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Besides bowl game, Elk Grove plans other marketing efforts in 2019

Coming off its unconventional sponsorship of the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl, Elk Grove Village is doubling down on its marketing and public relations efforts to promote its expansive business park.

Along with the previously announced decision to re-up for another $300,000 bowl game sponsorship, the village plans to spend at least another $200,000 this year to get the word out that it's home to the country's largest industrial park.

The village board this week inked contracts with Lombard-based marketing firm Red Caffeine for $150,000 and Chicago-based public relations firm Bayless Communications for $54,000 to handle various aspects of the ongoing marketing effort.

Red Caffeine helped launch Elk Grove's Beyond Business Friendly campaign in 2013, starting with TV and radio commercials, print advertising and digital billboards. Much of its work of late has focused on targeting businesses through an email and web campaign, the website egvbizhub.com, a podcast series, the annual Made in Elk Grove Expo, and other business networking events.

While Red Caffeine helped handle some marketing related to the village's initial sponsorship of the bowl game, village officials this year decided to allow a different firm, 4FRONT, to handle more of that work. 4FRONT, a Chicago-based sports marketing agency, helped broker the village's deal with ESPN Events for the Dec. 21, 2018 game in Nassau, Bahamas.

"It's like a surgeon will handle the Bahamas Bowl and the regular doctor will handle everything else," Mayor Craig Johnson said.

At the same time, the village is bringing in PR guru David Bayless to support overall business recruitment and retention efforts, which will include publicity for the bowl game, business expo, and Elk Grove Technology Park now under construction. Bayless helped promote Elk Grove Village Cares, the village-led effort to battle the opioid crisis launched last year.

The village spent about $550,000 on marketing last year - including the Bahamas Bowl sponsorship - and is on track to spend about the same this year, Johnson said.

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