HOW A LAS VEGAS EV ACTIVATION HELPED US IMPROVE A LOS ANGELES STREET TEAM CAMPAIGN

It’s interesting how the most valuable event isn’t always the one that brings in the most revenue. Sometimes it’s the one that teaches you what to do differently next time.

A few months before we launched a large EV-focused street team activation in Los Angeles, we were supporting an EV rideshare company in Las Vegas that had recently entered the market.

The concept was straightforward: the client wanted brand ambassadors positioned in high-traffic areas such as Fremont Street and the Arts District to promote their rideshare app. Their goal was to introduce visitors to the EV ride share service, encourage QR code scans, and generate new user registrations.

It was a typical QR code distribution campaign that most event staffing agencies have run before.

However, Las Vegas can be tricky, and we quickly discovered several challenges. The campaign took place during the summer approach, with temperatures reaching over 100°F during peak hours. The staff was working outdoors for 5 hours, and the locations the client chose were filled primarily with tourists rather than local residents, which is still the target audience for the service.

On top of that, the team wasn’t wearing branded uniforms that could help them stand out from the crowd. And because the client wanted to keep costs down, there was no team leader assigned to oversee 4 brand ambassadors working across multiple locations throughout the city.

As a result, I ended up stepping into that role myself to ensure the activation runs smoothly. I spent my time checking on staff, making sure they were actively engaging with people, solving the staff's issues (don't get fooled, there is always an issue during any event) as they came up, and helping keep the activation on track.

One of the teams working on Fremont Street during the Las Vegas EV rideshare campaign.

The campaign delivered some useful data. Not necessarily the results the client had hoped for, but something valuable I pulled out of this activation.

Lessons.

A lot of lessons that helped me win a much larger client only a few weeks later in Los Angeles. It’s funny how we rarely recognize those lessons until the moment comes when we actually need them.

One Thursday afternoon, I received a call from New York.

An energy company was preparing a promotional campaign targeting electric vehicle owners using Tesla Superchargers throughout Los Angeles and Southern California. The timeline was tight: the client called on Thursday and needed 6 brand ambassadors deployed from Monday to Friday, divided into 3 teams of 2.

I knew immediately that this was my opportunity to apply everything I had learned from the Las Vegas activation.

So instead of starting with staffing numbers, I started by walking the client through the activation itself and the challenges I expected they would face.

Because I had just lived through a similar campaign in Las Vegas, I already knew where the problems were likely to appear. I told them they needed a dedicated team leader if they planned to place multiple teams across several locations. I told them they should expect staff turnover during a multi-day outdoor activation under the California sun and that they would need to keep at least one brand ambassador per team familiar with the activation to pass knowledge to the newcomer. I also told them that branded apparel would matter and would help increase both visibility and trust among potential participants.

One of the teams working at Tesla Supercharger locations during the Southern California EV outreach campaign.

Most importantly, I told them something they weren’t expecting to hear.

If the goal was maximizing sign-ups, two brand ambassadors at the same location might actually perform worse than one. People naturally start talking to each other, and without constant supervision, that can negatively impact campaign performance.

Most agencies would never say that. After all, fewer staff means a smaller invoice.

But my job isn’t to sell the largest staffing package possible. My job is to help clients achieve their goals.

The campaign was launched across Tesla Supercharger locations throughout Southern California. Brand ambassadors needed to approach EV owners while their vehicles were charging and introduce a program designed to reduce electricity costs.

Participants needed to connect their vehicle to the platform, link their utility account, and receive monthly incentives in exchange for charging during off-peak hours rather than during periods of high demand.

For the utility company, the benefits were significant. Reducing peak demand helps stabilize the electrical grid, lowers infrastructure strain, and contributes to long-term energy efficiency efforts. In California, where overloaded infrastructure has contributed to devastating wildfires, these programs have an impact that goes far beyond individual electricity bills.

And for EV owners, it meant saving money.

However, the sign-up process needed to happen on the spot because most people simply forget to complete it later at home.

The client initially chose to place 2 brand ambassadors at each location, even though I had concerns, they wanted to test their concept. After running the activation for the first week, the results confirmed exactly what we had suspected. Locations staffed by two people often created distractions as the staff naturally spent time talking to one another between interactions.

The first week became a testing phase. The client identified the strongest locations, learned where sign-ups were most likely to happen, and realized they didn’t need to overspend on staffing.

The following week, the client booked the activation again, only this time, each location was staffed by a single brand ambassador.

The results improved significantly! Some locations generated nearly three times as many sign-ups with one person compared to two. That discovery completely changed the staffing strategy moving forward.

The same activation after introducing branded apparel. A small change that helped increase visibility and trust during conversations with EV owners.

Instead of scheduling multiple ambassadors at every location, the client shifted toward placing one experienced brand ambassador at each site.

• The sign-up numbers improved.

• The campaign became more efficient.

• And the client spent less money.

Ironically, that last part is what strengthened the relationship the most.

Clients notice when you’re willing to save the client's budget by recommending the right staffing package because it’s genuinely the better solution for their goals. As a business owner, of course, I want to make money. The easiest way would have been to continue billing for larger teams.

But in the long run, client retention is what creates sustainable growth.

By the end of the second week of activation, the client was extremely happy with the sign-up numbers and thanked us for our recommendations. Today, we’re discussing future activations together, including expansion into additional California markets such as San Francisco.

Looking back, the biggest success wasn’t the campaign itself. It was the fact that a challenging activation in Las Vegas gave us the knowledge to help another client avoid the same mistakes in Los Angeles.

Sometimes the best results come from what you learn between projects.