The Challenge

The National Fried Chicken Festival, produced by Spears Group, needed to transform from a local New Orleans event into a nationally recognized culinary celebration. They partnered with Performance First Digital to develop and execute a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that would dramatically increase attendance and engagement.

The Partnership

The Performance First Digital team was brought on board to manage the festival’s digital presence and enhance outreach. This partnership has been crucial in promoting the event through various digital channels, helping the festival achieve its impressive attendance numbers. Together, we’ve created a blueprint for scaling local events into national attractions.

Our Comprehensive Strategy

Performance First Digital implemented a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that played a pivotal role in driving attendance at the National Fried Chicken Festival. Our efforts spanned various digital platforms and channels, to maximize awareness and engagement.

Geo-Targeted Display Advertising

A significant component of our approach was to use display advertising with geo-fencing, which targeted audiences in key locations. Our strategic focus included:

• Top Raising Cane’s locations across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama
• 30 vendor spots around New Orleans
• Popular beer-centric locations
• Major venues like the Superdome and Smoothie King Center

Social Media Campaigns

We ran campaigns on Meta to boost event awareness and drive ticket sales. These campaigns were divided into awareness, event response, and mid-funnel efforts, resulting in millions of impressions.

Our social strategy delivered:

• Brand awareness initiatives
• Event response campaigns that exceeded industry norms
• Targeted engagement efforts
• Search engine marketing efforts, which targeted users searching for festival-related keywords, performed exceptionally well

Email Marketing Excellence

Email marketing, while smaller in scale, was another crucial element of the strategy. Our approach included:

• Targeted e-blasts to previous festival attendees
• Registrants from related events, such as Dinner en Blanc and Savor
• Custom audience segments

This helped maintain a loyal base of attendees and encouraged repeat visits from individuals already familiar with the festival.

Creative Optimization

Performance First Digital constantly refined our approach based on real-time data to keep audience engagement high. We continuously monitored and adjusted ad designs based on performance data to achieve the best results. Our optimization efforts included:

• Animated creatives that featured live entertainment highlights
• Varying ad sizes
• More urgent calls to action (such as “Skip the Line with a VIP Ticket”)

These adjustments not only enhanced engagement but also contributed to a better overall user experience, making it easier for potential attendees to feel connected to the festival.

Impact and Results

Our combined strategy of targeted advertising, social media campaigns, and data-driven optimization resulted in consistently breaking attendance records each year.

What started as a local New Orleans food festival has now become a nationally recognized culinary destination, attracting food enthusiasts from across the country. The results speak for themselves:

• Over 128,000 attendees!
• Consistent year-over-year growth
• Expanded regional recognition
• Enhanced brand visibility

Looking Forward

This success story demonstrates the power of a well-executed digital strategy in driving real-world event outcomes, highlighting how the right partnership can turn a local event into a cultural phenomenon. As we continue to refine our approach, we look forward to breaking more records and creating new milestones for the festival.

Want to learn how we can create similar results for your event or brand? Contact Performance First Digital today for a consultation.