Downtown Davis Shopping Spree Thingy

CALLING ALL PRYTANEANS! And friends with good connections / ideas.

If you're a secret marketing genius, or are good with money, or are good at graphic design, or clever with words, or can easily tap into the shopper psyche, or are good at ANYTHING you're good at, listen up!!...

So in our meeting tonight, I briefly mentioned a project I hope would come to fruition in the near future. This creature does not yet have an official name--for now, I will call it the Downtown Davis Shopping Spree Thingy, or the Shopping Event. There are a bunch of ideas I'm wrestling with and, armed with optimism, I can only hope to tie everything together in some neat little package, ready for pitching...

The idea is more or less a shopping event with a non-intrusive focus on charities, and the goal of it all is to promote Prytanean, boost downtown Davis business sales, and make money for charity--all in a single night. Much of this depends on impeccable timing, incredible marketing, and a very cooperative Davis Downtown Business Association. It should not just be any ordinary sale--it should feel electrifying, people should genuinely look forward to this.

Businesses (and art galleries) will be asked to open late, beyond the usual 6, 7PM closing times, but with a twist. Not only should they be able to sell what they normally sell, they should select one item or a series of items to push especially, with a mind-blowing discount, or just some really good deal that Davis students (or anyone in Davis that night) cannot resist. There are a million ways to do this--Pinkadot can offer a really special sale of jeans, Starbucks / Peet's can create a drink available for just this night, etc. And for every purchase in every participating store during these extended hours, Prytanean gets a cut of the $$.

What's more, DJs (I'm currently working with the Electronic Music for Change group on campus--they threw a rave on campus last year that sold out and made the Children's Hospital $5,000) will be scattered throughout downtown so that there is some cohesive party, shopping-happy feeling.

For the charity part... if Prytanean does not choose the charities to benefit, I'm hoping that DJs willing to spin that night for free will be able to choose charities with causes near and dear to their hearts. The businesses will then choose from the DJs' list of charities so that whatever they make that night will go to them. What might be fun to do is to display large posters in the windows of the businesses announcing which charity sales are helping that night, just so shoppers know up-front that they are contributing to something good.

The possibilities are ENDLESS, anyway. But this is a night that can be PRYTANEAN'S--if it goes well, it might just become a recurring event.

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!! Because I need help!


Thanks,
e