Events & Promotions
The fun my careers have allowed me to create.
INDY ELEVEN
While at Indy Eleven, I was in charge of all of our events & promotional activities includiing all of our game days for 4 seasons, with 18 games a season. We played in two very different venues in Lucas Oil Stadium & Michael A Carroll Stadium - with two very different experiences for fans and staff alike. The available aspects to build a game day experience that was authentic to the club proved challenging, but at the end of the day - the attendee, the fan, the first-time experience must always be best in class. That does NOT happen by accident, but it happens when you have a PLAN.
Just as importantly, I also implemented additional elements of our game day experience such as:
Customer Service Plan through our Game Day App for immediate response to fans and emergencies in-venue.
Better utiilization of sign-boards and video boards to enhance game day experience.
Built an in-app gameshow to engage fans uncomfortable attending home games during COVID.
First professional sports team in the WORLD to go back to live fan events during COVID.
The club’s most profitable promotions and continued promotions even to date.
Built all of our youth club partnerships to embed Indy Eleven early in soccer for youth and families.
We saw our best attendance to date since the first season of the club, without on-field performance in support.
Enthuse Marketing: Elevated High-End Experiential Events
Influencer events meant to surprise & delight the most influential bars & restaurants east of the Mississippi
A private dinner in the basement of the Polo Club in NYC, which 10 bottles of scotch worth $10k a bottle (or more) for 10 of our high-end bar & restaurant owners created for both a shared experience & opportunity to build long-lasting partnerships by investing in the growth of their businesses in a more meaningful way - growing dayparts, building events and partnering to grow the whole of the business.
I built these events, educated at these events & managed a team of 25 others who did the same.
Indy Eleven Experience (private website)
Private website for recruitment & enhanced athlete experience for Indy Eleven
The aim of the website was always to show the athletes that their experience with club mattered, as did their family’s experiences while with Indy Eleven. The aim was to always be the most professional from a club perspective to rival all of the USL Championship and even the MLS. Players have choices, and its not always about money, & this resource was meant to help players make decisions as to what would be best for them personally & professionally.
Racing Indy Night
Now in its 5th year of promotional use for Indy Eleven, it was a partnership I personally put together with IMS which started in 2019. “Racing Indy FC” was the original desired name for Indy Eleven from the supporters, so it works both as a nod to our city & its racing heritage along with our supporters.
Our largest promotional night to date in Merchandie revenue (& continues to be)
Longest lines we have ever had for merchandise (see below)
First time Indy Eleven was featured in the 500 Festival Parade (over 100k in attendance)
Experimeted with kick-off time to allow fans to prepare for the race the next day.
Airplane banner over the parade to promote the home game!
Great PR assistance from local partners every year.
Gave away 500 Limited Edition IMS/Indy Eleven branded hats
PR assistance ferom Indy Car Drivers: Jack Harvey, Marcus Eriksson, & others!
The Experience
The Game Day Posters
The Merchandise
Coach Martin Rennie & GK Evan Newton take the Honda Indy Car 2-seater
Bob Ross Night
Bob Ross filmed all of his “Joy of Painting” episodes in Muncie, Indiana, & we always look for ways to tie the lcub back to the community in which it plays for. Here are some ways in which we activated this promotion, alomg with Emmy Award winning Nate Heck of Artrageous with Nate.
Iron Maiden
“2 Minutes to Halftime”
What also made this great were the fans of Indy Eleven we know were big Iron Maiden fans we were able to surprise meeting one of their musical idols in founder and bass player, Steve Harris. Afterwards, we all had beverages together and he invited us all the next night to the show at our local, outdoor venue.
Indy Eleven’s Front Office & Coaching Staff vs. Iron Maiden & the Road Crew. What an experience & it drew in new fans & interest to the club! I put together this initiative with their touring agent in the UK to make this happen. It ended up a fantastic PR play for Indy Eleven as it lit up all of the soccer world bringing attention to our club.
Grateful Dead Night
First Professional Soccer Team to host one!
Soccer fans and Dead Fans are very similar, and after talking to sveral MLB teams, we knew we had a great idea. I had a LOT iof internal pushback on this idea only to have it become (at the time) the largest night we had ever done in merchandise sales.
We offered a Premium poster pack with tickets as a pre-sale item, and the posters alone were on Ebay the next day for 4x their paid value. We had a Dead cover band play prior, and tye-dye & good energy was interwoven throughout the evening thorugh the experience along with great music all night!
Indy Eleven Cares
Our commitment to our community
During the pandemic, we wanted to find a way to both support our partner Community Health Network in an impactful way. We created the Indy Eleven Cares line with procedes supporting the Community Health Foundation, which provided housing and support for trauma/emergency nurses so they did not have to go home and expose their families to sickness.
I build this initiative working remotely from home, as we did not sit idle during the pandemic, but found it to be an obligation to our fans to drive more engagement.
SWAG Awards
Southern Glazers Awards Gala
The SWAG Awards were our internal awards at Southern Glazers. As the Director of Training & Education, I was in charge of creating this event from scratch - including the awarded catagories, the qualifications, the nomination process, the budget, location, hosting, run of show, & ran the committee for the planning of this event. I know how to put together and plan events - at scale.
SWIRL Indiana
…and because I know how to do so, we also built our first ever supplier-driven spirits & wine trade show at Southern Glazers. Modeled after events such as South Beach Food & Wine Festival, we built & created an event for our consumers & guests - where I also was in charge of our booth (Bacardi) I also help build the event (again from scratch). This event toook place in the Indianapolis market fro 2013-2016.
WCRD “B91 Benefit Bash” (1996)
WCRD is the campus radio station at Ball State University. WCRD started in 1988 with funding from David Letterman. The station gives students hands-on learning experiences in radio broadcasting. I put together their first-ever local all-day concert festival on campus coordinating all BSU resources such as security, staging, lighting & sound, permitting, planning, promotion and execution of the event - even after a rain out on the planned dates, but had a rain date that worked in our favor for as very successful event!
University Program Board (1997-1998)
While at Ball State University, I was lucky enough to spend more of the university’s money that I did to attend there as the Director of Events for the University. Here were some of the events I personally built, created, booked and promoted while still in college. I reviewed, redlined and implemented riders & contracts, built security plans, operational aspects, & venue management
Student Center Comedy Series (up-and-coming comedians at the time)
Adam Sandler (sold out in 5 minutes)
George Clinton & the P Funk All-Stars
UPB Last Blast (featuring Big Bad Voodoo Daddy)
Homecoming Events
