Partner with Us

More business for everyone

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  A family Alice in Wonderland fantasy on Fat Tuesday

  Mardi Gras Unmasked captures the true spirit of Mardi Gras in a fun, feature-rich, HTML5-compliant environment free of distracting clutter.—Photo by Pat Jolly

  

While our goal is to offer the best resource possible for our audience, we understand that people seeking insights about Mardi Gras also want information about related products and services. Recognizing that connecting our audience to appropriate vendors and third parties makes Mardi Gras Unmasked a more useful resource, we seek collaborative marketing relationships with partners in two categories: non-profit community-based organizations with altruistic objectives, and commercial enterprises seeking sponsorship opportunities. The former receive free exposure on Mardi Gras Unmasked, albeit at our discretion. As for commercial sponsorship, we’re amenable to partnerships in the following areas:

• Hotel and Air Reservations

• Tours and Attractions

• Mardi Gras Beads and Paraphernalia

• King Cake

• Mardi Gras Balcony Access and Hospitality Packages

• Where to Drink and What to Eat (we’re not a dining guide, however)

• Music Venues and Concert/Entertainment Promoters (although we’re not in the business of compiling listings — see below)

• Content Creators and Distributors (artists, record labels, publishers, filmmakers, media outlets)

• Transportation
  
  

Old school vs. new school

We’re not a site that sells “advertising” to all comers, however, because we’re only interested in showcasing products, services and messages that are relevant to our audience and consistent with our mission. Nor is it our policy to exclusively promote businesses that pay money to Mardi Gras Unmasked.

The “pay-to-play” model — whereby sites only feature businesses that pay for placement or referrals/click-throughs — is old school. It’s also naïve in a way because on the Internet, no business exists in a vacuum and your competition is only a mouse click away — just jump on Google and type in keywords relating to your business. You’ll find your competition on the pages that come up.

The same principles apply to Mardi Gras Unmasked, dictating why we’re not in the business of creating or duplicating certain content — live music listings, for example — that is readily available elsewhere. If we don’t have it and somebody else does, we’ll send our visitors where they need to go to find it.

Our modus operandi, in developing original content and helping visitors to Mardi Gras Unmasked find the information they need, is not to exclude the competition but to generate more business for everyone. So if you’re a vendor with something that we think is of value to our audience, we’re not going to exclude you for competitive reasons — we’re going to link to you! Even if you’re in the same line of business as one of our sponsors.

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  Mardi Gras Music Radio, streaming 24/7

  Sponsors enjoy premium exposure opportunities including spots on our CD-quality radio station, which can be streamed on mobile devices.

  

Thus, prospective sponsor-partners you may find their competition listed or discussed as part of Mardi Gras Unmasked’s editorial content. Should that be a disincentive to becoming a sponsor? Maybe under the old-school way of thinking.

In fact, sponsors can benefit from the traffic generated by useful content that includes mentions of competitors. That’s because in the garbage-free environment of Mardi Gras Unmasked, sponsors receive enhanced visibility throughout the site and benefit from the goodwill we bring to the table. We work to ensure that sponsorship not only increases brand awareness but also results in the conversion of visitor traffic into sales. We know from past experience that affiliation with Mardi Gras Unmasked is an effective way to drive sales, because of the good will we’ve created with our audience. The reason we’re not at all shy about asking our audience to support our partners is simple: sponsorship underwriting allows us to step-up our technology, content and overall creative execution.

We know what works

We invite sponsors to work with our creative team in developing campaigns that fit with the aesthetic of Mardi Gras Unmasked. Our team has been involved in Internet marketing since its inception, and we know what works. Besides placement on web pages, exposure in our video player and on Mardi Gras Music Radio, we offer viral marketing campaigns utilizing social networking and custom widgets.

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  Original illustration by iconic New Orleans artist Bunny Matthews

  In addition to a rich online environment showcasing Mardi Grass as a vibrant cultural attraction, Mardi Gras Unmasked offers sponsors sophisticated creative and marketing services.

By offering the following marketing and creative services, we welcome the opportunity to add value to partners’ branding and promotional efforts:

• copywriting/editing

• voiceover scripting and production

• video production and editing

• web graphics and animation

• original artwork

• technology integration for tracking referrals, click-throughs and conversions

The captivating, feature-rich, HTML5-compliant environment of Mardi Gras Unmasked, with underlying technology geared for iPads and mobile devices, speaks to the depth of the resources at our disposal. Our job is to leverage these resources as effectively as possible to foster and quantify relationships between our sponsors and our audience. Together, we can grow and track sales — quantifying conversion rates as well as click-throughs.

To contact us regarding sponsorship, click here.