Ice Rink eventing can find little to equal the romantic Valentine theme Ice-Magic creates. What better way to help people remember your brand, your event, your movie launch, your ‘wrapping up’ party than to remind everyone of love’s irrepressible magic? You’re looking at a win-win when people are already ‘in the mood’.
Trading on serendipity – where one thing was expected but something else discovered is a prudent marketing approach. Luring people in using love and romance is by no means new, but it still works. February is Valentine’s month, so you’re halfway there already. Planning now for romantic 2021 events complete with ice rinks is also a sensible thing to do.
Let’s do it together.
HOW SERENDIPITY HAPPENS FOR EVENTS WITH ICE RINKS
Skating around an outdoor ice rink with snowflakes that stay on the nose and eyelashes was a scene in the 2001 John Cusack movie, Serendipity. Leading Lady Sara, played by Kate Beckinsale, later looks down onto the open-air ice rink where she and Cusack, Jon in the movie, spontaneously played a game of “What’s your favourite…”. All the emotions she felt returned to her and coloured her reality.
Now imagine your event attendees looking onto an outdoor ice rink and recalling the event you hosted for which you hired from Ice-Magic (nudge-nudge). They will be remembering the snowflakes that fell gently at your event with an ice rink while your skilful branding and music coaxed everyone into fun and romance.
As Maya Angelou well said, “At the end of the day, people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” That’s something no algorithm can match. Serendipity is what happens when ‘what transpires is not necessarily what was being looked for.’
When Ice-Magic puts a romantic event with ice rinks together with a Valentine’s theme, for example, the people attending will obviously acknowledge your brand or special event but what will make yours memorable and unmissable in the future, is how you made them feel, how you romanced them.
HOW STORYTELLING TRANSFORMS EVENTS WITH ICE RINKS
Another thing people remember besides how you made them feel are stories. Again, striking the emotive chord, the power of storytelling is often overlooked at events. Movies must tell a good story if they are to hit the box office. Guaranteed at any moviemakers’ event, stories form a large part of the occasion.
A good story will not only be retold countless times but so will the event with ice rinks where they heard it, also be named. Need we say more? Here are some tips Jenny Stanfield outlined on the subject:
- Creativity – this is your part, so you need to do this well. Stanfield suggests: “Let your participants discover their own story within the bigger story of your program, then showcase it in a unique way, for example visually by creating an image that shares an impactful memory from the program…” Take a leaf out of Dear World’s photographic stories for your events with ice rinks.
- Leverage – ‘crafting a story around your event extends the shelf life of your message,’ Stanfield reminds us. At your events with ice rinks, leverage the attendees into marketing messengers. Send group photos to those who came to remind them of the great time they had at your event with a stunning ice rink theme. Watch them beg for a repeat!
- Connect the Dots – Standfield strongly recommends we “help our participants connect the dots by setting them up for success from the beginning: tease out the story you want to tell at your event in the marketing materials. Pose interesting questions pre-conference that get people talking. Probe participants for their insight on your announced topic(s) early on.” Smart advice for your next event with ice rinks.
“Academics and marketers alike have found that our brains are hardwired to process and store information in the form of stories. So, when we hear that “once upon a time” there was a certain character in such and such place, our minds are immediately transported to this imaginary scene,” wrote Nayomi Chibana in her expose on the 7 storytelling techniques used by the most inspiring TED presenters.
For those of us who understand the beauty of storytelling techniques at events with ice rinks, we can but echo the words of “professional speaker Akash Karia, stories are irresistible to the human mind because they activate our imaginations and so we have no choice but to follow the mental movies created in our heads. As a result, they are used by many TED presenters who are some of the most inspirational speakers in the world.”
AS THE YEARS PASS, YOUR EVENTS WILL REMAIN TOP OF MIND
The movie Serendipity toyed shamelessly with fate, but the game engaged the lead characters endlessly. Your events coloured by the romance of a Valentine theme will engage your attendees endlessly via your storytelling techniques.
The Serendipity characters, Jon and Sara, besides having in common that their names both lost the letter ‘h’ do finally come together after a few years. What they shared in moments stuck for a lifetime. Being engaged to others had no effect on the attraction and the romance they ignited back at the ice rink.
Your events with ice rinks will serendipitously do the same. Attendees may have been engaged at other events, but yours will be the one that sticks. Ice-Magic would be honoured to assist you with a Valentine event. Of course, romance might be the flavour of the month of February, but it never gets tired, so any time of the year is good for romance themes with or without a Valentine.
