Sharing Shows
Hi Friends!
In case you haven’t noticed, the weather’s starting to change and January is fast approaching. As I’m sure you can imagine, we are well into the frantic planning cycle of 2026’s installment of Arizona Car Week.
This year, I’m attempting a handful of different things and one of those things in particular is trying really hard to network with other car events around the country for the purpose of either co-promotion or just to simply exchange ideas. I’m pretty early into this objective, but so far and it’s been fun to meet new people, learn from them, to share things I’ve learned and to help each other to reach further and hopefully accomplish more.
So far, I’ve noticed three pretty apparent commonalities throughout this process and as I know there’s a lot of folks on this list who also do car events (and certainly almost everyone here attends them and always wants to go to better ones), it would make sense to continue this mission and share those openly with you.
There’s three things I’ve learned from other car show promoters so far during the planning phase of Arizona Car Week 2026….
1. You have to have a hook
If you really think about it, almost every event in this hobby falls into one of three categories (with a fourth clearly on the way…). We’ve got Cars and Coffee events (or “and & and”, similar adjacent types of shows), Drive-ins/Cruise-ins and Concours d’Elegance style events. Gallery installation type shows are definitely starting to show up in major cities around the country, but the core as of right now is really those three things. I think the best shows in this space I figured this out, embraced it and used their individual attributes to set themselves apart. For example, Pebble Beach uses their incredible location, along with the prestige associated with the event to move the needle. Here in Arizona, for example, we have Concours in the Hills which stands out not only due to its location, but the sheer size of the event and the community impact that it presents. Similar deal with the Copperstate 1000 kickoff. Obviously, it’s a supporting event for a rally tour (which by all intents and purposes I consider to be different than what we’re talking about here), but it’s hook is very high-end, that are actually used in a 10,000 capacity, real deal baseball stadium. During car week, what is probably our best known Cars and Coffee events are Espresso and Engines and Bagels and BS. Is the concept basically the same? Definitely. However, they have standout components that separate them from your standard Saturday morning event. Bottom line is, the best events aren’t always the most creative ones, but they’re the ones that still know how to set themselves apart.
2. The presence of a proper PR structure makes a huge difference
From top level Concours, all the way down to smaller scale, semi-regular Drive-in style events, everything is almost always done on a semi shoestring budget with this stuff. Reason being largely breaks down to obviously the overall cost of putting this together, but there’s usually a charity component someplace where proceeds need to be maximized in order to make an impact. Right out of the gates, I understand this completely. This said, along with your venue expenses, on-site signage and branding and things of that nature, a solid public relations backbone should always be included. Promoters that allocate and spend the money on this almost always not only see an immediate return, but an increased degree of legitimacy that allows the show to grow, be bigger, raise more and do more in the future. Virtually every really thoroughly organized and highly successful collector car event that I’ve come across recently all have this in place. The ones that struggle and are likely not to survive down the line are the ones that nickel and dime things like PR out of their budgets. Could this potentially speak to how complete and well assembled a team behind one of these events is in general (IE people that are sophisticated enough to know that they need a PR structure tend to be good at other things also)? I would say that’s almost guaranteed, but if you’re not one of these people and you’re still learning, follow the people that do what you’re trying to do better than you and you’ll find your way. Good PR supercharges this process and I’ve never met anybody that’s regretted spending money on a quality team to handle it.
3. The AI effect is already being felt
I’ve had this conversation with a lot of people recently, especially younger promoters and it’s definitely something that it seems is on everyone’s mind right now. AI is still very much in its infancy, but over the last year or so, it’s entering more and more people’s lives on a regular basis and becoming impossible to ignore. This said, AI is empty. It is a tool and nothing more. As it becomes more and more ingrained in our lives, the importance of actual face-to-face social interaction will become considerable. In fact, what I’m already beginning to hear is how much people are already craving actual authenticity. We already know that nightclubs and bars and things like that are seeing smaller and smaller crowds all the time, so you have to create something that’s cool enough for people to want to leave their bubbles. Addressing FOMO (fear of missing out) is more important than ever and nothing fans those flames like events. Fact is, we need events now more than ever and this is only going to increase as things move forward. Today’s small event promoters are going to play a big role in feeding this in the future for certain. We’ve all seen how big corporate entities handle ownership of important events. In most circumstances, these things tend not to make a lot of money and after a while start to feel thin, stripped down and impersonal as the powers that be struggle to maximize returns. This means that there will always be a need for creative, authentic event concepts and this will probably grow as more and more as artificial and electronic elements further dominate our lives. Not only do event promoters need to support each other, but people need to take chances and try things. Not a JDM guy? Go to a JDM event. Same thing if you’re an exotic car guy. Go to a muscle car show. Try something new, meet new people and broaden your horizons. It’s good for you and it’s good for everyone.
Anyway, the first drop of events for Arizona Car Week 2026 (over 30 so far with more on the way!) will occur on Tuesday, November 4th at arizonacarweek.org. Of course, we hope everybody has a chance to come out and join us January 16th through 25th. Start making your plans now!
That’s it for this week……
Darin Roberge
