B-to-C Events

Now in its third year, TopSpin, a ping-pong tournament and fundraising event for the professional sports industry, has expanded from New York City to include events in Chicago, San Francisco, and at least one other city, yet to be determined. On Dec. 8 in New York City, the group hosted more than 200 players and 1,000 guests in a loft in SoHo where they played, partied and raised money.

Food marketers have always known that the best way to get consumers to buy their products is to give them a taste of their goods. Now, marketers in other categories are giving consumers a taste of their products, too, by putting them in their hands to see how they work and what they feel like. In one case, they literally tried them on for size.

To help promote its Party in the Box offering (which includes five Bruvado Mexican beers and five shots of either bourbon or tequila), Bruvado Imports is tapping into Motorsports events. On Nov. 19, it sponsored TriStar Motorsports and driver Mike Bliss at the Miami-Homestead NASCAR Nationwide. Leading up to the race, Bruvado spread the word of its sponsorship with five-day activations at local accounts.

In this monthly series, EM brings you tips and tricks from pros and experts who’ve been eating social media marketing for breakfast. So eat up, and check us out on Twitter @eventmarketer and facebook.com/eventmarketer for more.

To showcase the versatility of cotton and position cotton as high-end fashion, the trade group Cotton Inc. last month sponsored a 24-hour live fashion show in Miami’s trendy South Beach area. Beginning at noon on Nov. 19 and running until noon the next day, the show featured one fashion “look” per minute for a total of 1,440 outfits that highlighted cotton as a fabric that is fashionable night and day. Each of the 24 hours presented themed categories of cotton apparel such as “pajama party” and “urban chic.”