Journal Record...
quote:
BOK Center set for wide marketing plan
March 6, 2008
TULSA – Mayor Kathy Taylor was all smiles when the BOK Center announced it will host a preseason match-up between the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic at a Feb. 27 news conference. The Oct. 13 basketball game will be one of the first events held at the brand-new 18,000-seat arena.
That announcement was part of a strategy to continually market the $178 million venue prior to its opening in September. The Metro Tulsa Convention and Visitors Bureau and SMG, the company that will manage the arena, are working together on the regional and national marketing campaign.
The tagline for the Vision 2025 project center is "Our City, Our Legacy."
Casey Sparks, director of sales and marketing at SMG, said the idea behind the regional tagline is to create pride within the city as residents will be the arena's prime customers.
"My department wants to get out on the grass-roots level and get out in the communities," she said. "Making the building feel like everybody is welcome and it is a good corporate citizen for Tulsa."
They are also focused on a national campaign that targets agents and promoters in the entertainment industry to bring those A-list events to the city.
Sparks said they recently sponsored a party in Los Angeles and invited all the major players in the industry to learn about the BOK Center.
Which shows the venue brings in will be a major component of the marketing strategy.
"The shows come in and have marketing dollars that we use to help promote them," Sparks said. "Depending on the demographics for the show is how we place the marketing dollars."
Suzann Stewart, senior vice president of the Metro Tulsa Convention and Visitors Bureau, said they want people to participate in other aspects of the city such as its restaurants and hotels in addition to attending an event at the BOK Center.
"We're not just wanting to bring people to Tulsa for a single event where they just buying a ticket and a hot dog," said Stewart. "We want to tie in hotels and restaurants."
Sparks said bringing downtown restaurants and the center together is another one of their marketing strategies.
"I really want to target the downtown restaurants to get them involved and help promote the event. It helps get their name out there," she said.
Stewart said the city is working on a plan to deal with the parking issues that may arise once the center is built.
"How do you handle all the traffic load and all the people that come in besides just for a single event?" she said. "It's all being planned, ironed away before the center actually opens.
Sparks said the opening is not concentrated on one specific genre. She said they will learn quickly what kinds of shows are successful in Tulsa.
"We want to show the versatility of the building, and down the road the building is there to make a profit for the city and bring income to the city," said Sparks.
Oklahoma City on Tuesday passed a temporary sales tax to upgrade the Ford Center in hopes of attracting an NBA team, but Stewart isn't worried about competition issues between the two venues.
"You can tell by the improvements that the Ford Center has to make, we already have that stuff and we're ahead of the curve," she said. "We built a facility that will last for the future."
I really like the last few paragraphs...especially, "You can tell by the improvements that the Ford Center has to make, we already have that stuff and we're ahead of the curve".
quote:
Originally posted by DScott28604
Journal Record...
quote:
BOK Center set for wide marketing plan
March 6, 2008
TULSA – Mayor Kathy Taylor was all smiles when the BOK Center announced it will host a preseason match-up between the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic at a Feb. 27 news conference. The Oct. 13 basketball game will be one of the first events held at the brand-new 18,000-seat arena.
That announcement was part of a strategy to continually market the $178 million venue prior to its opening in September. The Metro Tulsa Convention and Visitors Bureau and SMG, the company that will manage the arena, are working together on the regional and national marketing campaign.
The tagline for the Vision 2025 project center is "Our City, Our Legacy."
Casey Sparks, director of sales and marketing at SMG, said the idea behind the regional tagline is to create pride within the city as residents will be the arena's prime customers.
"My department wants to get out on the grass-roots level and get out in the communities," she said. "Making the building feel like everybody is welcome and it is a good corporate citizen for Tulsa."
They are also focused on a national campaign that targets agents and promoters in the entertainment industry to bring those A-list events to the city.
Sparks said they recently sponsored a party in Los Angeles and invited all the major players in the industry to learn about the BOK Center.
Which shows the venue brings in will be a major component of the marketing strategy.
"The shows come in and have marketing dollars that we use to help promote them," Sparks said. "Depending on the demographics for the show is how we place the marketing dollars."
Suzann Stewart, senior vice president of the Metro Tulsa Convention and Visitors Bureau, said they want people to participate in other aspects of the city such as its restaurants and hotels in addition to attending an event at the BOK Center.
"We're not just wanting to bring people to Tulsa for a single event where they just buying a ticket and a hot dog," said Stewart. "We want to tie in hotels and restaurants."
Sparks said bringing downtown restaurants and the center together is another one of their marketing strategies.
"I really want to target the downtown restaurants to get them involved and help promote the event. It helps get their name out there," she said.
Stewart said the city is working on a plan to deal with the parking issues that may arise once the center is built.
"How do you handle all the traffic load and all the people that come in besides just for a single event?" she said. "It's all being planned, ironed away before the center actually opens.
Sparks said the opening is not concentrated on one specific genre. She said they will learn quickly what kinds of shows are successful in Tulsa.
"We want to show the versatility of the building, and down the road the building is there to make a profit for the city and bring income to the city," said Sparks.
Oklahoma City on Tuesday passed a temporary sales tax to upgrade the Ford Center in hopes of attracting an NBA team, but Stewart isn't worried about competition issues between the two venues.
"You can tell by the improvements that the Ford Center has to make, we already have that stuff and we're ahead of the curve," she said. "We built a facility that will last for the future."
I really like the last few paragraphs...especially, "You can tell by the improvements that the Ford Center has to make, we already have that stuff and we're ahead of the curve".
ah yes, we must always take our envious jabs at OKC.
man, **** like that makes tulsa look so petty.