Games-At-Water

Atwater Chamber of Commerce Event Pitch

Business & Marketing

Period 5
 Games-At-Water, a city wide event, is an event made to promote the city of Atwater.

Through the use of interactive activities that include both businesses and the public, Games-At-

Water is meant to show the people, both local and non-local, what Atwater has to offer. By giving

this event the fun theme of board games, which most everyone loves, we’re hoping to get as

many people out and about to explore the city and show them what we have to offer. Games-At-

Water the event itself will be a one day thing, however it is something that be talked about for

days before and be remembered for days even years after. Unlike other city events like the

Fourth of July parade and the Christmas parade, this event is meant to celebrate the city of

Atwater. It will not be a one-location thing, in fact it will have a total of 4 locations which we

hope to have things going on at.

Games-At-Water is meant to be for everyone, however we’d like to target families. Often

at events it is most common to see parents coming with their kids, so by reaching these families a

good outcome is expected. This event can benefit most everyone in the community, more

specifically local businesses. Through participating in Games-At-Water, businesses will be able

to promote and publicize their business, while also helping to show how good of a city Atwater

is. Also, by promoting the local shopping it will help to keep money circulating within the city

which in the long run benefits everyone who lives in the city, not only businesses. So, families

can come out and bond while shopping together while also exploring to see the hidden treasures

our city has. According to the survey “Atwater Event Survey” made by Atwater High’s business

and marketing class, almost sixty-percent of people in Atwater agree Atwater has “too few,”

events, so this event is a start to changing that. Games-At-Water is not only an event meant to

promote local shopping, but also an event meant to help families bond and come together to

participate in low-cost activities for the whole family.

Atwater is small, but the city has a lot to offer. By making Games-At-Water a city wide

event, this gives people a chance to really drive around and get to know the city. According to the
same survey by the business class, around seventy-five percent of people are willing to drive

around Atwater to participate in this event. Respondents were also asked to vote on potential

locations for this event, and the top four most voted were Castle Air Force Base, Ralston Park,

Target shopping center, and the Save Mart shopping center. With the help of this data, it was

concluded that these four sites would be most fitting for this event. Although this event will

focus on only four locations, there will be flyers and posters with information on this event

throughout all of Atwater. However, there will also be a facebook page with more specifics for

this event and a place for additional questions.

Games-At-Water will have a board game theme, hence the name. The theme of board

games is a fun, well-known theme that also calls people's attention. Everyone has played or at

least knows what a board game is, so it is a theme that can attract people. More specifically, this

theme is a family based theme that will attract families because board games are meant to be a

family thing, like this event, and it will also attract children, because well they love games. With

this theme one can go many directions, however because Games-At-Water is a four location

event, each location will have its assigned board game to go along with it. It is preferred that the

board game has some relation to what the section will offer. For example, Ralson Park which

will be the food court will have be assigned to Candyland, and the Castle Air Force base will be

assigned to Battleship.

As mentioned before, Games-At-Water will target families. Going more into specifics,

this event will target mostly local residents, because it is trying to promote local shopping. The

market segment for this event is people with kids, because we want them to come out and bring

their kids with them. This market in particular has a steady trend. Because this event is

interactive, fun, and will be based off middle-income prices, targeting families is the most fit.

There will be various different activities offered, but every location will have something for the

whole family,
 In terms of how this event will go, our biggest strength would be our involved

community. Businesses and local residents are often involved in events, so a good outcome is

expected. However, our weakness would also include businesses and local residents because of

our population is small and Atwater is surrounded by small cities, meaning even if the outcome

is good it will be small. Our opportunities are the promotion of local shopping and local

businesses. And because our event is outdoor, one of our threats could be bad weather. Other

threats may include lack of funding and other events going on the same day.

Political factors that can affect our events are very limited, but the most alarming ones

that may affect the event plans are laws and tax policies. Economic factors that can come into

play when planning this event is our budgeting and how much we can do with the funding we

have. Social factors include the size of the community, which is small, and the people that are

willing to come out and participate. And lastly, technological factors that affect this event are

plans to how people will transit smoothly from location to location, and more research to see

what the people would really want to see offered.

Because of how big Games-At-Water is planned to be, sponsors are key to having it

happen. Potential sponsors for this event include stores like Walmart, Save Mart, Envy, and local

banks like Merced School Employees Federal Credit Union. Some promotion tactics that will be

used to attract customers are word of mouth, advertising, social media, and the radio. One form

of promotion that can really be beneficial in more ways than one is G.A.W cash. The way this

works is local businesses will give “cash” coupons in the weeks following up to the event when

people shop at these stores, which the people can then redeem on the day of the event for fun

souvenirs like t-shirts and mugs depending on how much “cash” they save up. Through using

this tactic, not only will it encourage more people to come out, because the cash is only

redeemable on this day, but it also encourages people to shop local in order to receive more “cash

back” coupons.
 Our G.A.W cash is cost free, and it’s one of our main promotional tactics. Radio stations

are often sponsoring events as well, so it is hoped they’ll agree to promote Games-At-Water as

well, meaning radio promotions will come free. Word of mouth and social media is also free, and

are the two other main source of promotion. This event will also be posted on newspaper ads

which will most sixty dollars, because it is going to be on a large fraction of the paper.

In terms of regulations there are a few that will need to be addressed. The food truck law

is one of them, as they’re not allowed within the Atwater City area. The food court section

(Ralston Park) is relying on booths as well as different trucks, so this law would need to be

addressed and worked with. In order to secure these locations, we’d need to work with the city as

well as officials to make sure everything is set in advance to avoid any complications.

Because Games-At-Water will cost money to plan, it will also cost businesses. There will

be a pre-set blueprint for each location, which each business will then look at and if they wish to

participate they will pay for the spot they wish to be located at. Each spot will have different

prices, and businesses can pay extra for additional add ons like mentions in the flyer and extra

space to make their spot bigger. The cost of space in the event will range from one hundred to

three hundred dollars. Additional add ons will also have ranging prices like fifty to be mentioned

in the flyer or an extra twenty for every additional square foot.

Games-At-Water will offer various kinds of entertainment, as it’s meant to be an event for

the whole family. Because every location will have it’s designated board game and “specialty” in

terms of what is offered, there will be different kinds of entertainments at every location. The

Target-Applegate shopping center will hold the most forms of entertainment, as it will be the fun

zone. In this area there will be many different kinds of entertainment some of them being jump

houses, carnival games, face painting, mommy and me classes, and possibly even a small go-kart

center. The Ralston park will be a food center where there will be various kinds of food booths

and trucks all ranging from your typical american food to chinese food to taco trucks. There may
even be cooking classes and a small farmers market going on in this section. While people are

eating and browsing around the food, there will of course be music playing (maybe even a live

band). The Save Mart center will be in the form of a small shopping center. There will be

different booths that sell stuff ranging from clothes, to home decorations, to car stuff. On the

side, there may also be a car show going on for the dads, as they often don’t like to shop with

their wives. Finally, the finally for this event will take place at the Castle Air Base, where it will

be converted into a theater. Here there will be a movie playing (maybe even two of different

genres) and possibly also a firework show at the end of it all.

There isn’t a specific list to what businesses will be included in this event, however we’d

like to get as many local businesses as possible and the whole point of Games-At-Water is to

promote local shopping. Months in advance word will be spread and there will be posts on

Facebook and maybe even someone going into different businesses to see who would like to

participate. Businesses will then have the chance to sign up if they wish to be a part of the event.

And of course, both the Atwater Police and Fire Departments will be invited out, as they are who

keep our city safe.

We plan to have a wide selection of food. We’ll have multiple different booths and trucks

ranging from mexican food and chinese food to wings and bbq. Ralston park will be the food

court, and similar to the Fourth of July parade we’d like to have various different options all

lined up with each other. On the side, there will also be a small farmers market for people that

are seeking fresh foods.

We are going to have community helpers that volunteer in helping us run this event. This

would also help save money. We can spread the word throughout the school and see who would

be interested in helping. The money that we save from getting volunteers instead of paying

someone can be used to get more activities for the event.

We would like to have other people helping out as well. Businesses who are going are in
charge of their in own booths and to clean up for themselves. For the main event itself we would

want volunteers to help clean and set up along with the staff. People looking to get community

service hours can come out and help at this event.

The budget for this event would be $10,000. To cover our expenses, the businesses that

chose to come out will pay for their booths and give a small percentage of their earnings. We can

fundraise over time and we are also hoping to get some donations in both money and services. To

measure if this event was a success, there would be more than 500 people that will come out,

there will also be an increase in local shopping and we will at least get $5,000 in profit.