We Love Band™

To scale We Love Band™ beyond individual school sponsorships, I negotiated title sponsorships with major marching band competitions and festivals, allowing Wendy’s to engage with 15–30 schools per event while supporting arts education at a regional level. These partnerships were structured as portfolio sponsorships, enabling consistent execution while tailoring activations to each event’s audience and format.

2024 Partnered Competitions & Festivals:

• Mead Jazz Festival – Mead, WA
• Spectacle of Sound – Liberty Lake, WA
• Southeastern Washington Cavalcade of Bands – Kennewick, WA
• Pacific Northwest Marching Band Championships – Mead, WA
• Pride of the Northwest Marching Competition – Grants Pass, OR
• Harvest Marching Band Festival – Yakima, WA
• University of Oregon’s Festival of Bands – Eugene, OR

Each partnership was designed as a multi-touchpoint activation, combining on-site engagement, media support, and financial sponsorship. I coordinated brand integration across awards ceremonies, student engagement areas, and event promotions to ensure Wendy’s presence felt additive rather than disruptive.

In addition to on-site activations, I managed supporting paid social media campaigns and produced accompanying radio advertisements to extend reach beyond event attendees. Performance was evaluated through sponsorship metrics including CPM analysis, allowing for informed adjustments to media mix and activation strategy across events.

Activations included custom We Love Band™ merchandise distribution, Wendy’s booths with prize wheels and food offers, participation in awards presentations, and coordinated radio and social media promotion tied to each competition.

To maintain engagement outside of competition season, I developed Sponsor Nights—fundraising events hosted at Wendy’s locations where high school bands performed live. These two-hour events donated 25% of all sales back to participating music programs and required coordination across schools, restaurant operations, and marketing.

I structured Sponsor Nights as a repeatable model, pairing paid social media promotion with school-led outreach to drive turnout while minimizing operational disruption. Performance was tracked across locations to evaluate lift, payout value, and overall return.

Performance Results:

• 2023: Average sales increase of 68.5% per event
• 2024: Average sales increase of 88.6% per event
• Highest single-event increase (2024): 186.2%
• Largest payout (2024): $832.10

2025 Update: Sponsor Nights in 2025 generated an average net sales lift of 85.97% with an ROI of 5.76%. The highest single payout to date was $1,079.36, benefiting the Lewiston High School Marching Band.

To launch each marching band season, I designed and led Swag & Frosty Days, a field-based activation conducted during summer band camps. These visits required advance coordination with schools, operations teams, and vendors to ensure consistent execution across markets.

I owned the end-to-end sourcing and production of custom We Love Band™ merchandise, working with both domestic and international manufacturers to balance cost, quality, timelines, and distribution logistics. This included vendor research, design coordination, production approvals, and delivery tracking to ensure materials arrived on schedule for each school visit.

Student Swag Packs included:

• Custom We Love Band™ cinch packs designed to replace traditional band-issued bags
• Water bottles, lanyards, and annual Band Key Tags redeemable for free small Frostys with purchase
• Limited-run We Love Band™ bucket hats developed as high-demand visibility drivers

Director & Staff Swag Packs included:

• Upgraded We Love Band™ backpacks featuring the Nurddle Musician graphic

Each visit also included free Frostys for students and staff, reinforcing brand presence in a way that felt celebratory rather than promotional. Swag & Frosty Days established early-season momentum for We Love Band™, strengthened relationships with educators, and supported a scalable, repeatable activation model.