Purpival
A campus carnival that ran from daylight games into a night party, and the first time students from 8 campuses in Minna came together in one place. It was paid, it was new, and it took the most complete marketing campaign I've run so far.
Day into night
One day, two moods. A park full of things to do while the sun was up, then a proper party once it went down.
By day
By night
The first time we really delegated
My role was much like FUTCH: overseeing the whole event. The difference was the structure. After two editions of FUTCH, this was the first event where the three co-founders properly split the work between us, then passed tasks down to the team. It ran a lot better.
A full 360
Purpival was paid, new, and for students from several campuses at once. So we came at it from every side.
Start with the community
Over the December and January holidays we hosted a small community hangout in Abuja. They were the first to hear Purpival was coming, we shot content with them, and they became the faces and advocates of the event, with early-bird tickets at a price only they got.
One flyer per school
Every campus got its own flyer and a point person: a well-connected social lead on that campus. We collaborated with each campus's Instagram pages, and campus reps sold tickets and spoke up for Purpival where they were.
Creators and artists
A creator programme with creators in Minna pushing Purpival to their own audiences, plus our own talking-head reels and a few ads. An artist challenge invited people to make a song for the event; the best one performed at Purpival.
Vendors and features
Every vendor who bought a space got a collab post, so Purpival reached their audience too. Each feature, from face painting to horse riding, got its own post.
Deals that brought people in pairs and groups
Valentine's Day was the day before, so we launched a couple ticket at ₦4,500 (down from ₦6,000), plus a cheaper group ticket for five.
A restaurant partnership
About three weeks out, we partnered with Food Republic, one of the busiest restaurants in the area. Spend over ₦5,000 and you could win a free Purpival ticket or a free drink. We put up a banner there, and people could buy tickets on the spot.
On the ground, everywhere
We visited FUT Minna, Newgate University and Abdulkadir Kure University to shoot content and talk to students. FUT Minna would bring 60 to 70% of the crowd, so we put banners at every touchpoint there.
The Cypher
A few days before, we held a cypher: an open-air night of music, bars and dancing in front of Shehu Aliyu Hostel, a FUT Minna tradition. We sold physical tickets right there.
The deal · couple tickets for Valentine's
The headliner · Manji Singz
The cypher · the night before the night
The event site
Everything in one place at purpival.1088africa.com: tickets, rides to the park, the sponsors and what to expect on the day.
Brands, in Minna
FunZ came on as the official event and ticketing sponsor, and Memecore Labs sponsored too. Both brought activations and plenty of merch. Students in Minna almost never get brands coming into their space, and they loved it.
FunZ OFFICIAL EVENT & TICKETING SPONSOR
Memecore Labs SPONSOR
Scenes from Purpival
After dark
Most of the night lived on video, so these are stills from the recap.
More on @10.8.8events ↗
Running a carnival is a completely different job from running a career event. It taught me how to put together a well-rounded 360 campaign: community first, then creators, campus reps, partners and physical touchpoints everywhere people went.
And it was the first time we delegated properly, which made everything run better.