New business ideas often come about in the most unexpected of ways. Perhaps recent events encouraged you to rethink your goals or launch a new brand. If so, you may want to host a grand opening event to draw customers in and get them talking. But a boring old ribbon-cutting won’t cut it.
A launch event can achieve many things, from creating awareness around your brand to getting people excited about your business and building relationships with the community. To give you some inspiration, here are some fun ideas for a grand opening event.
Break a record
Guinness World Records has been wowing people since the ’50s. But did you know that the famous organisation behind record-breaking spectacles has a strategic Business Solutions team?
These experienced marketing pros can help your organisation break a record at your grand opening party. The Guinness team helped LG Electronics build the world’s tallest house of cards atop an LG washing machine while it was running. They can help you think of a record to break and pull it off.
For instance, you could try and break the record for the most people tossing pizza dough at one time or for the most contributions to a painting-by-numbers. You could even build the world’s largest sculpture made out of fruit. Whatever it is, try and come up with something that’s both memorable and relevant to your business.
Create a publicity stunt
The Tour de France began as a publicity stunt to promote a new French newspaper. Or there’s the Greggs vegan sausage roll, which started as a publicity stunt in 2019. The pastries were sent to journalists and influencers in an iPhone box and went viral on social media. It’s now one of the chain’s best-selling products.
Attention-seeking stunts can make for the most effective grand opening ideas to generate PR. Consider choreographing a flash mob, creating a human billboard, or launching your own annual race or parade to catch people’s attention.
Bring a past decade to life
If you’re trying to come up with new business launch party ideas, it can be a good idea to pick a theme, like a time period. You might not be able to book a famous artist, but cover bands that harken back to a specific musical era can draw a surprisingly large crowd.
Perhaps a Spandau Ballet tribute band could perform at an ’80s themed event or the Spice Girls could transport attendees back to the ’90s. Encourage costumes and serve food and drinks that are typical of the decade to extend the theme.
Dress it up
Halloween is one of the most popular times of year, but it doesn’t have to be October for people to want to dress up. Instead, use their love of fancy dress to come up with a thematic costume challenge.
If you’re opening a store devoted to luxury items, for instance, a Great Gatsby party makes for a great time – and social media-worthy photos. Other themes could include Grease for a vintage fashion boutique, Disney characters for a business aimed at children, or literary heroes for a bookish brand.
Support a cause
Is there a charity that’s closely aligned with your business theme or goals? Is there a local cause you could support? Fundraisers, sponsorships, and simple donations are all great ways to establish your brand as charitable and attract a generous crowd.
Perhaps your brand is family-orientated, and therefore your opening could support children’s charities like Great Ormond Street Hospital or Children in Need. Or, if sustainability is at the heart of your business, think about ways you can donate to organisations like WWF or Friends of the Earth. Perhaps you could even gift a percentage of the profits from your launch to a local hospital or hold an auction that raises money for a community project.
Marketing your grand opening event
Now that you have some small business launch ideas in mind, you’ll need to think about how you’re going to promote your event. Marketing grand openings is slightly different to promoting other events because your brand or space is new. That means you might not have an existing audience.
You may want to utilise local PR, like radio, TV, and newspaper advertising to reach new people. It’s also a good idea to promote your grand opening on social media – for instance, by creating a Facebook event or using Instagram Stories.
To save time, market to more people, and manage your events, try Eventbrite Boost. From creating branded event pages to custom emails, it’s an easy way to take control of your event promotion. Plus, you can grow and target your audience with our powerful event marketing tools.
