Mama Rosa / Firefly Grove Park Case Study

SITUATION

Wauwatosa is a vibrant and diverse community with a charming, small-town feel adjacent to Milwaukee. Discover Wauwatosa, the marketing arm for the City of Wauwatosa, was thrilled to be opening Firefly Grove Park on the city’s west side at the start of summer 2025. The park was going to feature the first ever troll from world-renowned recycle artist Thomas Dambo. The 25-foot troll—named Mama Rosa—became a premium point of interest among media and locals.

The Discover Wauwatosa team knew they had to plan a large park opening and troll unveiling event. In addition to working with the City of Wauwatosa, Discover Wauwatosa turned to their marketing partner B+L, who already handled efforts ranging from creative and media buying to public relations and social media.

While this particular partnership included a multi-faceted marketing campaign B+L handles regularly, opening a park and unveiling a giant troll brought the added challenge of planning a large-scale event that would include local and state dignitaries.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES

  • Host a successful event featuring state and community leaders
  • Build awareness for Firefly Grove Park and Mama Rosa
  • Establish Wauwatosa as an arts destination, and an environmentally friendly one
FireflyGrove-Map

IMPLEMENTATION

  • Event planning and coordination
    • Coordinated responsibilities with Discover Wauwatosa and City of Wauwatosa using shared documents and weekly planning sessions
    • Worked with Thomas Dambo’s team to coordinate the unveiling event, as well as pre-events
    • To help celebrate the grand opening, invited state officials, including the Lt. Gov., the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, Senators, and others
    • Rented a tent capable of holding 200 guests, a podium, stage, and sound equipment
    • Led efforts in developing a run of show for the event
    • Helped edit and formulate speeches from local government officials
  • Website and event invite distribution
    • Produced a landing page (visuals, copy, layout) on the website to:
      • Tease the troll’s arrival (without showing the troll or sharing the name)
      • Share event details and instructions
      • Provide event map
    • Distributed invites to city staff, partners, and other park project VIPs
  • Social media campaign
    • Share images and video of Firefly Grove Park during construction
    • Tease the troll without sharing identifying images or the name
    • Organized and shot video of (mostly local) artists who built and contributed artistic benches to Firefly Grove Park to include in an ongoing artist series
    • Worked with local social media influencers and organizations to share information and hint at unveiling
    • Coordinated posts at the grand opening to maximize engagement
  • Public relations campaign
    • Curated a targeted list of regional journalists
    • Developed talking points for Firefly Grove Park and the Dambo troll, without revealing too much information about the troll
    • Coordinated Dambo’s media access with his promotional team
    • Arranged and coordinated media days for journalist sneak peeks
    • Organized pre-event Dambo press conference and executed event
    • PR team served as point people for government officials and journalists the day of the event

RESULTS

  • Event
    • Despite rain, attendance reached capacity of 200
    • Attendance from key dignitaries:
      • Gov. Sara Rodriguez
      • Wisconsin Department of Tourism Secretary Anne Sayers
      • Thomas Dambo
    • Speakers, photos, and tours were efficient and ran on time
  • Website
    • Total users: 11,883 (up 51%)
    • New users: 11,296 (46.7%)
    • Sessions: 15,264 (62.25)
    • Views: 27,334 (90.4%)
    • Sessions per user: 1.29 (7.5%)
    • Engagement rate: 69% (16.6%)
  • Social media
    • Impressions: 592,000
    • Engagements: 50,900
    • Engagement rate: 8.5%
  • Public relations
    • Coverage hits (May 1 to September 30): 557
    • Reach: 666.5 million
    • Ad value equivalency: $6.2 million
  • Firefly Grove Park attendance
    • Total visitors (June 1 to September 30): 151,038
    • Visitors from 50+ miles away: 21,843
    • Visitors from 46 states
    • Opening weekend: 10,000 visitors
    • Summer weekends: 2,000+ (on average)
  • Estimated economic impact (based on data from November 2025)
    • $12 million