Creative Marketing for Rochester Soup Swap

Taking an icon and making it so much better, the folks in Rochester, New York obviously rule. I love this snowy land.

This is what Ellen has to say,

On a freezing Rochester, New York night on Saturday, January 26, I hosted my first soup swap.

My friend designed the invites to look like a Campbell’s Soup can (thanks, Pete!). (To see a larger image of this, click here.)

Eight guests arrived, bearing, if not tidings of great joy, at least soups of great flavor. After a few hours of wine, hors d’oeuvres, and nice company, we gathered in the dining room for the Telling of the Soup.

We discovered one common element among all the soup makers: people did a lot of research before making their soups! Websites were searched for what soups freeze well; online customer reviews of particular recipes were pored over; sites that help you double/triple recipes were consulted.

The soups were Curried Pumpkin; Beef, Mushroom and Barley; Chicken Tortilla; Ultimate Baked Potato; Cream of Watercress; and Hoppin’ John.

I like the idea of soup spoon prizes. We’ll do that next January, at our second annual Soup Swap! Thanks for the idea… loads of fun.

Maybe you folks can make invites for everyone! Wow! It is so excellent! Thanks for sharing your good times with us and we hope to see you and all the towns that participated outside of Rochester again next year (or later this winter again...I think there is a lot of winter left up there)!

Fairport, NY Joining on the 23rd!

"I'll be hosting what I believe is a first for our little village on the Erie Canal. I saw your web site when searching for ideas for a cookie swap and decided that this was a way better idea!!", says JoAnne of Fairport, NY.

She continues that she is starting small with eight guest, and that she'll "be providing to attendees along with party favors of silicone hot pads and a wooden spoon."

We look forward to seeing the pictures from this Erie Canal town. She has a great invite (.pdf) with a good tip sheet on how to cook and freeze soup, if you are looking for invite ideas. You can drop her a note, here.

Right now I'm excited about finishing preparations.