If you asked me today about my proudest professional achievement, I would say it could be summed up in one word: reindeer.
It’s the same word that Abi Bruno said during our team meeting when I asked everyone to throw out ideas on how to market the 91st Annual Purdue Christmas Show.
In complete coincidence, only a few hours after we joked about this half-formed idea, I received an email forwarded from the Hall of Music Box Office from a local couple who had recently started a reindeer farm just south of town. The timing felt almost too convenient, as if one of those scam messages offering a free piano showed up in my inbox right after I’d expressed an interest in learning the instrument. But they were real – both the owners of Indiana Reindeer Co. and the reindeer themselves, despite the latter frequently assumed to be imaginary, due to their status as Christmas iconography. I assured at least five people that reindeer were, in fact, very real, during “Reindeer Tuesday” – a four-hour promotional event where our team brought in two live reindeer to promote the holiday performance.
We jumped through more than a few hoops to make the event happen, from requesting live animal exceptions to waffling on times and places. The weather and its constant unpredictability kept me up more than a few nights. Others at PMO were curious, some skeptical about the event and whether it would be impactful. Personally, I was excited and optimistic, but also nervous about the outcome.
On the day of the event, a couple students trickled in at first, amazed at the animals pacing around inside the gates set on Hass Front Lawn. Then a few more, then a few more, until there was a crowd of students and staff surrounding the enclosure, taking selfies, listening to PMO students’ caroling. We ran out of flyers to hand out halfway through, forcing me to run back to Bailey Hall to print more.
A few days before, my partner and I were hanging out with friends of ours, chatting about work. As I was telling them about the event, one of them stopped me and asked, “What is your job again?” We laughed, but thinking back on that question now, I realized I do have a personal work philosophy. So if I were to answer now, I’d say my job is this: to take something simple or outrageous and turn it into something special, an experience that people will treasure for years to come. We can spin tinsel into gold – we just have to find the tinsel first (or have it show up conveniently in our inboxes).
Christopher Wolford
PMO Marketing & Communications Manager
cwolfor@purdue.edu