ABSTRACT
Nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and other organizers have traditionally promoted events through direct mail, newspaper and radio advertisements, public service announcements, press releases, and other conventional forms of media and communication. More recently, event organizers are utilizing alternative strategies to increase awareness, interest, and participation. The promotion of events with a social mission, purpose, or cause have been bolstered by the intentional creation of cause marketing partnerships that have mutual benefits for the organizations involved. Another relatively recent strategy for event promotion is the utilization of different forms of social media, particularly networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. An innovative approach to event promotion is “gamification,” which is the application of typical elements of game playing to increase interest and engagement. The use of cause marketing partnerships, social media, and gamification-sometimes in combination-has resulted in successes, especially in engaging with millennials or Generation Y with events that have a social mission, purpose, or cause.
