case study: Offline Promotional Event

CHALLENGE: Strengthen the utility and brand of Crisp online magazine by producing an offline event which is as functional and pro-social as it is promotional.

IMPLEMENTATION: After extensive research of events targeting the college and 18-to-34 year-old demographic, Strong Bat created an unprecedented and unparalleled event. "Sensory Binge: A Live Sampler of America's Best Performing Artists," is a celebrity artists showcase and AIDS benefit which will be broadcast live each college semester from New York City's Irving Plaza to next-generation movie screens on 40 college campuses nationwide, with one rebroadcast each semester. The broadcast will be heavily promoted for the three preceding weeks, totaling 18 million impressions through such marketing vehicles as college television, radio, newspapers, Web sites, tickets, direct intercept, posters and campus mailbox stuffers.

Sensory Binge is just that: an indulging of the senses. America's top performing artists igniting and inspiring student audiences with a bold array of art forms, from mainstays such as music and dance to pioneering forays into improv video art and performance poetry. Sensory Binge will also appeal to students' "sense" of service. Their four-dollar ticket price will go directly to community-based AIDS programs nationwide, raising up to $200,000 each event including the rebroadcast. AIDS is the leading cause of death for people ages 25 to 44. Sensory Binge will transform students from audience voyeurs into active vehicles for change, enabling the generation with the highest rate of volunteerism in history to take tangible, immediate steps against the epidemic that is threatening them most. Hopefully Sensory Binge will even spawn this new breed of benefits - affordable fund-raisers which empower the many young people who wish to contribute but who have been perennially excluded from traditional benefits because they can't afford typical $100 to $2,500 ticket prices.

RESULTS: Although Strong Bat is still in the process of producing this event, we've already engendered participation from the perfect alchemy of celebrity comedian hosts and musicians and celebrated artists from alternative genres. We've also enabled the event through such service providers as Youth Stream Media Services (formerly Network Event Theater), Beyond Our Reality Productions, Inc., All Mobile Video, New York City's Irving Plaza and community-based AIDS programs nationwide.