10,000% ROI in 60 days
A few years ago I volunteered as treasurer for a small community theatre group. One of the plays that year was “Big Bad”, a story about the Big Bad Wolf put on trial for all his nefarious deeds (e.g. eating Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, destruction of two porcine residences and eating the owners, etc.). The director couldn’t find anyone suitable for the role of Mr. Wolf, so I volunteered for that too.
All of us were encouraged to promote the production and sell as many tickets as possible. Halloween was around the corner, and while in WalMart I noticed a wolf mask in the costume display area. “Ding!” (Picture a light bulb turning on just above my head). I bought the mask.
I called the local police station and said “I have a strange request …” When the female officer said to go ahead and ask, I explained about the Big Bad production, I was the wolf, I have a mask, and I was wondering if there was an officer available who would be willing to pose for a picture: me wearing the mask, hand-cuffs on, being put into the cruiser. My wife would take the picture, and I would send it to the lcoal papers and put it online to promote the play. After she finished laughing … she said “no problem” and set things up. A couple of pictures by the cruiser, a couple more inside a jail cell, along with the “story” was sent to the local newspapers. One of the pictures along with the story was also put on the Events page of the local TV station.
Result: all the shows were “sold out” – extra chairs had to be brought in. People had driven for up to two hours to get to the show. I was told that the theatre group had never made a profitable production in its 30+ year history … until then. The net profit was $1,300; the cost of the mask was $13.