Like many of you reading this, I need to justify the value of my MPI membership and that of my industry involvement. And with an alphabet soup of potential organizations to seek participation, it’s more important than ever to seek the opportunity to better connect in our community and make that value resonate.
Given the opportunity to choose different marketing channels, I wanted to share my point of view on sponsorship.
I work for a brand that is actively engaged in philanthropy, hospitality, music and live events. Like many of us, the idea to find the best way to communicate marketing initiatives and brand attributes often comes by accident.
Rewind to December 13th, 2010 when I attended my first MPI-CAC Holiday Party as a member of the Hard Rock Cafe family. The party was hosted at the Metropolitan Club and was an event that I will never forget. Partially because, Kevin Kirby, Hard Rock International’s senior director of worldwide sales joined me in attending the party. At some point, we were talking about sponsorship value within MPI-CAC. “For example,” he said “we should host this party next year.”
It was a simple suggestion that, upon reflection, was a no-brainer. From the timing of the event, (the day prior to Association Forum’s Holiday Showcase), to the objective of the event, (to provide a festive celebration/networking evening for MPI CAC), it was an excellent opportunity to have planners from all over the country in our venue during the holiday season.
In February 2011, I contacted Margie McCartney and Kelly Wood from the Holiday Party Committee and expressed interest in hosting the 2011 event. Within two months, we had a signed event order and had officially secured the date for ROCK THE JINGLE BELL.
After months of planning and marketing, 395 people registered for this event. What was really important was that post-event survey highlighted an overwhelmingly positive experience and one of the highest rated holiday events in several years by all MPI attendees.
Back to justifying my membership value and ROI. This audience was the exact market we wanted to showcase our venue. As a result, we’ve been incredibly active in working with several of our guests from that evening to create unique events with a rock-n-roll twist. We are also proud MPI-CAC brand ambassadors and believe that the halo effect of this organization will benefit us in the long term.
Aside from having the opportunity to host and present Hard Rock Cafe Chicago to our peers, there were numerous benefits provided by MPI-CAC for being a full sponsor of the event.
- Pre-event marketing
- Membership renewals/registrations to future events
- MPI-CAC Advertising
For us, this sponsorship exactly met our objectives and re-introduced our brand to the membership. Most importantly, we had a ball hosting the party.
So we talked with the host committee for this year and are thrilled to be your host venue for 12-12-12! So grab your elf cap and bundle up for a rock’n holiday celebration!
See you soon!
About the author: Kristy Mendenhall, Sales & Marketing Manger Hard Rock Cafe Chicago. After transferring to the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas nearly a year ago, I find myself back in the wonderful city of Chicago.
