Giant BBQ Battle came to Emerson Street Media with a multitude of external communications needs and our team delivered on all fronts. Through effective social media management, influencer partnership coordination, and earned media placements in top local and national outlets including CBS and NBC National News, The Washington Post, Northern Virginia Magazine, and many others, Emerson Street Media increased awareness of the Giant BBQ Battle to its target audiences which resulted in soaring ticket sales. Even with an unprecedented heat wave, the 32nd Annual Giant BBQ Battle was a tremendous success.

Our team sprang into action and began developing a strategic communications campaign with the objective of strengthening and expanding Giant BBQ Battle’s brand awareness across the DMV and beyond. We created an overall communications calendar that served as the blueprint for our tactics. We devised individual strategies for media relations outreach, social media management and influencer engagement to ensure we were reaching each of our target audiences. Once these strategies were developed, we began executing to reach our goals of increasing both brand awareness and ticket sales.

Organization was key to the success of this partnership, so this was a major priority for our team. We maintained organized files and collateral which was absolutely critical when undertaking a project of this size. Our team also sustained open communication with Giant Food and key partners that were instrumental in coordinating public relations activities. Being flexible and pivoting were essential with so many moving parts to this campaign.

We were tasked with coordinating the project management and planning, social media management, influencer outreach, media relations, digital marketing, videography and photography. With less than five months until the event, the countdown was on and we had to move quickly.

Throughout our partnership, Emerson Street Media crafted over 400 social media posts across Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok, and increased Giant BBQ Battle’s social media followers by 26.7% from the previous year. We secured over 675 earned and paid media placements with a potential audience of 108,282,300 people and a publicity value of over $1.2 million. Our team conceptualized and produced 10 videos for use on the Giant BBQ Battle website and social media promotion of the event. In addition, we supported the digital marketing team and saw unrivaled website sessions. With the support of our team, the Giant BBQ Battle attracted over 80,000 attendees, a 540% increase in downtown tourism over a non-typical event weekend, according to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.