WKSU Folk Festival
Marcus Thomas creatives designed the ads (with five slogans in all) for WKSU’s 44th Annual Folk Festival. But great ads alone don’t translate into a successful event. That’s where Public Relations Manager Meghan Ohnmeiss stepped in.
Ann VerWeibe, WKSU’s Public Relations specialist, approached Ohnmeiss in September in quite a predicament: The festival that was started by students for students 43 years before was now scarcely attended by Kent State undergrads. VerWeibe issued Ohnmeiss the challenging task of luring Kent State students back to Folk Fest.
To do so, Ohnmeiss drafted a promotional plan that heavily emphasized on-campus awareness. Associates hung flyers and posters, passed out postcards, chalked, and promoted the festival through various student media outlets.
“It was hectic at times,” Ohnmeiss said. “There was a lot of different tasks that needed completed by different deadlines…but, overall, we got done what we needed to.”
Ohnmeiss said the road to the 44th Annual Folk Festival was anything but easy. Musicians changed on a daily basis, new materials streamed in days before the festival and WKSU cancelled the Cave Singer’s Saturday night concert.
But, despite all of that, Ohnmeiss said she believes WKSU was satisfied with the Tannery’s contribution.
“I believe so. I hope so. That is why we’re here; we’re here to make the client happy and help them reach their goals. We did everything to the best of our ability.”
