The Hondo Rodeo Fest is an event combining the best of rodeo and country music. Aiming to deliver an “authentic Western culture experience,” the brand invites the top rodeo athletes in the world to compete for their slice of a Million Dollar Payout, followed by concerts featuring world-class country musical acts. Chase Field in Phoenix hosted the first year of this innovative event on November 7-9, 2024.
What started as a dream to create an “authentic Western culture experience” became a mission to capture a glimpse of what the future of professional rodeo could look like. The Hondo Rodeo Fest required a cohesive, versatile brand identity to establish recognition across multiple mediums.
The Fort developed The Hondo’s look to evoke cowboys, rodeo, and country music in the mind of event-goers. All event collateral utilized a warm western color palette of slate gray, earthy browns, and rust, with a vintage brass tone and bright cream providing contrast. A tall, rustic font completed the look by infusing a bold sense of personality and place. From event signage like arena panels and big checks, to merchandise and digital ads on Ticketmaster, to app and website graphics, this attention to detail in the visual branding presented event-goers with a unified look and feel that could only belong to The Hondo Rodeo Fest. Building brand recognition and excitement in the months leading up to the event involved strategic digital banner placements at Arizona Diamondback baseball games, social media advertising campaigns from The Hondo, and earned media from the athletes and music artists set to perform.
Crafting the look of The Hondo Rodeo Fest gave The Fort opportunities to work with over 20 event sponsors and partners. This included everything from household name brands such as Fritos, Coors, and Cavenders, to location-specific brands such as Barstool Scottsdale, the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Crescent Crown Distributing.
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Talk about a success! Though this was The Hondo’s inaugural Rodeo Fest, it sure ain’t our first rodeo in generating buzz for a brand. The Hondo Rodeo Fest’s impact reached well into the millions on social media and in the press before the event ever started. Enthusiastic fans broke Chase Field’s “walk up” ticket sales record three days in a row.
Brand impressions totaled over 10.5 million impressions on social media and over 735 million in press coverage, with mentions from Zac Brown Band, Old Dominion, Whiskey Myers, Turnpike Troubadours, Tuf Cooper, and Wesley Thorp – just to name a few.
Advertising at Arizona Diamondback games contributed to approximately 522,000 in person impressions.
The event sold over 62,000 tickets across three days and broke the “walk up” record for ticket sales at Chase Field.
Get a feel for the entire experience by watching this video: The New Era of Rodeo | The Hondo Rodeo Fest
Want to check it out for yourself? Click below to visit The Hondo Rodeo Fest website.
https://thehondorodeofest.com/