Athens Twilight Live

Every April, the streets of downtown Athens turn into a race course – and a festival – as cyclists from around the world come to compete in the annual Athens Orthopedic Clinic Twilight Criterium cycling races. Since 1980, Twilight has filled downtown with two days of live music, food and drinks, and of course, cycling, at levels from amaetur to professional. Spectators come to see everything from their kids cycling by on tricycles to high-speed Olympians battling for money prizes, alongside music from local bands and offerings from local restaurants.

But, the Twilight organization has found that since the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event’s name recognition among the college-aged community has decreased. Even with a slimmer slice of college-aged attendees, the challenges of managing thousands of festival-goers remain: helping locate bathrooms and food trucks, preventing spectators from crossing the course when not allowed, communicating when and where various races are beginning.

The New Media Institute Twilight team uses a two-pronged approach to address the criterium festival’s needs. One: a new live-updating website, AthensTwilight.live, that will help attendees see what events are currently happening and where they are located related to their live geolocation. With living maps and schedules, these capabilities improve the static nature of the current maps and schedules on Twilight’s website and will make navigating the festival a smoother experience for attendees. And two: A revamped social media posting strategy from early March through the end of April. A new set of graphic templates, photo carousels, and video reels will help to attract a younger, college-aged audience that lives online and to communicate helpful festival-going information with potential attendees. Increasing post frequency, quality, and clarity will encourage more people to attend or participate in Twilight, please sponsors that are highlighted, and boost brand awareness.