We’re just about to launch the third year of the “Starstreet Gourmet & Wine Walk,” one of the most successful events managed by South China Morning Post’s SCMP Marketing Services division.

This unique advertiser partnership with a local property developer involves the evolution and promotion of a local area comprising several streets, by hosting this yearly event, which positions it as a hip and bohemian dining and shopping district. It centers around “Starstreet,” a trendy precinct consisting of 25 small restaurants and bistros, independent boutiques and galleries, plus some lifestyle and furnishing outlets.

SCMP Marketing Services first co-launched and co-presented the event in 2010, and the past two years have been a sell-out success, with all 1,000 tickets sold before the event.

 SCMP Marketing Services takes on the roles of co-presenter, event conceptualiser, producer and coordinator, creative agency, media, partner database, event promoter, and public relations company — all just one neat e-mail or phone call away for the client. A small and mighty team of four creates the event from the ground up, some nine months before it is staged.

Participants, who are solicited from advertising and direct mailing using the South China Morning Post and its database, are invited to join the frivolities between 2 and 6 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. For a single ticket price, they receive a “passport” that enables them to sample the wine and food offerings of all the food and wine establishments along the precinct, as well as take advantage of special offer coupons such as giveaways and discounts at the participating lifestyle outlets.

If the bacchanalian reveler succeeds in completing a visit to all of the outlets, he or she enters a lucky draw to win some cool prizes, organised by the SCMP team. And regardless, just by participating, they’re helping to contribute proceeds to a local charity cause — again, arranged by the team.

Keeping the event fresh and fun each year requires a lot of sheer hard work. The team reliably makes it simple for the advertiser, managing everything from calling every one of the 25 outlets to solicit participation and determine the exact nature of their contribution to the event, to organising the event’s entertainment and goody bags for participants, as well as working with the event sponsor, American Express, to ensure maximum exposure and partnership benefits.

Aside from the account servicing, database management, participant coordination, and event development, there are a lot of benefits to the advertiser in this partnership.

Our team provides a one-stop shop for development of all creative, placing the media in our newspaper and sending eDMs to our database, as well as that of AmEx, plus coordinating all the public relations. With a secure payment system and confidence afforded by our own online payment gateway, our target customers also feel safe to purchase tickets online in advance.

The benefits of the client working with our team on this are also clear. Which other event production company could give them the ideas, the artwork and creative, the management, the media, the focused target audience of executives and professionals, and the execution all in one simple solution?

As for the benefits to our organisation, we have managed to double our revenue from the event since the first year — which, although somewhat modest, helps us hone our event management expertise for more and broader events, and provide a valuable income resource for our bottom line. Plus we build a great advertiser-client relationship to boot.

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