Creative Marketing: Quarantine Concert

In 2020, things were hard. I went from appearing at 150-300 events a year to not having seen another human. other than my wife and son, for 3 weeks.

It was time to do something low cost, and drastic.

The phone connected with the County Sheriff, Brad. I said for the first time out loud, my plan. Brad said yes and jokingly added as long as it involves his favorite song.

Next call is the owner of a trailer retailer. After much detailed discussion about sizing and axels, he agreed.

Three clients later, I was revenue positive on a proposal that was really nothing more than an unapproved-by-my-boss idea.

Performers are resistant "this is gonna be huge" ideas because they get them pitched so often. There's a billion and a half idea fairies in the world and only a few of them have enough attention span to actually become a work troll and these guys know it. I'm sure you too have met more than one of these types in your life. Credibility sometimes gets you farther than it should, so they too agreed with a very small amount of resistance. "Fuck it, let's see what happens!".

The call to the local Ford dealership was quick and ended in the affirmative. All I owed was a prominent banner and to be safe. The local HVAC and electric provider was in too.

Now the final battle against attitudinal inherency.... The Company President. A few more bouts of fierce googling vs my idea and I felt confident.

"I'm going to tell you a crazy idea (expectation management) and I want you to hear me out until I finish (conversation structure control or cognitive incision). I have $3000 in commitments from sponsors, the approval from the Sheriff, Performers, A $65,000 truck and I know how i'm gonna do it." I deployed my best, most polished version of the pitch.

" You don't leave me much room to say no. Let's do it." HE'S IN!

After the Bigfoot Edition F250, Single axel 12 foot trailer, two musicians and a whole lot of self engineering, I had a mobile concert, that's gonna roll through town and damn it, we're gonna make the news.

... and damn it, we're gonna make the news.

We engaged everyone in town. Our concert was a bright point of connection between a corporation and it's consumer and business customers all at once. The event made $8000, with a $500 investment. I developed a better friendship and deeper respect for one of my co-workers who ended up moving on to do very big things.

What a Rush.

My employer paid for the performers and a y cable. The rest of the time, labor, equipment and engineering were all paid for by me.