Interview Story - Accomplishment

I was working for a Spanish television station (Telemundo), that for years produced a festival called La Villita (in the Mexican Little Village of Chicago). It was a cute community out-reach that brought in about $40,000 to the television station, along with some nice publicity. It consisted of samplings at booths by station advertisers along with some games.

As the station’s sales manager, I was put in charge of working with the advertisers for this event, securing their sponsorship, and arranging their booths. When I reached out, they were not enthusiastic. The advertisers thought the event was not reflective of their marketing goals and a booth on the street was not really what they were hoping for when it came to product or image promotion.

To rescue the festival, I realized that we needed to make some drastic changes. We needed the event to seem more relevant and exciting. I recognized an opportunity with Six Flags Great America. They were always looking to attract Hispanics to the park. I approached them with a proposal to bring La Villita to the park. We agreed on taking up a section of the parking lot, fencing it into the park, and creating a very interactive festival inside this area. We erected a stage, brought famous Mexican performers for short sets, sold sponsorships, and really upped our entertainment game.

This was a big step for a television station that used to be in a small neighborhood building in Lincoln Park. While the potential was obvious, it took a lot of faith and hard work to ensure we did not end up losing money on a huge investment. Perhaps I was a little scared… but I really felt in my bones this would be a win-win for all.

All this was free to anyone who paid the park entrance fee. Covering the cost of this event would need to come from our advertisers and event sponsors.

We received a huge amount of advertising from Six Flags and including sponsorship dollars we increased this event to a million-dollar deal for the station. Great America was so successful, they re-upped the next year and duplicated the event in every park owned by Six Flags, with management at the Great America park receiving recognition at their annual meeting.