By: Odunayo Ishola
On my 8th birthday party, my mum hired a clown to perform. He was over the top and did a great job at terrifying all the kids. All the kids except me. I loved it all; the makeup, the costume, the performance. I ate it all up! Since then, I’ve had a slight fascination with the circus, and performance artists in general. So much so, that for the better part of my childhood, I wanted to become a circus clown. All that to say, I was a little more than excited when I got the opportunity to speak with Jessica Minshall, founder of The Amazing Giants, a circus performing arts group based in Columbus, Ohio.
We spoke on many things, but I was particularly interested in the advertising and promotional aspects of the business.
We spoke on many things, but I was particularly interested in the advertising and promotional aspects of the business.
Q: Who exactly are The Amazing Giants?
A: We are a performance arts company that can provide specialty entertainment for just about anything. We really focus on special events, which could be corporate parties, small house parties, community events, festivals, anything like that. Those are typically the kinds of events that we do.
A: We are a performance arts company that can provide specialty entertainment for just about anything. We really focus on special events, which could be corporate parties, small house parties, community events, festivals, anything like that. Those are typically the kinds of events that we do.
Q: What would you say your brand identity is? What sets you apart from other circus, performance arts group?
A: Well, we are called the Amazing Giants, and we did start as just a stilts walking company. I mean when we first started, I wasn’t even thinking about magicians or jugglers or anything like that, so I think the thing that stands us out above any other performance arts company is that we do have that stilt walking base and there aren’t that many stilts walking focused companies around the U.S. I mean, for them stilts is just kind of a secondary thing. But for us, the majority of our business is on stilts.
Q: What’s the biggest promotional platform you use?
A: Social media, definitely! We’re constantly posting pictures, videos, and updating posts on our social media page that usually generates conversation and inquiries about what we do. Most of our business for about two years was pretty much through social media.
Q: What social media platforms do you use?
A: We had our Facebook page for a while, even before we had our website. We also use Instagram and Twitter. Visuals definitely play an important role in what we do. People love to see our bright and colorful costumes, so we thought Instagram would be a great place to share those. However, Facebook is the most dominating platform we use so far.
Q: What are the specific aspects of publicizing the Amazing Giants that prove to be challenging?
A: Um, I don’t really think that it’s been challenging or anything. I think the most challenging thing for me is keeping up with our presence online. Trying to make sure that I’m posting things on a daily bases, and that sort of thing.
Q: Who’s in charge of putting things online for you?
A: I’m in charge of all that right now.
Q: Why do you consider Facebook your biggest social media platform?
A: I mean, I feel like on Facebook, we have a lot more the younger clients, a lot of the festival people, follow us. That’s where we post some of the weirder events that we’ve done where our costumes are a little crazier and stuff like that. I just feel a little freer to display everything that we’ve done on Facebook.
Q: How would you describe your personality and presence online?
A: I always try and make whatever I’m doing, fun and appealing to all audiences. I mean, we even work for a lot of churches, and stuff like that, so anytime I post anything, I want to make sure it’s okay for everyone. We also try and interact a lot with our audience. When someone comments, we reply, and try to keep a fun conversation going.
Q: What do you look for when interacting with your audience online?
A: We often get a lot of feedback from our audience online, so that’s always great. And that’s pretty much all I look for when I’m scrolling through the comments. What did we do right? What could we have done better?
Q: What’s the best way to reach the Amazing Giants?
A: Attend our shows, Facebook us, tweet at us, follow us on Instagram and if you want to inquire about booking us, just shoot me an email at [email protected] that’s pretty much it.
A: Well, we are called the Amazing Giants, and we did start as just a stilts walking company. I mean when we first started, I wasn’t even thinking about magicians or jugglers or anything like that, so I think the thing that stands us out above any other performance arts company is that we do have that stilt walking base and there aren’t that many stilts walking focused companies around the U.S. I mean, for them stilts is just kind of a secondary thing. But for us, the majority of our business is on stilts.
Q: What’s the biggest promotional platform you use?
A: Social media, definitely! We’re constantly posting pictures, videos, and updating posts on our social media page that usually generates conversation and inquiries about what we do. Most of our business for about two years was pretty much through social media.
Q: What social media platforms do you use?
A: We had our Facebook page for a while, even before we had our website. We also use Instagram and Twitter. Visuals definitely play an important role in what we do. People love to see our bright and colorful costumes, so we thought Instagram would be a great place to share those. However, Facebook is the most dominating platform we use so far.
Q: What are the specific aspects of publicizing the Amazing Giants that prove to be challenging?
A: Um, I don’t really think that it’s been challenging or anything. I think the most challenging thing for me is keeping up with our presence online. Trying to make sure that I’m posting things on a daily bases, and that sort of thing.
Q: Who’s in charge of putting things online for you?
A: I’m in charge of all that right now.
Q: Why do you consider Facebook your biggest social media platform?
A: I mean, I feel like on Facebook, we have a lot more the younger clients, a lot of the festival people, follow us. That’s where we post some of the weirder events that we’ve done where our costumes are a little crazier and stuff like that. I just feel a little freer to display everything that we’ve done on Facebook.
Q: How would you describe your personality and presence online?
A: I always try and make whatever I’m doing, fun and appealing to all audiences. I mean, we even work for a lot of churches, and stuff like that, so anytime I post anything, I want to make sure it’s okay for everyone. We also try and interact a lot with our audience. When someone comments, we reply, and try to keep a fun conversation going.
Q: What do you look for when interacting with your audience online?
A: We often get a lot of feedback from our audience online, so that’s always great. And that’s pretty much all I look for when I’m scrolling through the comments. What did we do right? What could we have done better?
Q: What’s the best way to reach the Amazing Giants?
A: Attend our shows, Facebook us, tweet at us, follow us on Instagram and if you want to inquire about booking us, just shoot me an email at [email protected] that’s pretty much it.
The Amazing Giants Promo from Thinking Eye on Vimeo.
