Scope: This family fun festival features live music, activities and unlimited Chowder tasting with the opportunity for each ticket holder to vote for their favorite red and white chowder. The event is nestled in Beach Haven NJ, surrounded by beautiful views of the bay and plenty of year end discounted shopping. It has become a tradition for family and friends to gather together to say good bye to summer and welcome in the fall. This event draws almost 20,000 visitors each year!

Challenge: Each year, the organizers of the event pick a theme for the festival. It is from this theme, that the event’s marketing materials are developed from. To commemorate the event for the attendees, the organizers wanted a merchandise campaign that attendees could purchase items from. The sale of these items would also help support the local Chamber of Commerce, who was the main sponsor of the event. The merchandise needed to reflect the theme of the event while also appealing to the diverse group of attendees.

Solution: Active Imprints created a selection of merchandise that utilized the current year’s theme. Working with the event committee we uncovered that 2013 was the 25th Anniversary of the Chowderfest. In addition, in just a couple of months NJ would be hosting the Super Bowl for the NFL at nearby Met life Stadium. So it was decided that the theme for 2013 be “Souperbowl” as this was the BIG EVENT for soup (Chowder)! Designs and merchandise were created to reflect this theme. “Official Taster” shirts were sold to attendees as well as other commemoratives including custom pins, embroidered denim shirts, zipper hooded sweatshirts, baseball hats, knit caps, long sleeve and ladies cut T-shirts. The designs on these items all incorporated both traditional and theme specific elements, which make them collectable. The colors of the items were carefully chosen to appeal to men and woman and Chowder heads of all ages! In addition, Active Imprints delivered a special “Volunteer” shirt was created to acknowledge and reward the 300+ volunteers of this event, without whom it’s success would not be possible.

What: Full branded merchandise set

Who: Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce – Chowderfest Merchandise Campaign

Where: http://visitlbiregion.com/