Parks and Recognition

In our previous case studies, we’ve explored how theme trivia is a great tool to connect your venue with a new audience. It helps shake up your routine schedule, your usual marketing, and your regular customers. 

But more than that, theme trivia nights are a great opportunity to connect with your community outside of patrons—small businesses, charities, and other local organizations. The more people you get involved, the more eyes on your business, the more players at your quiz! Random Row Brewing Co. in Charlottesville, VA recently hosted a Parks & Recreation trivia event, which gave them a chance to partner up with their local government for a super special quiz night.

The Theme Scheme

Random Row set out to host their Parks & Rec theme night to boost their weekly sales. Dry January can be a slow time for bars & breweries, so the special quiz night worked as a way to re-engage their audience. So they put the word out—in-venue posters, social media posts on Facebook and Instagram, and even an entry in a local community calendar—and waited for the fans to pour in.

And pour they did! Random Row ended up with more than twenty teams of dedicated fans, ready to bring some Pawnee-positivity to quiz night. Even the team names were teeming with hilarious and deep-cut references to the show. Some of our include “Lil Sebastian Fan Account,” “Internet Connectivity Problems*,” and of course, “Beautiful, Talented, Brilliant, Powerful Muskoxen.” 

Ultimately, the crown went to team “Fell Into the Pit for Extra Credit”. They won a $100 gift card donated by Random Row’s very special partner—the Charlottesville Parks & Recreation Department.

Partnering Up

The Charlottesville Parks & Rec Department certainly knows a good thing when they see it. In fact, they were the ones to initiate the partnership.

“I thought it was awesome that Charlottesville Parks & Rec wanted to join in,” said Courtney Megahan, taproom manager of Random Row Brewing Co. “They actually found the event from our social media page. They provided a $100 gift card, which we made the first place prize, and also provided table flyers about who they were, cups, pens, compass keychains. I put a little of everything on each table.”

That’s what we in the trivia biz call a symbiotic relationship! The Parks & Rec department was able to get some free marketing and spread the word about their community efforts, and Random Row got some awesome prizes for their players. With the free gifts on every table, everyone was able to go home with some free swag and a souvenir for the night, rather than just the winners.

A Place for Partnership

There are plenty of perks to having a local partnership: donated prizes, increased attendance, additional marketing to a new audience, etc. In return, there are plenty of things you can offer to sweeten the deal, whether that be handing out literature for a cause, a sample or sale booth for merchandise, or a special discount for an organization’s employees or volunteers.

And while there’s never a bad time for partnering up, hosting a theme quiz can be the perfect catalyst to get the ball rolling. In this case, it was a natural decision to work with the local Parks & Recreation department. A quiz about The Office could support a small business; Ted Lasso trivia might support a local youth team or athletic program; a Friends night would be a great time to work with a local coffee shop; the possibilities are endless! (For a full list of our theme quizzes, check out our list here.)