizing a cross-media communication strategy to engage and connect through all media by reaching our core audience. This included terrestrial radio, network television, bundled-subscriber television, internet SEO and social media. Media was provided a variety of material including exclusive invitations to our Food and Wine Pairing, exclusive one-on-one tours with wine makers and winery chefs, extending invitation to participate in our April wine barrel races event.

Media Components include:  TVBWF.COM website  Facebook/TVBWF  Twitter  Pinterest  Instagram  YouTube  E-Mail Blasts  Print Media - Newspaper and Magazines  Radio Stations in 3 DMAS – Los Angeles, Inland Empire and San Diego DMA  Network Television - Los Angeles, Palm Springs  Bundled/Subscriber Television - Los Angeles, Orange County and Inland Empire  Press and Blogger Journalists specializing: o Concerts & Entertainment o Wine Tasting o Food & Wine Pairing o Beer & Micro Brew o Local News o National News o Tourism o Photography  Wine Tour with Blogger/Clear Channel Los Angeles “The Dish”  Release of Festival Mobile App  Produce Media Day Preview  Broadcast Media with High Frequency of Message

D. Target audience/demographics for the media:

 25-54 year olds  Female decision makers  Concert-goers  Food, Wine and Beer Lovers  Photographers  Income level of $75,000 or higher  Residents of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties, California

E. Target location (communities/cities/states) for media:

Our campaign targeted Southern California cities within our 3 DMAs - Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego Counties.

 San Diego County Cities: Escondido, Fallbrook, San Marcos, Poway, Vista, San Diego and Carlsbad  Los Angeles County Cities: Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Azusa/Glendora and Beach Areas.  Orange County cities: Aliso Viejo, Newport Beach, Anaheim, Anaheim Hills, Brea, Fullerton, Irvine, Dana Point, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach and Mission Viejo.  Riverside County cities: Corona, Palm Springs, Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore, Perris, Moreno Valley, Menifee, Temecula, Murrieta, and Wildomar  San Bernardino County cities: Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Mira Loma, Arrowhead and other Mountain Communities.

F. Types of Mediums used for Media Outreach:

 Paid radio schedules in all three DMAs surrounding Festival - Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego.  Sponsored radio promotions in all three DMAs surrounding Festival  Paid Los Angeles & San Diego Clear Channel Groups for air traffic report commercials and online promotions  PSAs delivered to musical genre specific radio stations (Television News, Weather and lifestyle reporters in all three DMAS, Cable Specialty Shows  Media Partnerships that provided Added Value to advertising campaign by providing the following requirements: o On-air Giveaways o Endorsements from Top Air Personalities o Interaction with Festival’s Facebook Contest o Stronger On-Air schedules than previous years o 3rd Party participation to sponsor media's participation o Interaction with media's listeners, readers, through contests, appearances at media/station events and participation in events.  Spanish version press releases and PSAs to Latino/Hispanic television  Regular press releases to Newspapers and News Journals in Southern California o Monthly January through April Press Releases o Weekly Releases April to May 23 Press Releases o 6 weeks prior to event - Press Kit, with press releases, story ideas, photos and social media-ready video clips  Concert press releases to music writers of Southern California newspapers  Food & Wine related press releases to food, wine and beer writers  Barrel Race Invitations to local Media (Event held in April to promote Festival)  Media Day Invitations & Press Kits Contents: o Invitation o Hot air balloon ornament & pens for media to color o 8 page, 4-color Media Kit guide book o Flash drive containing complete press kit (press releases, story ideas, high resolution photos, schedules, links, video clips and a waiver for a hot air balloon flight) Television Press Kit: o Hot air balloon stress ball o "Cue" card with the Festival PSA on one side, and the links to VIMEO b-roll on the other o Flash Drive (links to VIMEO video, in 3 preferred network formats)

 Media Day invitations and press kits were mailed six weeks in advance to targeted Television and Print media: o Local newspaper o Monthly publications o Industry leading bloggers o Online reporters (travel, food, wine, music)

 EMAIL - Newsletter/E-Blast o To editors, news producers, broadcast journalists, entertainment writers, plus 48 media representatives subscribed to Melody's Ad Works, Inc. newsletter (Festivals marketing firm)  Social Media Campaign: o Twitter o Facebook o Pinterest o YouTube o Vimeo  Following or liking targeted media and journalists  Liking, sharing and retweeting of News Coverage on Festival’s social media accounts  Messaging media through social media  Sending links to Festival Video and Photos  Creating Photo Pages on Facebook and Pinterest to use Mobile App

G. Measurable Results Indicating:

Number of Publications/Cities/States Targeted:

15 television stations 15 radio stations 15 Clear Channel Stations (2 Groups) 28 publications 25 bloggers in the three Southern California Demographic Markets

Hispanic and Chinese television bureaus based in Los Angeles. Counties included Riverside, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino. Television markets: Los Angeles/O.C., Desert (Palm Springs) and San Diego.

Percent of distribution that covered news:

100% geographic Television Coverage was achieved. The campaign received coverage from 12 television stations and received coverage in all three television markets.

The Festival was featured on Mundo Fox "Que No Te Cuenten" (What They Don't Tell You). MundoFox is an American Spanish language broadcast television network that is operated as a joint venture between Fox International Channels subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, Colombian private broadcaster, RCN Televisión SA.

CNC - Chinese News Bureau, also known as , is the official state news agency for . The broadcast team attended the Festival on Saturday morning and broadcasted their coverage following the event. The broadcast was also provided online. Radio promotions were conducted on 16 stations (one more than targeted) and 2 Clear Channel groups. One of our targeted stations provided additional promotions on their sister station. We reached all three demographic markets - 100% geographic reach and 100% coverage was achieved.

21 Publications of the 28 targeted, provided coverage for the Festival, which included regional and national publications outside of the targeted market areas. News coverage of the Festival included inserts and spreads in the Orange County and Los Angeles County Register, including an online "Register Connect" promotion that reached 207,000 subscribers daily for 7 days through online promotions and eBlasts. The entire campaign was covered by 75% of the publications targeted.

24 Bloggers of the 25 targeted covered the Festival, and included all genre specific targets. PubClub, a microbrew blogger covered the Food and Beer pairing pre-event, as well as the Festival. Seven separate stories were filed by PubClub - one of the Festival sponsors preferred blogger - Anheuser Busch. The campaign reached 100% of the targeted genre and 96% of the bloggers.

Media day, had a record 23 media representatives in attendance to fly in Hot Air Balloons at 6 a.m. including KPSI, KESQ and Mundo Fox Television.

Vocus Report on Festival News by DMA provided insight to additional reach of media worldwide: Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs comprised 57.98% of the Festival news coverage worldwide. The Festival also had 19.15% news coverage from National Media with 2.13% coverage from International Media.

Attendance Results based on Media Outreach/Campaign:

Attendance for the Festival reached all targeted markets and saw an increase in our San Diego audience as a result of a KPRI Radio promotion.

COUNTY OF RESIDENCE

Los Angeles 21% Orange 12% Riverside 40% San Bernardino 7% San Diego 15% Out of/Market 3% Out of State 2%

FESTIVAL AUDIENCE PROFILE

Male 46% Female 54%

Married 63% Single 37%

CORE AGE

25-34 years of age 46% 35-44 years of age 18% 45-54 years of age 15% Other 21%

Income Results based on Media Outreach/Campaign:

67.6% of the attendance had a household income of $100,000 or more. 49% earned $100,000 to $174,000 per year.

$100K-$124K 16.7% $125K-$149K 14.9% $150K-$174K 17.4% $175K-$199K 10.8% $200K or more 7.8% Other 32.4%

Longevity of Media Coverage:

Coverage of the Festival began October 1, 2013 and continued through July 16, 2014 (International coverage pending)

Increase/Decrease in Media from previous years:

Publicity Coverage resulted in 40.4 million impressions. A 5.5% (2.3 million) decrease due primarily to the closure of the local daily newspaper and sponsor, The Californian newspaper. The Californian was acquired by UT-San Diego in May 2013. For 2014 UT-San Diego required a $10,000 buy-in. Since the San Diego market is responsible for 10%-13% of our attendance, the Festival declined the option. UT-San Diego currently has a circulation of 239,049, a drop from the 2013 circulation number of 296,331. Story coverage in the UT last year included 11 articles rather than 2.

Added value to the campaign was $350,690, more than 3 times (333%) of the Festival's Paid Marketing Budget.

Value of added television coverage due to publicity and media campaign: $ 15,978 Value of radio on-air promotions and 3rd party partnerships: $252,500 Value added print: $ 82,212

H. Overall Effectiveness of the Campaign:

The 2014 Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival maintained their core audience while experiencing increases in:

 Attendance Income by: 14.05%  Ticket Outlet Sales by: 11.17%  Total Festival Income by: 11.91%  Increased website unique visitor activity by: 67.41%  Facebook had 12,733 fans/likes at the beginning of the campaign and grew to 18,061 by the conclusion, a net increase of 5,328 fans  Opt-Ins from radio promotions increased our email subscriber base by 1,600 to assist in ongoing communications  352 guests came to the Festival as a result of the Orange County Register promotion and were tracked by redemption vouchers  The Festival hosted 25 media representatives on hot air balloon rides during the Festival. This was a record number for us and more than a 200% increase in media day participation. Also resulted in international coverage with MundoFox and Xinhua Chinese News, plus 16 additional media outlets including television coverage from CBS & ABC in Palm Springs during the event and immediately afterwards

SUPPORTING QUESTION:

Update/change from the year before?

Based upon media industry contraction and reduced circulation/readership; and utilizing results from the 2013 media relations campaign, the strategy for the 2014 was refined to improve the frequency, reach, and campaign duration to our core market through paid and sponsored advertising, marketing and promotions, as well as publicity.

Low return on investment media was eliminated from the sponsored and paid media mix. Publicity and public relations was carefully researched for the journalist's interest, preferred method of communication and lead time.

Public relations and social media campaigns were targeted towards the niche markets within the Festival (food and wine lovers), FMX fans (freestyle motocross), Photographers, Microbrew and Craft Brew fans, Campers, and genre-specific concert-goers.

The Festival developed a strong social media and e-marketing campaign to reach those fans that may be missed by the closure of the local daily newspaper. Online local newspapers and bloggers were also communicated with more frequently and provided unique opportunities and exclusive stories.

We reduced the number of radio stations carrying promotions, and negotiated for maximum relationships with those media who matched our core audience.

We aligned with the strongest media in all of our surveys for our primary campaign placing 50% of our budget with this media, creating unique experiences for the radio stations fans.

We eliminated a low performing radio station in the San Diego market, an area that had declined in attendance in recent years (11% in 2013), and partnered with a station that had a stronger high-income, north San Diego County audience that matched the Festival's attendance profile. This station provided numerous opportunities for on-air interviews, promotions supporting a key partner of the Festival - Temecula Wine Country, and an on-air presence of three weeks.

A special promotion supporting the BALLOONING niche of the Festival was created by first securing the appearance of the "Wicked, the Musical" hot air balloon "Defy Gravity" at the Festival and a special presentation of a mini-flash choir was added to the evening balloon glow on Saturday night. The choir sang "Defy Gravity" at the beginning of the balloon glow, while volunteers distributed green glow necklaces and pins to the crowd. The pins and glow sticks were provided by Hollywood Pantages Theater and Broadway San Diego. The theaters posted news and shared posts of the hot air balloon appearance on their social media sites.

A concentrated effort was made to bring the Southern California-based Asian and Hispanic media to the Festival to see and cover the event. Direct contact with media representatives from Xinhua News Agency (CNC World) and Mundo Fox secured both networks as attending and covering the Festival. Both taped programs that were aired on their respective stations and sites thereby exposing the Festival to the Spanish and Chinese residents of Southern California, with reach to the international audience.

For the first time, the Festival did not produce a single Beta sp b-roll tape for broadcast media. In Southern California many of the news rooms are incapable of utilizing DVD and CDs due to incompatible formats. For this reason a video in low resolution was provided on the Festival's press kit flash drive, with links to high resolution and high definition on the Festival's VIMEO site, along with a YouTube friendly version. We also provided a cue card with a 30-second PSA of the Festival for the anchor or weatherman at the station.

One component of the Festival public relations and marketing campaign was the development and installation of a mobile application to assist the mobile device users in ticket purchases and the latest news of the Festival. This app was promoted through social media, press releases, and eBlasts.

Were Your Updates/changes successful?

Overall the Festival's media relations campaign achieved all goals:

 The Festival Campaign was covered by 21 of the 28 Publications targeted provided coverage for the Festival which included regional and national publications outside of the targeted market areas  The entire campaign was covered by 75% of the publications targeted  The entire campaign was covered by 96% of the bloggers targeted. 24 Bloggers of the 25 targeted covered the Festival and included all genre specific targets. PubClub, a microbrew blogger covered the Food and Beer pairing pre-event, as well as the Festival  Added value to the Festival's Marketing Campaign was $350,690 representing a 21% increase in value added marketing  Vocus analysis of the Festival's News Coverage by DMA (including all online consumer publications and bloggers, online news and business, online trade and industry sites, television programs, television stations, and news bureaus) on June 2, 2014  36.17% from the Los Angeles DMA  19.15% from National Media  12.77% from San Diego DMA  8.51% from the Palm Springs DMA  2.13% from New York DMA  2.1% from International sources

The Festival website realized increase traffic as a result of the 2014 campaign:  Total Unique Visitors: increased by 67% for five days prior Festival  33% increase in page views for the month of May 152,687  52.6% increase in Total visits for the month of May (including all three days of the Festival)

Defy Gravity, the "Wicked" balloon proved to be the most popular post on the Festival's Facebook page creating 4,671 shares, likes and clicks and 63,544 impressions from the six posts. Additionally the 841,645 impressions of the Defy Gravity increased the Festival's overall impressions by 2% without additional costs to the marketing budget.

B-roll in a new format provided the end measureable result with more television stations and online news media covering the event. The Festival campaign received coverage from 12 television news programs including international news agencies reaching 100% of the geographic market and 80% of the total targeted stations.

Mobil Application - In less than 30 days 739 downloads were made of the application, and online ticket sales were accessed 384 times. Additionally over 400 photos were taken with the applications photo frames.