New Orleans Wine & Food Experience
Taking a local event to the next level
For over 25 years, the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience (NOWFE) has supported local non-profits focused on culinary education. In order to continue to stay relevant and competitive in the crowded food event category, Innovative worked with NOWFE to refresh the brand - which resulted in its most successful year to date.
The Challenge
- Increase ticket sales overall, but especially for out-of-town visitors (without impeding on the volume of local attendees)
- Increase sponsorship and vendor participation
- Raise awareness of NOWFE's non-profit designation
The Resolution
Since hosting the first NOWFE event in 1992, there had been an explosion of competing food and wine events around the country. In order to stand out, it was determined that a rebrand was needed. Through multiple strategy sessions, Innovative guided NOWFE to three core brand messages that were used throughout all marketing channels:
- NOWFE is a high-end food and wine experience on par with other national events
- NOWFE evokes a sense of New Orleans' culinary heritage and historic landscape
- NOWFE is equally engaging for both food AND wine connoisseurs
The resulting new brand was a New Orleans-inspired, retro/playful design with contemporary, clean lines. The rebrand included logo development, website redesign, collateral redesign, ad development, video production, e-blasts and social media.
A multi-channel media campaign was executed, targeting gourmands, wine connoisseurs, art and music lovers with interests in festivals throughout Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Ads also ran in prime markets with an affinity for New Orleans such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.
The Results
All objectives were achieved:
- All events sold out resulting in an 8% increase in ticket sales and a 5% increase in ticket revenue over the previous year
- 60% of attendees were from Louisiana with 40% coming from out-of-state
- 10% increase in revenue from sponsorships and vendor participation over the previous year
