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client in a Cow Parade.
Cool art and great press from divine bovines
By Kathy Prentice
Chicago’s famous cow sculptures, displayed on city streets and parks two summers ago, are moving west to Kansas City, Houston and Las Vegas.
Cow sponsors’ fees cover the costs of creating the unique sculptures. In return, the cow images can be used in sponsors’ advertisements and promotions.
Each city’s Cow Parade culminates in an auction, providing moo-lah for local charities and additional publicity for corporate sponsors.
To find out about matching your client with a cow, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts:
What:
Corporate sponsorship of cow sculptures that are exhibited in major markets before being auctioned to benefit charities.
Who:
Cow Parade, headquartered in West Hartford, Conn.
How it works:
Cows can be sponsored singly or in herds or corrals. Each city handles sponsorship a little differently, tailoring it to its market.
The numbers of cows vary. Chicago’s herd totaled 322, with 142 ending up on the auction block. There were 500 cows in New York City, while 220 are planned for Kansas City and 300 for Houston.
Artists from each host region design, create and name individual cows, working with a choice of three prototype life-size fiberglass models (standing, reclining and grazing) supplied by Cow Parade. Sponsorship covers an artist's honorarium.
“We do an open call to artists through local arts organizations,” says Ron Fox, Cow Parade vice-president. “We create a portfolio of those designs that a sponsor can pick from. Larger corporations, especially those with creative departments, can produce their own design.”
Cows are sponsored by corporations, merchants, restaurants, individuals or community organizations. Sponsors can choose from existing cow designs or commission their own cow.
“We try to maintain this as an art event, so we don’t allow logos,” Fox says. “So if a company wants to create its own cow, it tends to make sponsors more creative.”
For instance, the artist creating a cow for Toys 'R' Us made a 14-foot wire slinky descending a flight of Legos. Creativity ranges from folk art to fine art, Fox says.
A “cow lighting” ceremony marked the Kansas City launch earlier this month. The Raphael Hotel on Country Club Plaza is using its sponsorship to promote a “holy cow package,” says general manager Cynthia Savage.
The hotel’s cow “Mooditeranean Lights” has 2,000 lights outlining a skyscape.
“The phones are lighting up and everyone is asking about the cows. We’re doing Moo Bell cuisine in the restaurant and ice cream drinks in honor of the cows,” she says. “We’re having a ball with this.”
A committee reviews each cow, not for artistic merit but for appropriateness. “The standard is: Would you want your five-year-old child standing in front of it?” Fox says. “This is a public art event.”
Local and regional companies, as well as local outlets of larger corporations, are typical sponsors. “Sprint and Starbucks do the events because they’re everywhere,” Fox says. New York cows had many national sponsors based outside the city.
Sponsors are named, along with artists, on the base of each cow sculpture. Each cow is viewed by millions of people during the exhibit.
Sponsors are also listed in event publications such as postcards, in viewing guides, promotional materials, and on the Cow Parade web site.
Other benefits include marketing rights for general advertising, public relations and promotions. Merchandise can be created using the cows’ images.
Sponsors frequently bid on their own cows at the charity auction and continue to use them in advertising and promotions. Businesses like banks and restaurants can bid to buy their cows and display them in their storefronts.
Lands’ End uses its Chicago cow in its catalog, Fox says.
Sponsors can also support schools by donating cows for students and teachers to design. In New York City the board of education held a system-wide competition with 200 plus students and teachers submitting their cow concepts.
A total of 55 adopted cows were painted by representatives of all five boroughs, making their benefactor, BASF--a global chemical company--the largest sponsor of the New York parade.
When cows are auctioned at an exhibit’s close, sponsors receive exposure at the auction gala and are exposed to benefiting organizations as well.
Secondary or trickle-down coverage of the Cow Parade also provides exposure for sponsors through local media outlets. “In Kansas City a local weatherman is using a cow a day as part of the weather forecast,” Fox says.
Additionally, many media outlets have sponsored cows and used them to promote their station or publication.
The length and exhibit locations of each event vary. Cow Parade works with each city to develop a display plan. “Kansas City has a long event while Houston has a small window of time due to the heat,” Fox says.
Cows appear on public streets, in parks and plazas and other public places. For instance, cows were on parade up and down Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Permission to display cow sculptures in public places and right-of-way on private property is managed by Cow Parade.
Markets:
Cow herds are “out to pasture,” having already grazed in the streets and parks of Chicago, New York City, Stamford, Conn. and West Orange, N.J.
Cows have been appearing in Kansas City, Mo., since June 8, in locations including the Country Club Plaza, Crown Center Plaza, Swope Park, downtown and 18th and Vine. Sponsorships will be available until Aug. 1, Fox says. Cows will be displayed through Sept. 14 with the charity auction taking place on Oct. 5 at the Starlight Theater.
Houston is scheduled to host herds starting on Dec. 6 at the Houstonian Hotel.
Las Vegas is scheduled for next summer.
Numbers:
How measured?
Primary exposure is number of contacts viewing cows and Cow Parade literature, with secondary exposure through media coverage.
Research:
What product categories do well?
Dairy is a natural fit, Fox says, but almost any type of business could find a cow connection.
Sponsorship varies with location. For instance, New York City cows were sponsored typically by non-dairy corporations with office headquarters in the city.
Tobacco, alcohol and gambling are restricted from sponsorship.
Demographics:
The demographics are broad because the cows are displayed on public streets, in parks and other locations. However, some families and other groups make cow pilgrimages in their cities, traveling to each cow and often taking photographs.
“Art crosses ages,” Savage says. “There’s something for everybody.” The hotel’s demographics are typically local and regional.
Making the buy:
Lead time depends on how long it takes the artist to produce commissioned sculptures, Fox says. An inventory of completed cows is also available for sponsors to choose from.
Kansas City cows start at $5,000 for an individual bovine, including the artist's fees. A typical herd consists of five cows, costs $25,000 to sponsor and comes with additional benefits.
Houston cows cost $7,500 each.
In each city herd and other special sponsorship opportunities provide greater marketing benefits.
Who’s already sponsoring cows?
In Kansas City sponsors include Aquila Energy, Kansas City itself, Clarkson Construction, Country Club Bank, Morningstar Communications, PaineWebber, Raphael Hotel, Sprint, State Street Bank and Trust and hundreds of others.
In New York sponsors included businesses ranging from AT&T, the American Craft Museum and Animal Medical Center to Zitomer and Zitomer.
What they’re saying:
“Come on down and you’ll find udder things to do in Kansas City this summer.”–Cynthia Savage, general manager of the Kansas City Raphael Hotel on Country Club Plaza.
What’s unique:
Prior publicity, especially of the Chicago Cow Parade, affords this venue celebrity status.
Etc.:
Whatever happened to Chicago’s cows?
Chicago’s charity auction raised $3.5 million with the average bid on the 142 cows sold approaching $25,000 and the top cow “Handsome” bringing in $110,000.
Illinois buyers purchased 97 of the city’s cows, with others heading to pastures as far east as New Jersey and New York and as far west as California.
Web site info:
Cow Parade at www.cowparade.org
Contacts:
Ron Fox at rfox@cowparade.net
June 25, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Kathy Prentice writes about out-of-home advertising for Media Life, penning her stories from the resort town of Traverse City, in the upper reaches of Michigan.
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