HRO Boulder Summer Party Series

 

HRO Boulder held annual summer parties for clients. The tradition began in 2005 and was that office’s signature events. The first two years, I simply created print invitations and attendance was respectable ... about 200-250 guests. Although the invites were fun and interesting, I felt a need to create something special for this event ... a tradition within a tradition, something that would really get the attention of our target market. My goal was to creatively sustain the positive relationships the firm had built with key clients in the Boulder business community. Opportunity for individual interaction with guests was the ultimate goal, but to achieve that opportunity, we first needed to spark a desire in them to attend.

The demographic delineation of these clients, although somewhat varied, would generally be considered well educated and tech-savvy. I decided to start focusing each year on our attorneys, drawing them in to the process with a theme that was timely and “in the news’’... and then have some fun with it. The attorneys started to feel some ownership of this event because of their active participation. We started reminding the audience that the party was coming early ... over a month before the event, we sent out teaser save the date information to build up the buzz. I knew the audience would “get the joke” and appreciate being a part of the “in” crowd ... or in this case, the “invited” crowd.

In 2008, we decided to spoof the “Going Green” movement, getting key Boulder attorneys to pose blowing colorful pinwheels ... with a headline of “HRO has been green even before green was cool ... our attorneys have ALWAYS been wind-powered” ... we then wove that tongue-in-cheek approach to the green movement throughout every aspect of the party, from signage to food to setting up a photo area to take “tree hugger” photos of the guests posing with the beautiful trees in Chautauqua. In 2009, once the recession hit and the business community was feeling pretty down in the dumps, we offered up the theme of “bounce back” ... with a video featuring our
attorneys bouncing on pogo sticks, on bouncy balls, with paddleballs, and juggling. We sent out the invites electronically with the video attached, and played the video during the party. Again, we sprinkled the theme throughout the evening. Another big hit! Then, in 2010, we played off of the success of Avatar and the 3-D craze that followed, with our HRO Boulder Summer Party Blockbuster ... Bigger, Better, Badder ... and NOW IN 3D! We used a green screen and filmed our attorneys interacting with famous movie scenes. We set up a pretend movie theater and had them play it out in that environment too. I directed them to act in certain ways, and then we incorporated them into the appropriate scenes. We sent out a save-the-date teaser video via email, and followed that with the full-length invite.

 

We played the video at the party, had behind-the-scenes photos of the shoots displayed, and purchased life-sized cutouts of movie characters to display at the event. This was the hugest and most successful party to date! Guests stayed late, talked with each other, laughed a lot, and interacted with our attorneys. Three business deals were closed at the party. Success! 

 

Over a three-year period, by thoughtfully creating a memorable experience from start to finish, we more than doubled attendance at these important events, and created THE party of the summer for the Boulder business community, generating buzz, soft-selling our brand, and creating the best possible platform for our attorneys to develop business .