marketing case study 04


Creating Community Connections


Experiential Marketing | Community Activation | Event Experience Design

 

 

A campaign wasn't underperforming because people weren't interested - it was underperforming because the marketing workflow created unnecessary friction.

 

01 project Overview


New Legacy Cultural Center is a community-based non-profit organization that promotes Chinese culture, language, and educational programs through classes, performances, and public events.


In 2025, I helped plan and promote the organization’s Back-to-School Party, an outdoor community event held in a central area of Lexington. The goal was to introduce the organization and its programs to local families through an accessible, interactive cultural experience.


Rather than relying only on traditional program promotion, we designed the event as an open community party featuring Chinese cultural activities, live demonstrations, music, and informational booths. The event attracted both families who learned about it through advance promotion and local residents who discovered it while passing through the town center.



Role: Marketing and Event Lead (Volunteer)

Organization: New Legacy Cultural Center

Campaign: 2025 Back-to-School Party

Focus: Experiential Marketing, Community Activation, Event Experience Design

Channels: WeChat Official Account, Community WeChat Groups, Printed Posters, On-site Engagement


02 background


New Legacy Cultural Center provides cultural and educational programs that bring together families with a shared interest in Chinese heritage and language. However, introducing these programs to a wider community requires more than simply sharing course information.


The Back-to-School Party provided an opportunity to bring the organization’s mission into a public setting and allow residents to experience it directly.


The event was planned as an informal outdoor gathering where families could participate in cultural activities, watch performances, learn about community programs, and interact with the organization in a welcoming environment.


The objectives were to:

  • Increase awareness of New Legacy Cultural Center and its programs.
  • Create an engaging community experience centered on Chinese culture.
  • Introduce the Chinese school and related organizations to local families.
  • Reach both existing community members and residents who were unfamiliar with the organization.
  • Encourage families to interact with the organization through activities rather than passive promotion.

03 the challenge



The main challenge was creating an event that could serve two purposes at the same time.


It needed to feel like a fun, open community party while also providing meaningful opportunities to introduce New Legacy Cultural Center, its Chinese school, and related programs.


A traditional information booth alone would have been unlikely to attract or hold the attention of families passing through the area. The event therefore needed interactive elements that could create curiosity, encourage participation, and naturally lead visitors toward learning more about the organization.


The outdoor settings also required the experience to be easy to understand and accessible to different audiences, including:

  • Families who had seen the event promotion in advance.
  • Existing members of the Chinese-speaking community.
  • Local residents who encountered the event unexpectedly.
  • Children with different levels of familiarity with Chinese culture.
  • Community organizations and program representatives participating in the event.

04 strategy


I approached the project as an experiential marketing initiative rather than simply an event announcement.



The strategy was to create multiple on-site touch points that would allow visitors to experience Chinese culture, engage with the organization, and discover its programs in a natural way.


The event experience was organized around three functions:

Attracting

Use visible, interactive activities, cultural demonstrations, and music to capture attention and create an inviting atmosphere.

engaging

Encourage children and families to participate directly in traditional games and group activities.

introducing

Use program booths and conversations to connect the experience with New Legacy Cultural Center, its Chinese school, and related community organizations. This approach allowed cultural activities to serve as the entry point, while the booths and program information provided the next step for families who wanted to learn more.

performing

A Chinese traditional plucked string instrument performance area adds a cultural and artistic component to the event.

05 Community Activation


The event’s location in the town center became an important part of the marketing strategy.


Because the activities were visible and open to the public, the event attracted not only people who had seen the promotional materials but also residents who happened to be passing through the area.

The combination of music, cultural games, dragon dance activities, and live performance created multiple visual and sensory entry points.


Visitors did not need prior knowledge of the organization to participate. They could stop, observe, join an activity, and then learn more about New Legacy Cultural Center and its programs.


This helped turn the physical event space into a live brand experience.

 

06 My Contribution


My responsibilities included:

  • Supporting the overall event concept and party-style format.
  • Helping plan the content and structure of the event.
  • Developing ideas for interactive Chinese cultural activity areas.
  • Coordinating the placement of traditional games, group activities, performances, and informational booths.
  • Creating the event poster.
  • Supporting event promotion through the WeChat Official Account and community WeChat groups.
  • Helping create the on-site atmosphere through music and activity planning.
  • Introducing New Legacy Cultural Center, its Chinese school, and related organizations through the event experience.

 

 

07 results


The Back-to-School Party successfully created an open and approachable setting where families could experience Chinese culture and learn about local cultural and educational programs.


The event:

  • Brought together interactive games, performances, program promotion, and community outreach in one experience.
  • Increased the visibility of New Legacy Cultural Center in a central public location.
  • Reached both planned attendees and spontaneous visitors.
  • Introduced the organization and its programs through participation rather than information alone.
  • Created opportunities for families to engage with Chinese culture in an informal and welcoming environment.



Because formal attendance and conversion data were not collected, the results are presented through observed participation and community engagement rather than numerical performance claims.

 

 

08 Experiential marketing insights


This project showed me that community marketing can be more effective when people are invited to experience an organization’s mission rather than simply read about it.


Traditional games, live music, performances, and family activities helped make Chinese culture accessible and created natural opportunities for conversation and program discovery.


The experience also reinforced several important lessons:

Experience Can Lead the Message

Visitors were initially attracted by activities and performances, but those experiences created opportunities to introduce the organization and its educational programs.


Public Space Can Become a Marketing Channel

The central outdoor location expanded the event’s reach beyond the organization’s existing audience and allowed spontaneous visitors to participate.


Interaction Creates Stronger Engagement

Hands-on activities encouraged families to spend more time at the event and engage more deeply than they might have through a traditional promotional booth.


Program Promotion Works Best When Integrated Naturally

By placing informational booths within a broader cultural experience, the organization could introduce its programs without making the event feel overly promotional.


Event Design Shapes Brand Perception

The open, family-friendly format helped present New Legacy Cultural Center as accessible, welcoming, and connected to the broader community.