Every holiday season, the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds hosts its annual Tampa Bay Festival of Lights & Santa’s Village, which envelops guests in an enchanting winter wonderland that features more than one million lights. Guests drive along a nearly two-mile route of continuous lights, followed by a festive walking visit to Santa’s Village. Designed to appeal to all ages and backgrounds, the elaborate light displays have Florida and traditional winter holiday themes and are complemented by individual presentations representing Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
After several years of hosting the event with an outside producer, the Greater Hillsborough County Fair Association decided to produce the event in house. However, the previous producer retained the rights to the event name and secured a new location just 45 minutes away. Consequently, the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds team needed a new name for their event and a strategic communications plan to ensure attendance would meet or exceed previous years.
Osprey Nest was hired to develop an integrated communications plan designed to leverage the success of previous years’ events and introduce the newly branded, enhanced experience to current and new fans. With a focus on differentiating the event from the previous year and the competing event nearby, the goal was to introduce the public to the new and improved Tampa Bay Festival of Lights & Santa’s Village and drive attendance that equaled or exceeded the 2020 figures.
We implemented an integrated communications strategy featuring compelling storytelling moments from the event’s announcement through closing day to drive ticket sales. By utilizing descriptive language and factual details, we highlighted the event’s extensive changes and showcased the enhanced, elevated, immersive experience featuring larger-than-life displays. We produced a photo and video shoot, developing assets to a content strategy aligned with our overall communications plan and key messages. We also developed a traditional advertising campaign targeting local media providing clear information to the identified consumer base.
As a result of our initial work in 2021, attendance exceeded expectations, and the event garnered unprecedented media coverage, including stories on all major TV stations and in the Tampa Bay Times and local Osprey Observer. For the first time, we attracted influencer engagement that also drove awareness of the event. We continue our collaboration with this client, and in 2024 we were named Agency of Record for all the client’s self-produced events.
We craft a comprehensive communications strategy that ensures your brand message remains consistent across all your marketing channels.
We help build relationships between your brand and the media to tell your story in a positive way to your target customer.
Tampa Bay, Florida
Charlotte, North Carolina