Sweet Surprise Dinner

aOne of the biggest challenges in public relations is to continue to capture and increase interest among our audiences – one of the hardest audiences being media. So how do you host a media dinner in the center of a major global media hub filled with influential writers who are constantly invited to multiple dinners a night?

With this challenge in mind, the NC Sweet Potato Team decided to add an element of surprise. On behalf of the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission (NCSP), we partnered with Dinner Lab, a social dining experiment uniting undiscovered chefs with adventurous diners. Our team reached out to local media with a lone promise: enjoy a delicious, one-of-a-kind dining experience. What was our selling point? The air of mystery – mystery chef, mystery pop-up venue, mystery menu (with sweet potatoes of course).

Turns out, suspense wins! Held in a vacant factory penthouse lit up by skylight windows, the dinner was attended by more food editors and bloggers than we expected (fortunately no one had to sacrifice a seat).  Dinner Lab sold out tickets to consumers who exclaimed the dinner was “one of the best events ever had in NYC!”

From cocktails to gazpacho, chicken liver to pork belly, the dinner wowed media, consumers and our client with the unique sweet potato applications. The dinner was truly a delicious success!

c b

For future media events, here are 3 things to keep in mind to preserve that element of surprise:

dOur Sweet Surprise Supper reconfirmed that the “Surprise and Delight” trend is still a powerful marketing tool, especially when targeting an audience that has attended, eaten and seen it all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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