Navigation

We’re now two months into the launch of direction printworks and I couldn’t be more pleased with the success and performance of the printworks team thus far. Our presses have been running almost nonstop since direction printworks inception and we’ve produced a lot of great pieces. A couple of direction printwork’s clients include Allied Live, Carol Fox & Associates, Live Nation, Jam Productions, The Shrine, and The House Theatre of Chicago.

Give us a ring to discuss pricing or to receive a package of samples!

Our Family and Children’s route is quickly becoming our most active specialty route that we offer here at direction tour marketing. Our family and children is an excellent opportunity to reach moms, dads, and children to promote family oriented events and programs. Our route coverage includes day care centers, park districts, retail boutiques, kid friendly restaurants, and activity centers.  Our coverage includes over 100 locations and ranges from from Hyde Park to Lake Forest. Currently, we have a number of clients reaching out to our family and children route including Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago Children’s Theatre, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA).

Give us a call for a quote to reach children and families in the chicago area.

MCA Family Days kicked off last weekend and I took the opportunity to take my son for an afternoon of art appreciation and stimulating activities. Needless to say, it didn’t work out that way and I spent most of the afternoon trying to explain to a two year-old that he can’t eat Goldfish snacks in the galleries. Otherwise, we had an excellent time. On Family Days, the MCA sets up a number of creation stations throughout the museum to allow children and parents to interact and create works of artistic genius.  The teachers at each station are great fun and Family Days allows for a fun , affordable (read: Free) day with the family.

MCA Family Days are the second Saturday of the month and the next upcoming date is Saturday, December 12th. Keep an eye out at your favorite family destination as we’ll be distributing magnets with all of the dates listed.

Did you know that direction tour marketing covers all of the major college campuses in the Chicago area? We have two levels of on-campus coverage including hand-to-hand distribution and campus-wide poster distribution which includes poster placement in student centers, academic buildings and campus kiosks.

We’ve found campus distributions that include  special student offers to be the most effective when generating on-campus awareness and our reach includes Columbia College, Depaul University, Loyola University, Northwestern University, Chicago State University, Roosevelt University, The Art Institute, etc. We also cover a number of suburban campuses including Lake Forest, Harper College and College of DuPage.

Give us a call and we’ll put together a college distribution plan for your next promotional campaign!

We’re at it again this week with Hornitos Tequila. Over the course of the summer, we’ve produced 9 Hornitos Mischieve parties at bars and clubs throughout the city. This Thursday, we’ll be setting up at Roscoes’s (3356 N. Halsted) from 10PM through 12AM. We’ll be sampling a variety of fantastic Hornitos cocktails including my favorite, the Horni Wallbanger. The Horni Wallbanger is two parts Hornitos Plata, 4 parts OJ, and 1 part Galliano… Delish!

We’d love to have you come visit us and have some cocktails on us, end your RSVP to hornitos@directiontourmarketing.com

I’ve really gotten sucked into the blogosphere this past year and I find myself spending entirely too much time perusing my Google Reader. There are so many great blogs and bloggers that’s it’s nearly impossible to keep up. I thought I’d take a moment and share a couple of my favorites.

Adam Thurman’s The Mission Paradox is an excellent and candid discussion of arts marketing. The Mission Paradox is frank and honest when it comes to non-profit marketing and has given me some great insights in honing my marketing chops.

Guerrilla Promos is also another favorite of mine. They feature brilliant examples of guerrilla marketing at it’s finest. Unfortunately, alot of the best activations are in Europe but there are a couple if agencies in the states that really put together some awesome campaigns.

My last recommendation is There I Fixed It. There I fixed it is a personal pick and always good for a chuckle, the blog highlights bonehead and low rent “do-it-yourself” home improvments that typically involve duct tape and vise grips. I’m amazed by some of the genius fixes these folks come up with but at the same time I’m amazed that they bother to haphazardly fix them at all. Why not just fix it the right way the first time?

Keep an eye on your inboxes this week, we just got our latest endeavour operational this week and are excited to make a quiet announcement of the opening of direction printworks. direction will now be offering in-house, high-quality digital print services. We understand that large print shops grossly overcharge for small print runs and we’re here to help. Keep an eye out for the full details and offerings coming out this week.

It’s getting to be that time, the holiday season is quickly approaching and that means our Fall promotional season is starting to take shape. There are a number of great events coming up in the Chicago area that offer excellent opportunities for our street teams to reach consumers. Each year, our street teams are booked solid for Chicago’s most popular holiday events.

Our street team offerings vary in size and can be scaled to reach nearly any budget and promotional needs. Take a look below at the upcoming events below and be sure to give us a call and mark your calendars!

- Celtic Fest Chicago (September 9 & 12)
- Chinese National Day Parade (September 27)
- Country Music Festival (October 3 & 4)
- State Street Halloween Happening (October 24)
- Northalsted Halloween Parade (October 31)
- Magnificent Mile Lights Festival (November 21)
- McDonald’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (November 26)
- The 2nd Annual Snow Days (January 29-31)

Did you know that we visit over 6000 locations in 52 neighborhoods and 23 suburbs? We’ve spent over 10 years developing relationships with a variety of locations all over the city to best reach your patrons and customers. We also have 59 specialty routes that include locations not regularly visited on our standard routes. Specialty routes allow you to reach niche audiences and develop relationships with retailers who can become excellent promotional partners. Our most popular specialty routes include our GLBT Route, Hotel Concierge Route, and our Natural Living Route.

Not sure how to best reach your audience? Give us a call and we can help develop a plan to best reach your promotional (and budgetary) goals.

We’re very excited to announce a new partnership between direction tour marketing and the Chicago Reader. The Chicago Reader is widely recognized as one of the leading alternative weeklies in the U.S. It specializes in features rather than news, with emphasis on urban issues and politics, arts and culture, and literary journalism that seeks to capture the spirit of contemporary city life. The Reader is also well-known for its indispensable guides to Chicago theater, film, arts, and music.

Most notably, our partnership includes specialty rates for inserted content in the weekly publication. Content can include season brochures, event handbills or festival maps that are inserted in over 100,000 papers on a weekly basis. Inserts are an excellent accompaniment to a poster distribution, and now with our specialty rates we can offer some fantastic promotional opportunities.

Weekly inserts can be scalable to meet nearly every budget and reach a very niche audience of young, educated, and event driven  individuals. Give us a shout to discuss and to request a rate sheet.