CASE STUDY

Giant BBQ Battle

The Giant BBQ Battle, an annual celebration of food and music, enlisted Emerson Street Media’s services to make their event bigger and better than ever before. The annual event takes place on historic Pennsylvania Avenue and is a summer staple for Washington, D.C.. When presented with the opportunity to work on this event, we jumped on it immediately. With the support of our team, the 32nd Annual Giant BBQ Battle attracted over 80,000 attendees, a 540% increase in downtown tourism over a non-typical event weekend, according to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.

CASE STUDY

Giant BBQ Battle

The Giant BBQ Battle, an annual celebration of food and music, enlisted Emerson Street Media’s services to make their event bigger and better than ever before. The annual event takes place on historic Pennsylvania Avenue and is a summer staple for Washington, D.C.. When presented with the opportunity to work on this event, we jumped on it immediately. With the support of our team, the 32nd Annual Giant BBQ Battle attracted over 80,000 attendees, a 540% increase in downtown tourism over a non-typical event weekend, according to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.

Action

Giant BBQ Battle came to Emerson Street Media with a multitude of external communications needs and our team delivered on all fronts. Through effective social media management, influencer partnership coordination, and earned media placements in top local and national outlets including CBS and NBC National News, The Washington Post, Northern Virginia Magazine, and many others, Emerson Street Media increased awareness of the Giant BBQ Battle to its target audiences which resulted in soaring ticket sales. Even with an unprecedented heat wave, the 32nd Annual Giant BBQ Battle was a tremendous success.

Approach

Our team sprang into action and began developing a strategic communications campaign with the objective of strengthening and expanding Giant BBQ Battle’s brand awareness across the DMV and beyond. We created an overall communications calendar that served as the blueprint for our tactics. We devised individual strategies for media relations outreach, social media management and influencer engagement to ensure we were reaching each of our target audiences. Once these strategies were developed, we began executing to reach our goals of increasing both brand awareness and ticket sales.

Organization was key to the success of this partnership, so this was a major priority for our team. We maintained organized files and collateral which was absolutely critical when undertaking a project of this size. Our team also sustained open communication with Giant Food and key partners that were instrumental in coordinating public relations activities. Being flexible and pivoting were essential with so many moving parts to this campaign.

Project

We were tasked with coordinating the project management and planning, social media management, influencer outreach, media relations, digital marketing, videography and photography. With less than five months until the event, the countdown was on and we had to move quickly.

Result

Throughout our partnership, Emerson Street Media crafted over 400 social media posts across Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok, and increased Giant BBQ Battle’s social media followers by 26.7% from the previous year. We secured over 675 earned and paid media placements with a potential audience of 108,282,300 people and a publicity value of over $1.2 million. Our team conceptualized and produced 10 videos for use on the Giant BBQ Battle website and social media promotion of the event. In addition, we supported the digital marketing team and saw unrivaled website sessions. With the support of our team, the Giant BBQ Battle attracted over 80,000 attendees, a 540% increase in downtown tourism over a non-typical event weekend, according to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.

Related Case Studies

SAP

Assisting SAP with their 2021 virtual sales conference, Emerson Street Media contributed to scriptwriting, content creation, voiceover work, and strategic counsel, ensuring a successful event that equipped SAP's sales team for the future.

Amore Learning

Emerson Street Media created a branding video for Amore Learning, highlighting its rapid shift to 'pod learning' during the pandemic, reflecting their commitment to providing essential education resources, and showcasing the positive impact on students and parents.