By Lori Martin, Account Director, Houston
Client relationships are like a marriage, and it’s important to always keep it fresh, real and open. This is especially true if you’re looking for new twists on a 25-year-old annual event.
We’ve worked with the Uptown Houston District on its branding and public relations for many years. It’s one of those great clients where you form a true partnership – to the point that sometimes it seems like we’re
practically married! Each year Uptown Houston, recognized as one of the best urban, mixed-use development corridors in the world, produces its Uptown Holiday Lighting event on Thanksgiving night. The event is spectacular, and nearly 200,000 visitors kick off the holiday season with Houston’s largest sing-a-long, millions of twinkling lights, 80 Christmas trees, the jolly man in red and one of Houston’s most spectacular fireworks extravaganzas, all for free.
practically married! Each year Uptown Houston, recognized as one of the best urban, mixed-use development corridors in the world, produces its Uptown Holiday Lighting event on Thanksgiving night. The event is spectacular, and nearly 200,000 visitors kick off the holiday season with Houston’s largest sing-a-long, millions of twinkling lights, 80 Christmas trees, the jolly man in red and one of Houston’s most spectacular fireworks extravaganzas, all for free.
But how on earth do you present a time-honored tradition as fresh, real and fun to media and the public after 25 years? Making this and other annual events special each time they come around takes following:
Keep it Fresh. Push the limits on your media approach every year. Pretend it’s a new event and client you’ve never worked on before. Easier said than done sometimes, but if you push your team to find something new, I promise, magic can happen. Uptown understands that to stay relevant to its retailers, corporations and residents they must stay actively engaged in the social media conversation. Planning and implementation of the 25th anniversary has given their social media program some new arms and legs. You’ll have to follow us on Twitter @UptownHouston to find out how!
Keep it Real. Have an honest and open relationship with your client, and set expectations and realistic goals before you get started. Not every year will you make it on MSNBC or even the Houston Chronicle front page, but every year you should give it your all. Create story ideas and pitch angles for new media beats. For example, we asked all 150,000 attendees to wear something that sparkles silver to honor the 25th anniversary. Media love it, people think the idea is fun and it’s creating new excitement around the event.
Keep it Fun. Every year, including this year, the Uptown Holiday Lighting production crew eats dinner at a nearby cafeteria on Post Oak. Besides the good food, the team is surrounded by the memories they’ve created in the past 25 years. But if you listen to the conversation, (are you listening to your client??) the words tend to vary from year to year. That’s our job: To change the words, create new conversations and make them meaningful in a new and vibrant way every year.
If you were in Houston on Thanksgiving, we hope you joined us…and wore silver. Whether you were able to attend or not, here are the little-known 25 Facts About Uptown Holiday Lighting sure to get you in the holiday spirit…1. The Light Wall at the 1984 World’s Fair in New Orleans inspired the tree-lit Post Oak Boulevard.
2. Four months prior to the first event in 1986, the City Post Oak Association changed its name to the Uptown Houston Association.
3. The very first Uptown Holiday Lighting, planned in only four months, was held on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 1986.
4. Eighty live Christmas trees were hand-picked and cut from a Wisconsin tree farm, for the first two years of the event.
5. The original name of the Uptown Holiday Lighting was the Grand Lighting Ceremony.
6. The first lighting included a larger-than-life tree outline in lights on Transco Tower (now Williams Tower).
7. Houston TV weatherman, Doug Johnson, city councilmember, Christin Hartung, and a Texas Children’s Hospital patient helped Santa flip the first switch on Tuesday, November 26, 1986...25 years ago!
8. About 100 people attended the first Uptown Houston Lighting event; now 150,000+ fill Boulevard each year.
9. Houston mayors Kathy Whitmire, Bob Lanier and Lee Brown have all attended the Uptown Holiday Lighting.
10. The first four Uptown Holiday Lighting events, 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989, were held on the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving.
11. Pop! Bang! Pop! Fireworks choreographed to favorite holiday music arrived on the scene in year three, 1988.
12. In 1989, after months of design and production, 80 official Uptown Holiday Lighting trees and bases with over a half-million lights were installed and are still used today.
13. Through the years, the Uptown Holiday Lighting has benefitted a number of deserving charities, including Sheltering Arms Senior Services, The Children’s Art project, Texas Children’s hospital, and during the very first year’s event, the Houston Food Bank. This year, the event benefits Be An Angel.
14. The event featured a Parade for nine years: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2005. In 1997, Second Baptist Church introduced the Electric Light Parade to the event.
15. Cheers! In 1990 crowds eagerly awaited the arrival of Santa on the famous Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales. However, rain cancelled the Clydesdales appearance but for Santa, the show must go on and he was center stage to light up the Boulevard.
16. Celebrity athletes who have participated in the event include Houston Oiler Quarterback, Warren Moon (1999), Gold Medal Olympic figure skater, Kristi Yamaguchi (1992) and Gold Medal Olympic diver, Laura Wilkinson (2000).
17. For the past 17 years, since 1993, thousands of Houstonians have run through Uptown Houston as part of the annual Turkey Trot which takes place early morning, prior to the Uptown Holiday Lighting.
18. It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s Santa. The man in red has arrived seven times via helicopter: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2002.
19. From 1999 – 2001, Disney’s own Mickey Mouse and friends helped Santa light up the night.
20. The excitement filled the air as the Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band headed down Post Oak Boulevard in 2005.
21. The charming sounds of the Salvation Army Harbor Light Choir became a tradition at the Uptown Holiday Lighting in 2005.
22. The Uptown Lighting fireworks display is choreographed and fired using four computers and GPS technology for synchronization; fired from three separate locations, the Uptown Lighting uses the most modern and cutting edge technology.
23. Santa’s sing-a-long is the biggest in town.
24. Decorating hotel balconies have long been a tradition of the event for many years; the official Hilton Houston Post Oak Balcony Decorating Contest began in 2007.
25. Luby’s cafeteria on Post Oak is the favorite pre-event spot for the Uptown Holiday Lighting production crew to celebrate Thanksgiving Day dinner together.
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