Flight: Urban Cloud Introduction: Manifest ‘14 The Event ● Manifest: Urban Arts Festival is a student-ran and programmed event at Columbia College Chicago that showcases graduating senior and graduate student work. As an annual tradition and defining ritual, Manifest serves to bring the entire community together to celebrate our creative spirit and to develop long-lasting, memorable relationships between students, the college and our community.
The Theme ● Manifest’s 2014 theme is “Flight.” Matt Dunne, a senior Graphic Design major at Columbia, is the brain behind the creative design and branding. In taking the theme literal, Mike began his creative process with a simple paper airplane. A signature aspect of Manifest branding is the Manifest Star. Dunne said, “For my star, the design was predominantly inspired by the look of the German paper star lanterns at the Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza every winter.”
The Class ● The Events Management: Practicum course is designed to provide resources, tools, and training necessary for planning and management of live events. Students are given hands-on orientation of event management processes and the opportunity to participate in managing actual events.
The Project ● The mission of “Urban Cloud” (lot 1001 South Wabash Ave.) is to bring together the entire Columbia community in celebration of its creativity, aspirations, and cultural vibrancy. The events and activities planned for the lot by graduating seniors, graduate students, student organizations, and other college committees will inspire the annual tradition that is Manifest Urban Arts Festival. With a “Flight” theme, “Urban Cloud” hopes to allow guests to explore what flight he or she will take in life and the exciting adventures that await. Key Objective(s) ● Increase student and campus organization participation by adding 7 additional organizations than that of 2013 ● Establish a base line of perspective students through the distribution of buttons ● Establish Columbia Cares fundraising with a goal of fundraising $8,000
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Flight: Urban Cloud SWOT Strengths
Weaknesses
★ ★ ★ ★
Student powered event ‘Urban Cloud’ lot attractions Manifest showcase quality Location (South Loop area)
★ Communication between committee coordinators and event managers ★ Lack of participation and awareness amongst non-graduating undergrad seniors and graduate students
Opportunities
Threats
★ Increase in community and local businesses involvement ★ Increase in fundraising opportunities amongst organizations located in the ‘Urban Cloud’ lot
★ Lack of sponsorships ★ Unforeseen weather conditions ★
Stakeholders and Target Audience ● Columbia College Chicago Departments ● ● ● ● ●
Graduating students & underclassman Prospective students Alumni Donors Admissions Counselor
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Flight: Urban Cloud Marketing Mix Our marketing plan is within a time frame of 2 ½ months (March, April and May) and can be broken down into two categories (Public Relations/Promotions, Media/Advertising).
Public Relations/Promotions ● Street Teams shall be comprised of college brand ambassadors that will take on the responsibility of direct marketing efforts to successfully drive consumers to Manifest the day of. o College Campuses o The Loop ● Promotional and marketing efforts shall be made at college wide events at major universities within the Chicagoland area by college brand ambassadors and professional staff ambassadors. o Biggest Mouth o FEST (DePaul)
Media/Advertising ● The Media Plan is a full 2 ½ month plan spanning over March, April and May. We tend to focus on the following mediums: ● Print (Chronicle and other print publications around the Loop) ● Interactive o Facebook o Twitter o Promotional Contest(s)
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Flight: Urban Cloud Media Plan The Media Plan will be for a full three-month duration with emphasis in the months of April, May and June. We will focus on print and interactive (internet) mediums. We have chosen to target he local audience honing in on the Chicagoland area and surrounding suburbs. Print
For our print campaign, we have chosen to focus on popular, local newspapers, magazines and college papers. All print ads are full page, bleed, and 1 page each. Online versions are also available for all of these publications.
Chronicle ● We have decided to insert palm cards in all major, surround colleges’ newspapers every week until the night of the show.
● Chicago Reader ● Chicago Reader is a weekly alternative newspaper. We have decided to have a full-page ad alternating weeks;; second and fourth week in April. In May, advertising within the first week. ● $666.67/week RedEye ● Chicago RedEye is a daily tabloid style newspaper that is heavily seen by our target audience. We decided to have a full-page ad running everyday until the day of the show. ● $43.95/day
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Flight: Urban Cloud Interactive Component Our entire target demographic is on the Internet daily. Putting heavy promotion into Facebook, Twitter, and highly credited blogs based upon their likes and tastes is key. Promotion through the interactive experience will last March through May.
We turned to Facebook and Twitter and other social media platforms to have a huge impact on our target audience. We would also like for the artists to promote on their social media outlets. There would be hashtags including: “#KaskadeHoB,” “#OliverHoB,” etc. that participants could use while ordering tickets, or live tweeting from the show. I would also like to turn to Instagram, Pintrest, to show progression of the journey leading up to the day of the performance.
Budget: $
Volunteer Marketing Plan Volunteer Marketing will operate as a direct marketing campaign via email and meeting visits. The email component with comprise of weekly email blasts to potential student organization partners and volunteers for the Urban Cloud Lot. It will also include meetings and student organization meetings (when needed). This campaign will be on going until maximum numbers are reached.
Sponsorship Plan Sponsorship efforts will assist in alleviating the budget by seeking tangible items from local and national businesses. Sponsorship efforts for the Urban Cloud lot began with the online submissions of the sponsorship packet to various companies. Following that, local businesses are then contacted in-person to speak with managers about participating in the 2014 Manifest: Urban Cloud lot. Currently, there is no cut-off date for seeking sponsorships.
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