Portland’s Cinco de Mayo Fiesta is Oregon’s largest multicultural festival. And this year, Portland Guadalajara Sister City Association (PGSCA) and Treadway Events presented the 36th annual event May 5-7 at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland, Oregon. The bilingual event featured performances by diverse talent and special attractions, including food and craft vendors, games, and more.
IZO’s role in the event was to work with Treadway Events to raise awareness of the Fiesta among its target audience through traditional advertising channels, social media, and public relations methods. The goal was to rebuild on the work executed in years past on the event. Continue reading and find out how!
Communication and Planning
To get off to a good start, a marketing and public relations plan was created and developed that included comprehensive marketing, advertising, and communications. By creating an editorial calendar for social media, press releases, and crisis communications, the team could deliver creative bilingual content that resonated with the target audience and aligned with their values.
According to this experience, identifying key moments to promote an event and studying the consistency of communication to offer an authentic and rewarding experience in both English and Spanish is crucial. In this case, it’s important to act as an operational translation extension of the event organizers, collaborating with Treadway Events to translate and transcreate brochures, radio spots, vendor emails, and social media content to ensure a bilingual event with broad reach and accessibility.
Consistency
IZO executed a strategy of publishing three social media posts per week per month on three different platforms before the event. Live social media coverage was provided through videos, photos, and interviews during the event. Aiming to keep the community’s energy up and promote the entire activities calendar.
From ticket sales to sponsorship opportunities, the event was developed thoroughly and punctually. This provided a comprehensive overview and a holistic approach to the Fiesta. This year’s Portland Cinco de Mayo Fiesta continued to be a bilingual and multicultural event.
Influential Sources
The objective was to create a positive Cinco de Mayo experience through media outlets that publicized the event among the Latino community in the state of Oregon and also among the community as a whole. Through collaborative communication, press releases were also sent to different media outlets in Spanish and English, including television, radio, and print media.
Collaborating with artists, talents, and influencers to promote and highlight various aspects of the Fiesta was also instrumental in facilitating Spanish and English media outlets in Oregon to coordinate live interviews on location.
If you’re promoting an event, don’t forget that identifying the target audience will be decisive in defining the scope of the messages, both in English and Spanish. Focus on keeping it simple when communicating in more than one language to avoid errors in translation and communication of the message. Make use of all the resources and possibilities that relationships and social networks can offer and many times free of charge.
From ticket sales to sponsorship opportunities, the event was developed thoroughly and punctually. This provided a comprehensive overview and a holistic approach to the Fiesta. This year’s Portland Cinco de Mayo Fiesta continued to be a bilingual and multicultural event.
