Scoop San Diego is the region’s first and only ice cream festival. For the second year of its festival, Scoop San Diego hired the social media team to build on the success of its inaugural event (which sold out in weeks and generated hundreds of thousands in revenue for its nonprofit partner). COVID-19 almost upended the entire game plan for the 2020 in-person event, until we worked to come up with a virtual foodie festival that brought the community together and supported small businesses suffering from the pandemic’s shutdown. The festival lineup featured limited-edition ice cream flavors, virtual events like “Sweet Talk Q&As” with local shops and “Tour de Ice Cream.”

Pivoting from an in-person to virtual festival

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Scoop San Diego to cancel its in-person event, Mixte presented a unique opportunity to launch an innovative, virtual foodie festival in support of local ice cream and gelato shops suffering from the pandemic’s shutdowns. We organized a weeklong virtual festival, chock-full of exclusive Q&As with local ice cream and gelato shop owners, ice cream float classes, Instagram takeovers, and more.

Tapping into pre-existing foodie communities 

In order to maximize Scoop San Diego’s social media footprint, we pitched to local social media influencers to help promote the virtual festival in the month leading up to the event to target audiences. We created a social media toolkit and ultimately engaged 19 influencers to promote Scoop San Diego leading up to and during Ice Cream Relief Week.

We also launched a digital storytelling campaign that shared the history and little-known facts of local ice cream and gelato shops via 15 virtual live streams, 1 pre-recorded video with a foodie influencer and a special Instagram DJ set. This campaign uplifted the stories of Scoop San Diego, local ice cream shops and HomeStart (its nonprofit partner) to create a powerful narrative around the organization’s impact in the community.

What we learned: Patience during times of uncertainty

We had to adapt to unprecedented times along with our clients – from struggling small businesses searching for a way forward at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; to social media influencers (as well as Scoop San Diego’s) navigating its online response to the call to stand in solidarity with and amplify the Black Lives Matter movement. From these insights, we were able to adjust our expectations of stakeholders and work with Scoop SD to craft its response as well as parameters for future influencer partnerships.

We won the following awards for our work at the 2020 Bernays:

• 1 Bronze Merit Award of Excellence in “Creative Tactics”
• 1 Bronze Award of Excellence in “Social/Digital Media”
• 1 Silver Merit Award in “Campaigns: Social/Digital Media”
• 1 Silver Award of Excellence in “Campaigns: Events and Observances – Less Than Seven Days, Business”

Effective PR that brings results is crucial, especially now. If reading this sparked any ideas, or if you’re interested in connecting with us, shoot us a message!