Toronto area influencers are getting an early invite to the village of Elora this year.
Following a marketing strategy that to some was deemed to be too successful during last year’s Christmas shopping season, Kat Florence is once again offering influencers vouchers to spend at local businesses, but this time the promotion will happen in October – Monster Month in Elora.
“It’s a wonderful thing that the town does, and the world needs to know about it,” Kat Florence’s Don Kogen said of Monster Month.
An initiative of Sensational Elora, Monster Month consists of multiple local and visitor attractions, including the Twilight Zoo – featuring Tim Murton’s spooky sculptures, – the Monster March costume parade, Pumpkin Day, the Sensational Soup Off, and more. Sensational Elora, a not-for-profit with a goal of supporting food security programs in Centre Wellington, maintains an online calendar for the month, listing all the local Halloween-themed events and activities.
“This is one of the niches that Elora has,” Kogen said.
But he said considering what a unique event it is, the engagement should be higher, and that’s where the Kat Florence company comes in.
“It’s a wonderful thing that the town does, and the world needs to know about it,” Kogen said.
In an email sent to local businesses on Thursday night, Kogen provided details of the company’s proposed Monster Month promotion, giving business owners 72 hours to decide whether they would opt in .
According to the email, the $250,000 marketing plan would include advertising across multiple platforms, including media, Google, social media and billboards.
It also involves bringing in 200 influencers, each provided with $500 worth of ‘Creepy Cash’ vouchers to use at participating businesses. The businesses that choose to accept the vouchers can then redeem them from Kat Florence for 50 per cent of their value.
For many businesses, it means giving product away at cost in exchange for the potential of having their business promoted on social media.
Based on the responses in Kogen’s email thread, the reaction from businesses has been mixed, but largely positive. Many businesses have opted in, with the few who have opted out stating their profit margins are too small for the venture to make sense for them, but wishing others well.
Kogen said those businesses that opt in will be put on a map that will be provided to influencers so they know where they can use their cash.
He expects the results will be a considerable increase in Monster Month followers on social media.
“I’m going to blow up their Instagram,” said Kogen.
He admitted that the success of the similar marketing campaign used to promote the Elora Christmas Market last year “caught us all off guard,” but said with two months to go there is time to plan ahead for the influx of tourists.
“I’m not asking for permission. I am doing what I think is right,” Kogen said.
He said many of the local businesses depend on tourists to get through the lulls in between tourist seasons.
“If they were just catering to the locals, they’d all be out of business,” Kogen said. “The reason the downtown of Elora is strong is that it’s supported by both.”
He emphasized that the promotion is a Kat Florence initiative and not associated with the Elora BIA or the Township of Centre Wellington.
It is also not a project of Sensational Elora, the organization that organizes Monster Month.
The idea is to build on Monster Month to continue to boost tourism, and in turn support local businesses.
“This is about building Elora as basically a Halloween destination,” said Kogen.
While Sensational Elora has a goal of supporting charitable causes like the food bank, Monster March creator Julie Denneny said supporting local businesses was an early goal of Monster Month.
“We were such a quiet town in October,” said Denneny.
The Monster March parade was an idea she came up with as a volunteer member of the BIA.
She also worked with Tim Murton – whose Twilight Zoo sculptures had already been attracting visitors to Elora – to create a “Scare Fair,” and other events – such as ghost walks, and scary movies – were soon added to the schedule, all with the idea of animating the village at a less-than-busy time of year.
“We got a lot of other people who were willing to do something,” said Denneny.
Asked whether she thought inviting influencers would detract from the local character of the event, Denneny said Monster Month is for everyone who loves Halloween.
“I’m super thrilled for everybody to attend,” she said.
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