glow marketing

Mainstream now means family-friendly

It occurred to me that mainstream events should now be catering more to families as their clientele ages and starts a family. Recently I attended the Calgary Folk Festival, and it was surprising to see so many little ones at the festival this year. From my observation, there were double the amount of babies and kids and way more strollers about.

The festival has always had a Family play area (sponsored by Tim Hortons), but this year the crowd was sporting way more babies yet the festival had not changed it’s amenities. Another festival coming soon to our area is Drench Fest, a music and water sport festival that has strategically tried to market to families with older children to generate additional festival go-ers. Drench Fest is even selling family passes and running adds directed at parents and teens that pokes fun at “family time” and how the festival is an excellent excuse to spend “quality ” time together. Well done.

On the other hand, the Calgary Stampede had an excellent indoor family area sponsored by Southland Transportation that was exceptional. There were tons of free activities, crafts and entertainment, yet the area was not marketed, leaving many families unaware of it.The Capital Ex in Edmonton on the other hand ran ads directed specifically at families and likely succeeded in attracting families.

Providing small children with places to play and do fun activities is imperative if you want the whole family to come and stay for a while. The more there is to keep them happy, the longer they will stay and more money they will likely spend.

What I would recommend to any large mainstream event are to:

a) design family-friendly amenities (i.e. diaper changing areas, access to water and hand-washing, priority parking, stroller parking and/or wagon rentals, access to shade, places to rest, kids’ sunscreen, activity areas), entertainment (live entertainment, activities, roaming entertainers, visually rich environment) as part of the larger event.

b) market specifically to families, if you don’t, they won’t know about the event or will assume it wasn’t the right event for the whole family.

Hosting a family-friendly event is not just about increasing your attendance. As your attendees get older and have children, it is mandatory that you accomdate their new requirements in order to keep them coming back for more.

July 30th, 2009

Glow featured on Urban Moms

Sharole Lawrence of Glow Marketing is this months featured Mom entrepreneur on urbanmoms.ca. Could you be next?

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Add comment March 10th, 2009

Reaching Moms on the go.

Glow Marketing is finishing up a national media planning and buying project for Beaners Fun Cuts for Kids. With over 12 franchise locations from B.C. to Ontario, Beaners wanted to create greater awareness of their kid friendly hair salons through outdoor advertising. The concept “Kids shouldn’t have adult haircuts” was a happy accident developed by Trigger Communications and artfully photographed by Jason Stang. The outdoor bus shelters recently won “Best Outdoor” in the Applied Arts Annual for 2008. The creative also won several anvil awards at the Calgary Ad Rodeo, including “Best Outdoor” and “Best Photography”.

The concept is unique and extremely different and unexpected, the perfect way to stand out in an overly cluttered advertising environment. Because Beaners is a destination store that attracts families from farther away than the typical retail store, transit bus backs were used in most markets to get out into the community and reach a broader group of people. Plus, busy families can be quite mobile, driving to and from various places so transit works well (if done right).

Add comment April 8th, 2008

Welcome to Glow Marketing

Glow Marketing is a brand new marketing consultancy company based in Calgary Alberta Canada. It was started by Sharole Lawrence, an experienced marketer with over 9 years of experience in the industry. After working at some of Canada’s top agencies, Glow Marketing was started to help small to medium businesses reach their potential. Specializing in businesses that target women (the real purchase decision makers), Glow Marketing offers creative marketing ideas to stretch your marketing budget and stand out. Sharole’s expertise is in marketing planning and project management, creating a solid plan and then making it happen. Through her network of independent marketing professionals, we can also offer a full range of services such as logo and brand development, brochure design, ad concept development and design, photography, public relations, events, online advertising, website planning and implementation. Glow is currently seeking high quality, high potential local businesses to promote. If you have a unique business that needs creative marketing, we want to talk to you.

Add comment December 27th, 2007