Extending the Party
Berkshire Hathaway is well known for having the most expensive stock price on the market. The company is also well known for its annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, which is a lot more than just a meeting. It has become a destination event for thousands of shareholders and Warren Buffett fans throughout the world. More than 30,000 people come to listen to the World’s Richest Man and to attend the exciting and high profile events during the weekend celebration.
Borsheims, owned by Berkshire Hathaway and one of the nation’s largest independent jewelry stores is among the most popular destinations for visiting shareholders. And the annual meeting weekend is one of the most important sales times of the year for Borsheims.
To leverage the event to the fullest, we created and managed a special blog devoted to providing a real-time experience of the Berkshire Shareholder Weekend. The focus was to inform and entertain as well and act as a surrogate experience for those shareholders who could not attend the event. The blog served as a two-way communication channel between the company and the shareholders and among shareholders themselves.
Bozell provided a full-time, on-site blogger for the event who not only wrote all posts, but also shot and posted photography and video on an ongoing basis. Promoted to prior attendees and media via e-mail marketing and press materials, the blog garnered significant traffic, coverage and comments during the three day event.
With over 50 posts, six videos and 500 plus high resolution photos during the event, the site reached thousands of shareholders in 55 countries, many of whom spent three minutes or more following the action. It also proved to be a valuable communications channel and source of feedback to Borsheims enabling shareholder questions to be answered in a quick and in-depth way. Not to mention a very effective outlet to promote and profile some of the special merchandise and discounts available to shareholders.