Holidazzle Parades: Keeping it Fresh

The excitement surrounding the Holidazzle parades, a Minneapolis holiday tradition, is tough to maintain year after years. The month-long series of parades sponsored by the Minneapolis Downtown Council encourages shoppers to visit downtown during the holidays. Padilla Speer Beardsley, the parades public relations firm since the parades inception, increased parade attendance and achieve record media coverage by promoting the launch of a bus ridership program, that transported suburban shoppers downtown, and a new "Circus Train" float. Despite four fewer parades, overall attendance increased 4 percent from the prior year. And total stories and mentions increased 47 percent.