Sometimes I get to have a lot of fun in my job!
I have been working with the Jackson Downtown Development Corporation (JDDC) for a few months now and we are having a blast! In December, JDDC was planning their second annual Griswold Family Christmas. It’s a fun event where folks get together, have a catered dinner, and watch the holiday classic: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
While brainstorming how to promote this video, we decided someone needed to dress up like Cousin Eddie … well … in our case he was nicknamed Cousin “Neddy” (for those not in the know, the theater that the event was held in is called the Ned).
We started with a shout out on social media for someone with an appropriate RV to volunteer to be in the video shoot. Through the power of social, it turns out we had a friend one circle out that had the perfect vehicle that tied with the elements of the Cousin Eddie look. The pieces of the video came together perfectly!
This video did three things well:
- It surprised people. The thumbnail is someone dressed as cousin Eddie, which is pretty surprising. Even more so when the audience realizes it’s someone many folks in Jackson know. Surprise from a carefully selected frame helped get people to stay with the video.
- It was funny. The humor of someone in that getup and pulling off the character kept people around for the video. This was all Matt. He played his part perfectly!
- It helped sell tickets! We sold tickets for this event and this video helped do it! Becuase of the interaction on the video, it helped the organic reach of the video. Then, when we applied the ad budget, it went even further! Lots of people saw the video which helped us sell those tickets. It will also help us in the future when we retarget folks who have previously interacted with JDDC on Facebook!
