Event Case Study: Beyond Boundaries R.I.M.B.Y. Festival
Thirty local businesses, a 200% increase in engagement, and over $17,000 raised in 2024. Over the last two years, we’ve worked with Beyond Boundaries to plan, market, and execute their R.I.M.B.Y. (Right In My BackYard) Festival.
Last year, we began our work by completely overhauling the R.I.M.B.Y. Festival’s identity. This included a new logo, improved event marketing pages, a dedicated page on the Beyond Boundaries website, and a focus on creating valuable content during the event for marketing purposes and sponsorship marketing.
We understood the importance of creating a functional mark for the festival that clearly branded it and helped it stand out amongst the dozens of other festivals in the area while still feeling like it was part of Beyond Boundaries’ overall brand identity.
Our 2023 strategy also included marketing the festival to a broader audience. Using a paid media strategy and additional media placements, including PR and sponsored posts, we increased festival attendance by 40%.
R.I.M.B.Y. is one of Beyond Boundaries' principal fundraisers and a critical brand touchpoint, introducing the brand to potential volunteers, donors, and participants. As part of our larger brand management strategy for the non-profit, we focused on R.I.M.B.Y. as one of our keystone marketing events for the year.
In 2024, we developed a strategy focused on driving attendance, fundraising, and building community partnerships to help promote the event organically. We built press releases, partnered with the Richmond Times Dispatch for display ads, and engaged with 30 local businesses, creating a brand and promo kit to promote the event on their channels.
Most notably, we brought our friends at The Grass Spot on to design an extremely collectible event flier for the festival. We wanted to create something that people could collect year after year, frame, and feel proud to hang in their homes. The flier was an incredible hit and helped drive a huge increase in festival merchandise sales. We used the design to produce t-shirts for the event as well, doubling our merchandise sale opportunities.
Again, we engaged with our photography partners at On Three Photography to capture the event, providing a robust photo library for next year’s marketing efforts and for our sponsors to use for their content.
The results speak for themselves. In 2024, Beyond Boundaries raised over $17,000, sold out of its R.I.M.B.Y. merchandise, and saw a 200% increase in attendance this year compared to last.
"Having your support over the years, helping build the Beyond Boundaries brand and R.I.M.B.Y., and taking it to a place I would never have been able to imagine means so much, and we were so pleased with the turnout of this year's event!” says Shep Roeper, Executive Director of Beyond Boundaries.