The Challenges
Sunset magazine partnered with Visit SLO County (now known as SLO CAL) to create SAVOR the Central Coast, a multi-day, multi-region, world-class food, wine and lifestyle event to showcase the hottest trends while boasting San Luis Obispo County’s diverse attractions, natural beauty and historic appeal of the region. The challenge was bringing national media attention to an unknown event, co-hosted by a media outlet, in a virtually unknown region of California.
The Solutions
Because of their vast media network, Parker Sanpei was hired to strategize a comprehensive public relations outreach to luxury, lifestyle, culinary, beverage, and travel media for pre- and post-event publicity. The agency hosted dozens of media to the three day event, managing and personalizing all logistics. Parker Sanpei also managed media interviews with featured celebrity chefs Cat Cora and Aarti Sequeira, highly revered winemakers, and notable artisan producers, while spotlighting the area’s scenic attractions, historic appeal, and natural beauty.Results
Parker Sanpei’s efforts resulted in over 130 million traditional pre-event media impressions, broadcast and print; over 7 billion through PR Newswire & PR Web Impressions – not to mention the extensive reach through social media. As a result, the event drew 8,872 guests, a 20% increase from the previous year, with approximately 50% of guests being from out of the area, providing an economic impact to the county of $2.93 million. Parker Sanpei also managed the logistics of over 100 journalists who participated in the event, which resulted in over 70 million post-event impressions. The event was featured in San Francisco Chronicle, KTLA, Los Angeles Times, Desert Sun, Westways, LAWeekly, KGO Radio, NBC San Diego, LA Feast, Bay Area News Group, Culinary Trends, Palm Springs Life, KCBX, KSBX and KNBX, San Jose Mercury News, Marin Independent Journal, 805 Living, Huffington Post, NBC Los Angeles, Bringing It Home TV, and many others.