Building Visibility for NC’s Restaurant and Lodging Industries
The 2016 North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Expo was one for the books. North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association (NCRLA), the voice of North Carolina’s $22 billion restaurant, foodservice and lodging industry, united the restaurant and lodging industries for a comprehensive program of education and a showcase of the latest products, services and technologies. A new component to the event was the inaugural NC Chef Showdown, which pitted a talented slate of chefs from across the state against each other to crown the NCRLA Chef and Pastry Chef of the Year. NCRLA looked to Largemouth to help attract qualified attendees and profile the industry experts, hotel and restaurant operators and culinary professionals that call North Carolina home.
Largemouth conducted a media relations campaign leading up to the event to garner visibility, which included:
- Leveraging the talented list of speakers to promote the expo in their hometown markets
- Honing in on hot topics in the foodservice and lodging industries
- Positioning NCRLA and the event as a leading source of information in the food and hospitality industries
By utilizing these newsworthy elements, Largemouth tailored the event details for each outlet to build relevance for media to easily share with their audiences.
This year, NCRLA added the NC Chef Showdown to its expo – a competition where chefs partnered with food and drink sponsors to create original dishes and cocktails using North Carolina ingredients. Largemouth focused on profiling the competitors to get the word out about the event, but also invited media members to attend the event, write about their experiences and interview the chefs involved in the competition. By coordinating meet-and-greets and extending invitations in advance, media covered the event in its in entirety, including:
- Pre-Showdown interviews with competing chefs and restaurants
- As-it-happened information
- Post-competition results, highlighting the winners
Largemouth had hospitality and service industry clients participating in the NC Restaurant and Lodging Expo, as well. Live events are a great way to capture engaging content for social channels. For instance, Largemouth leveraged the latest Instagram Stories functionality for Sysco Raleigh, who was cooking some of the juiciest sliders known to man on the showroom floor. Sysco also sponsored various competitors at the NC Chef Showdown, including People’s Choice Savory and People’s Choice Pastry winners, which made for great social engagement opportunities. Another Largemouth client, Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club, had a mixologist competing in the cocktail competition—and won "People’s Choice Specialty Cocktail" with a refreshing cucumber lemonade cocktail using Conniption American Dry gin from locally-based Durham Distillery.
All in all, Largemouth tapped into NCRLA’s industry leaders and unique event activities to drive awareness among industry professionals and tell the stories of the people moving the restaurant and lodging communities forward throughout the state.
If your company or organization has an event on the horizon, give us a ring to generate buzz!
