FestivALL - Great or Successful? 10 Ways to Decide

FestivALL was great. You'd find few who would argue anything to the contrary. Given such, was it successful? Did it meet its goals and hit its performance parameters?

I have not seen those numbers, but as a results-driven marketing guy focused on measurement and accountability, here are the things I want to know (for the sake of enabling it to become even greater):

1- How did people hear about FestivALL (especially first-timers) ... did it reach more customers through earned media, through advertising or Web-based marketing?

2- How many people attended the street fair?

3- How many people visited FestivALL for the first time ... how many returning customers?
4- How many people attended more than one event?
5- How many out-of-state visitors did we attract?
6- Did anyone conduct any clipboard-capture interviews to assess customer satisfaction?
7- What did the typical visitor spend, on average?
8- How many people exchanged Twitter messages with the @FestivALL rep?
9- How many folks viewed the event Web site ... and how many posted a comment?
10- Finally--how many people were so moved or engaged as to refer FestivALL to others?

If you live in the Greater Charleston region, or if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you've heard about FestivALL and perhaps seen a few photos from me. Simply put, it is Charleston's summer festival. Truly, FestivALL has something for everyone. As a resident of Charleston, I felt that FestivALL was great. It would be hard to recall a more fun, active and energetic week than last week's FestivALL. There's a positive energy, a buzz about town, that is palpable. I love that feeling! And it fuels my civic pride.

We enjoyed an amazing ArtWalk with 20 participating galleries, featuring the work of twice as many local artists. The downtown streets were crawling with artists, patrons and supporters of the arts! Moving from the fine arts to the performing arts ... we took in a performance by Savion Glover, the world's best tapdancer/percussionist, at our amazing venue The Clay Center. Also last week, we enjoyed a street fair with three city blocks worth of fun, food, families, arts and performances. See Rick Lee's awesome photo chronicle. As if that weren't enough, we jammed out at Blues, Brews & BBQs on Friday, followed by a fabulous Wine and All That Jazz outing on Saturday night, with both events on the beautiful lawn at University of Charleston, along the banks of the Kanawha River.

So was it great ... or was FestivALL successful? I hope someone is addressing those all-too-important marketing questions noted above. And I hope the answer is: it was both ... great and successful!

PS - If FestivALL needs a marketing partner to help address such questions, gather the data, analyze it and work the findings into a strategic marketing plan, please contact me (e-mail to skip at maplecreative dot com) or any one of my colleagues at Maple Creative!

Photo credit: Charleston Gazette (top photo)