Artown finds friend in business

As the staff of IntoHomes handed out bags of Cracker Jacks and bottles of water before a showing of "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" at Wingfield Park this month, they were part of a growing number of companies which are creating marketing partnerships with Reno's Artown.

Like other nonprofits in the area, organizers of the fast-growing, eightyear- old Artown say they couldn't pull off their event without big doses of corporate support.

But Artown representatives go farther and try to create events that match the marketing needs of their corporate partners.

IntoHomes, Remax Realty and The David Morris Group, for instance, were looking for a family-oriented event they could sponsor during the month-long event.

Beth Macmillan, festival manager, suggested the three companies split the cost of a $15,000 sponsorship of the films in the park.

That's likely to be a trend, Macmillan said last week, as more small businesses want to join the big corporations that traditionally have sponsored Artown and its 200 events.

Why the growing interest from small businesses? They like the payoff.

"We've had phenomenal success," said Tanya Powell, vice president of IntoHomes.

"We had Realtors come up and say, 'We're going to do business with you now.'"

At the same time, Powell said, sponsorship of the Artown film series helped the company build its reputation for community involvement.

Port of Subs franchisees, meanwhile, found success in a co-marketing plan with Artown.

The sandwich shops created a special "Artown" sandwich and promoted the arts festival in stores and with radio spots.

In turn, Port of Subs was featured on hundreds of thousands of Artown brochures and franchisees sold food during three nights of the festival.

"We wanted to support our local artists," said Shawna Mefford, whose Next Level Marketing represents the Port of Subs franchisees.

"It's been a great investment so far." Somersett, a new golf community, cosponsored Artown's family series, and Marketing Director Michele Attaway said attendance this year doubled from last.

Among the ways Somersett uses Artown, she said, is to treat its residents as VIPs.

Macmillan said Artown isn't willing to simply accept cash donations from the nine organizations that are its headline sponsors or the companies that sponsor individual events.

"We want to be a really good partner and make sure the sponsors achieve their goals and objectives," she said.

That injects a big dose of accountability into the process.

Event sponsors who see a big crowd get immediate feedback on the success of the money they put into Artown.

Macmillan keeps a bag of tricks hand-outs that other sponsors have found successful to spur creative thinking with new sponsors.

A recent favorite? When The Magnolia Companies sponsored the stage production of "Always Patsy Cline," it provided wax lips to everyone in the audience.

And Macmillan climbed up on stage to get a photo of the wax-lipped crowd.