Photo courtesy of Tourism Calgary.
Morphing the Legend • Calgary Stampede
Michael Piper, vice chair of the Stampede’s chuckwagon committee. Chuckwagon races at the Calgary Stampede.
“There is lots of detailed coordination…It’s an exciting, year-round job.” ~ Michael Piper, vice chair of the chuckwagon committee tweets and 90,000 Stampede-related photos tagged on Instagram. “It’s an exciting fact of marketing life and it’s by far the most potent way for us to engage our broad market and especially to attract the millennials, who are the next generation of Stampede visitors.” The Stampede is also a marketing phenome because, over the course of only 10 days of mostly on-site and some outside exposure, the brand attracts the loyal support of more than 300 mostly corporate and some group sponsors as a major source of the organization’s revenues. The six levels of sponsorship – Champion, Stockmen’s Club, Rancher, Cattle Baron, Trail Boss, and Wrangler – range from the mid six-digits to under $2,000. Perhaps the most high-profile and best known Stampede sponsorship is not really a revenue generator for the 10-day event or the year-round business that is Stampede as only a small percentage of the exciting (and fun) Calgary Stampede Canvas Auction actually goes into the Stampede’s coffers. This annual auction is a big shmooz event attended by many Calgary corporate execs, agencies and media, and includes bidding and buying the rights to put their corporate logos on the “tarps” that cover the chuckwagons that will be racing on the 10 nights of Stampede and various other corporate on-site receptions and VIP opportunities. The final tally of each year’s auction is often interpreted as a folklore indicator of the Calgary economy. This April’s event brought in a canvas sponsorship total of $2.78 million, 88 • July 2015 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | businessincalgary.com
down more than $750,000 from last year’s total. A bulk of the sponsorship moneys go directly to the chuckwagon drivers. “Some say it’s a lot of money for 10 days exposure of a corporate logo but,” according to Gray, “for some it’s advertising for the unique corporate on-site hosting and entertaining possibilities. For other Calgary-based sponsors, it’s a good way to give back to the community.” Aside from the sponsorships, the chuckwagon races are such a favourite and key component of Stampede that the event has its own committee of planners and organizers. “There is lots of detailed coordination, from scheduling, safety, making arrangements for the 36 drivers and their crews, more than 200 horses, the wagons, looking after the sponsors and much more,” says the gung-ho Michael Piper, vice chair of the chuckwagon committee and regional development manager for CARSTAR, Alberta. “It’s an exciting, year-round job. “The races are always one of the best attended, big draws. There are 43 volunteers on our committee with 20 additional volunteers during Stampede. The chuckwagon races are also such a special Stampede tradition,” he adds with enthusiasm and emotion, “that being on the committee is an awesome responsibility. It’s heritage, like carrying an Olympic torch or the Stanley Cup.” In every way, Stampede has whatever it takes – the profile, the reputation, the vision and hard work of passionate staff, and the momentum – to become a solid, year-round Calgary business success story. BiC