Whiskey and Music Festival

In June 2023, digital media agency Helen & Gertrude sourced LáLew Public Relations to fulfill the public relations needs of an inaugural whiskey festival occurring in October. The festival’s goal was to drive tourism to the region by celebrating the vibrant whiskey culture flourishing in New York State while providing entertainment through a diverse lineup of musical performances.

LáLew spearheaded the whiskey festival’s media relations, securing earned media attention and managing press at the event. Through extensive secondary research, LáLew determined target audiences for messaging, most effective ways of reaching those audiences and specific journalists and outlets that would be interested in the event. 

Though many of the event details were pending finalization at the time that LáLew entered the project, delays in securing entertainment and participating distilleries required an extensive hands-on approach in the festival planning process. LáLew leveraged its network to secure additional entertainment and list the event on 28 regional online event calendars. 

LáLew secured a range of media coverage, including a feature story on the village website, ticket giveaways with radio stations that catered to the target audience, radio coverage including exclusive interviews with talent and an interview and podcast on the top rated rock station in Syracuse. 

Through the media relations campaign, LáLew surpassed every objective. We secured coverage in 13 music and entertainment publications, positive features in five food and beverage publications and placement in 26 regional publications. Over 88 million impressions of the festival were garnered between TV, radio, podcast and article coverage, resulting in a turnout to the festival of over 1,000 people.