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1998 MAXI Awards
Travel to Trolley!
Trolley Square
Salt Lake City
Trolley Square, a historic landmark and festival marketplace, lies a mile from downtown Salt Lake City, with its wealth of entertainment and dining options, hotels and a new convention center.
In 1997, 200 conventions drew 250,000 attendees, who spent $227 million in Salt Lake City. The challenge for Trolley Square was to tap into that lucrative business, convincing conventioneers to pass up the many offerings within walking distance and travel to Trolley Square.
OBJECTIVES
1) To increase the number of convention-related events, hosting at least one a month. 2) To stimulate at least $50,000 in retail sales each month from such events. 3) To garner $600 a month in space-rental income. 4) To offer merchants opportunities to cater the events or offer attendees shopping incentives. 5) To provide full reception services for visitor groups. 6) To develop tourism strategies in anticipation of the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics.
IMPLEMENTATION
Since Trolley Square's expertise was in retailing, its team sought out a partner that would bring to it the expertise needed to pursue and organize special events on site. It contacted Western Leisure Inc. (WLI), a company that had successfully handled a large reception at Trolley Square the previous year. The parties agreed to a cooperative marketing effort to promote Trolley Square as a venue for special events and destination for tour groups. WLI would exclusively represent Trolley Square for tourism and convention-related activities, promoting it as a site to the tour and meetings industry, while Trolley Square would forward all requests regarding special events and tourism to WLI.
The deal brought Trolley Square a complete tourism department at no cost. In addition to promoting Trolley Square, WLI could handle every detail of a special event, from arranging transportation and rentals, planning tours and incentives, and coordinating entertainment, to coming up with decorating ideas. WLI's profit would come from a competitive markup on Trolley Square's use fees; a WLI study showed those fees could easily be increased. WLI would be responsible for all accounting, collections, and maintenance of records.
WLI committed a full-time staff member to promoting Trolley Square, including telemarketing to prospective clients and promoting it at trade shows for the tour and meetings industry.
RESULTS
By the end of March 1998 -- within a month of the agreement -- WLI and Trolley Square had booked 12 receptions for the year, which would bring more than 6,000 attendees to the center. With the events averaging 500 guests, who each spend an average of $100 on site, the receptions would add $500,000 in retail sales.
The events booked so far for 1998 will add $10,350 in rental fees to Trolley Square's bottom line. Trolley Square's restaurants catered some of the smaller affairs, boosting their sales and exposure. More than 30% of the center's merchants offered sales-driving incentives to attendees.
Within a month of the agreement with WLI, two Olympic sponsors inquired about renting Trolley Square for events during the 2002 Olympics, which alone could generate $150,000 in rental fees. Trolley Square is now well-positioned to attract out-of-town visitors and maximize its income.
CREDIT
Owned and managed by: Simon DeBartolo Group.
Professional recognition to: Jeanie Hanks Van Amen, CMD, marketing director; Douglas O'Brien, CSM, CMD, general manager; Dawn Katter, office administrator; Steve Hampton, operations director.
Expenses
Services exchanged.
