FILO and Pepsi a Great Pair for Summer of 2016

Throughout the summer of 2016, FILO has partnered with PepsiCo to introduce the Twin Cities area to some new products. It all started in May of this year, as FILO was hired to execute an 8-city Tour, with five of the stops featuring Aquafina Sparkling Water. Two other locations demonstrated the PepsiCola 1893 brand, and one final stop endorsed a Dewcision 2016 event (selecting a new Mountain Dew brand).

After a very successful (initial) campaign, a second tour was created to start in July, and was scheduled for six Tour stops that featured Aquafina and PepsiCola products. FILO represented the brands and helped to get thousands of cans into the hands of consumers, promoting the products at places like Rock the Garden, Mall of America and other high traffic locations around Minnesota.

As with every FILO event, the Sparkling Spotters, the name given to the FILO brand ambassadors, made sure to arrive early to set up and prep for each event, before executing hours of engaging product sampling with the patrons of Minnesota.

The main purpose of the Tours are to increase awareness to Pepsi’s new brand, and flavored beverages. Aquafina has three new flavors of Sparkling Water, Black Cherry Dragonfruit, Lemon Lime, and Orange Grapefruit, and PepsiCola has two new flavors of their 1893 brand, Original Cola and Ginger Cola.

For the Dewcision 2016 event, Mountain Dew was looking to release a new flavor of their own: Pitch Black.

FILO’s role in the project included budget management, providing experienced brand ambassadors and a lead Event Manager, as well as delivery of the product, and working through necessary permits and applications with PepsiCo and venues. The feedback on the Tours (and new beverages) was tremendous — so tremendous, in fact, that FILO is working to find more ways to help PepsiCo, and their brand, branch out with more experiential marketing ideas and activations.

FILO is thrilled to work with such an insightful, innovative and successful partner like PepsiCo.

FILO Helps Hormel Foods Celebrate 125th Anniversary

One of the iconic companies in Minnesota, Hormel Foods, had a big anniversary this year. The company was created in 1891 and is turning 125 years old! A Birthday this big ensures that many celebrations must be held, and some feature events took place in Austin, MN for the Hometown Community Celebration.

To celebrate the anniversary, FILO helped design and produce 9 custom mini-golf holes, associated with the Hormel Food brands, for a plethora of feature events that took place at the end of July.

The Hormel Foods "Women Our Way" employee resource group organized the Pep it Up 5K Your Way race and fun run on July 23rd. The next day featured the Family Day at the Flagship Austin Plant, which gave family and friends of workers a chance to see the facility and gather for a picnic. On Thursday, July 28th, corporate and sales employees joined together for an afternoon to promote their goals for the next 125 years and to become even more inspired by the CEO and COO. And closing out the week of fun, July 29th featured the Big Birthday Bash community event, which was held in downtown Austin for employees, community members, and company partners that featured fun activities and live entertainment, such as Kat Perkins and The Band Perry.

The FILO-Hormel partnership demonstrated the full-service abilities that FILO can provide to its clients. Hormel’s innovative idea to create a mini golf hole for each of its most recognizable brands, included a combination of creative services, experiential marketing and providing a fun experience for the participants. FILO took care of all the details; everything from designing the holes, to the fabrication of them, to bringing them to each event and setting up and tearing down afterwards. It seemed to be a highlight for many that attended and just one more example of the many services and capabilities FILO has to offer as a company.

FILO Partners with Operation Warm for Inaugural Twin Cities Hero’s Haul

FILO is partnering with the firefighters of the Twin Cities for another event this fall, the Hero’s Haul Fire Truck Pull. Operation Warm is a program the firefighters’ union (IAFF- International Association of Fire Fighters) helps to support by raising money to purchase brand-new American-made winter coats for school children in areas where the need is the greatest. The St. Paul firefighters have worked with FILO at GermanFest the past three years, and the St. Paul Oktoberfest for two years, raising money for this amazing organization.

The national organization of Operation Warm is creating a fundraiser that they hope can be replicated throughout the country, to help ensure children all over are able to stay warm while playing outside and going to school. It is called the Hero’s Haul Fire Truck Pull and Operation Warm will execute a few events this fall, with the hope to expand over the next few years. The Minneapolis and St. Paul IIAF chapters are coming together to create a formidable partnership and to combine their efforts for Operation Warm. FILO has been asked to produce the event due to their expertise of the Twin Cities market, past partnership and support of Operation Warm, and for their ability to create a successful, high-quality event.

FILO will be responsible for overall event management, securing and managing all vendors and security, and will have a hand in selling sponsorships for the event. FILO’s duties also include venue negotiation, permitting, operations of the event, staffing, providing equipment, and activation execution.

The Hero’s Haul event will consist of teams of 10 people to pull a fire truck 75 feet. The date is set for October 8th at the Seven Corners parking lot on West Seventh Street in St. Paul (just across from the Xcel Energy Center). There will be food trucks, live music, photo opportunities, and much more, along with the main attraction, a competition to pull a fire truck and raise money for Operation Warm.

If you would like more information about the event, please go to http://firetruckpull.com/minneapolis/. And if you have a group of people that would like to participate, please follow the link on that webpage to sign-up.