CPR Promotional Check-Up - Sep 24, 2013

The Exotic Erotic Ball

There is no question that this is late in the game, but with most stations still trying to nail down stuff for Halloween, this is a good refresher for the Oldbies and a good tutorial for the Newbies.

With seemingly every Fridays, Chili's, bar, VFW and other establishment holding a liquor license doing a costume party with a $100 grand prize (and with just about every station committed to one of these), the Exotic Erotic Ball is the neutron bomb of events.

Carmy Ferreri started it at The Zone in Sacramento as an homage to a mega event that has become a staple down the road in San Francisco. I went to the one in SFO. Imagine 300,000 semi-naked people walking around. (I still have flashbacks)

Carmy's take on it was an event that would crush every piddly club gig in town. The hook? Because when you're fighting for attention, you need a hook. The hooks were naughty costumes, naughty activities and BIG BIG BIG cash prizes.

The cash prizes are what kill all the other parties that are happening. Because the professional costume people, the people who spend all year working on their costume, are networked and they go wherever the money is. And everyone else goes to see these people.

The last one I went to in Sacramento had 8000 people. Magic in Colorado Springs has done one. KDWB is on Year Five. They stumbled onto a club in an old meatpacking plant. They nailed it. Sticking it in your regular club is "all right". But the cooler the vibe, the better.

Everything about this needs to be 10X bigger then every other radio station Halloween club gig. The imaging needs to reflect that nothing in town is going to be cooler then what you're doing.

WiLD in Tampa is on Year Fiftteen of Balls. This is from Drew Fleming, who was at Wild for the majority of them did them since he was at The Zone in Sacramento, and no one gets the vibe more than him. Because it's all vibe. Not just some club gig that we added a costume angle and miniscule cash prize to.

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The focus of the EEB is a night of sin and guilty pleasures for every one that attends. Naughty costumes are encouraged, and the best naughty costume is awarded with cash prizes at the end of the night. Here at WiLD in Tampa this event has become an annual favorite with both the staff and the market, and will fill a large nightclub. We utilize a large (2000 person) nightclub to hold the event, they take the bar, and we take the door, cost is usually around $20 a person, with a price break for advance tickets and couples.

The station handles all of the promotions, all of the coordinating, and all of the event prep and execution. The venue has little obligation other than to provide adequate bar and security staff. We usually trade on-air mentions for prizes and decorations from adult bookstores, offer comp or discount tickets to strip clubs and entertainers, and get body air-brushing from a local tattoo shop.

The rule of thumb for this event is if you think it is taking it too far, that is just far enough. Every year this event gets crazier, the costumes get crazier, which in turn draws even bigger crowds. If you can think it up, it can be done, and you can find a way to do it for next to nothing. We have had a dominatrix disciplining a midget, a human "petting zoo", shadow dancing, cage dancers, full bondage outfits, helium filled blow up dolls, condoms with the station logo, anything you can imagine.