Launch an Established Brand in a New Venue
King Ranch, the iconic South Texas institution, epitomizes the culture of the American West. The Ranch spans over 825,000 acres with property in Texas, Florida, New Mexico, and South Carolina. King Ranch also operates a diverse group of businesses: cattle ranching, pecan processing and sales, commodity marketing and processing, recreational hunting, ecotourism, retail leather goods and home furnishings, commercial printing, farm equipment, turfgrass growing and sales, and vast citrus, cotton, grain, and sugarcane farms.
The Challenge
- After years of invitations from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR), King Ranch decided to make its debut appearance at the 2012 HLSR. The HLSR has over 2.2 million attendees.
- King Ranch trusted FrogDog to help develop the look and feel of the HLSR Saddle Shop exhibit. The King Ranch Saddle Shop sells leather goods, home furnishings, and western wear to the public.
- In addition, FrogDog was tasked with increasing attendance at the HLSR Saddle Shop exhibit once the exhibit opened the first day of the Rodeo.
The FrogDog Approach
- FrogDog’s planning process began with developing a buzz and promotions schedule, which included developing a media plan to achieve optimal coverage before and during the HLSR through print, television, radio, and social media.
- The HLSR Saddle Shop exhibit’s exterior was a recreation of the exterior of the historic King Ranch Carriage House located in Kingsville, Texas. With a deep understanding of King Ranch’s rich history, FrogDog helped to develop the look and feel of the Rodeo exhibit, including choosing historical images for display throughout the store to capture King Ranch’s old-West heritage and the authenticity of the iconic brand and designing a timeline detailing the King Ranch legacy.
- FrogDog secured space at Armando’s, a high-end restaurant in the ritzy River Oaks area, for an exclusive preview event and managed logistics including the event invitation, guest list, catering, signature-drink development, and photography.
- FrogDog carried the look and feel of the exclusive preview event through print and Web advertisements, e-mail blasts, and the King Ranch Saddle Shop Web site’s HLSR splash page.
- FrogDog approached the media with angles on the King Ranch story and its appearance at the Rodeo, including exclusive Rodeo-only items and stories. During the HLSR, FrogDog served as the point-of-contact for all media inquiries.
The Results
- The Houston Chronicle, Houston’s largest and most widely-circulated publication, ran King Ranch’s HLSR appearance announcement and featured Saddle Shop products leading up to and during the rodeo in stories by Joy Sewing and Greg Morago.
- FrogDog secured coverage of the King Ranch HLSR preview event in a Houston daily digital magazine,CultureMap. The on-line magazine also featured the HLSR appearance.
- During the Rodeo, King Ranch was also featured on local channels FOX26 and KHOU, which ran a segment King Ranch on Great Day Houston, reaching over 118,000 households.
- The King Ranch HLSR Saddle Shop was awarded “Best Booth Presentation: Grand Champion”. The win was featured on local channel ABC13.
- During the weeks of the Rodeo, FrogDog-designed print and Web advertisements ran in the Houston Chronicle Rodeo and Zest sections (reaching approximately 1.6 million readers) and on Chron.com and Click2Houston.com.
- For the duration of the Rodeo, FrogDog ran 8 spots on radio station 100.3 KILT publicizing the HLSR Saddle Shop exhibit, reaching an estimated 2.1 million listeners in only a few weeks.
- FrogDog ran targeted advertisements through Facebook during the Rodeo, achieving nearly 337,000 impressions over only a few weeks.
