Sears Celebrates @ The 116th Street Festival & PR Parade Sweepstakes.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. will bring excitement to their New York Hispanic customers via an in-store sweepstakes centering on their sponsorship of the 116th Street Festival and National Puerto Rican Day Parade, two of the largest Hispanic events in the United States. The 116th Street Festival attracts over 500,000 people and takes place Saturday June 7, the Sears concert stage will be at East 110th Street and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. The National Puerto Rican Day Parade is Sunday, June 8, on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. Over 1,000,000 people watch the parade in person, and millions more follow on general market and Spanish-language television.

“The Sears sponsorship of the 116th Street Festival and Puerto Rican Day Parade is now a tradition, and that tradition means the Hispanic community can rely on Sears to provide the very best entertainment and means of celebrating their heritage,” said Gilbert Dávila, Vice President of Multicultural Management and Consumer Relations. “We have an terrific sweepstakes that will energize our shoppers and provide a weekend of great excitement for our lucky winner”.

The Sears stage at the 116th Street Festival will feature two of the top names in Latin music. Merengue sensations Los Illegales will be the featured headliners, along with supporting act Jose Alberto “El Canario”. Los Illegales will appear for an autograph signing at the Sears store at 400 E. Fordham Road in the Bronx, on Friday June 6 from 6-8pm. Jose Alberto will appear on the Sears float in the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

LatinSphere, LLC, Long Beach, CA, created the sweepstakes and will oversee Sears’ branding elements at the festival and parade. Consumers will have a chance to visit the Sears Fiesta Mobile®, a rolling “party on wheels”, at one of nine Sears stores in the Tri-State area in the weeks leading up to the event weekend. At each of these appearances, consumers may enter to win a $100 Sears Gift Card on-the-spot that day, and will qualify to win the Grand Prize Package including two backstage passes to the 116th Street Festival, limousine travel to and from the festival, a photo opportunity with Los Illegales and Jose Alberto, a chance to ride on the Sears float in the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and a $1,000 Sears Gift Card. Sears has partnered with Spanish Broadcasting System and their local powerhouse signals, La Mega 97.9 FM and Amor 93.1FM, to promote all of the Fiesta Mobile’s store visits and the Festival itself, providing pre-event coverage and promotional clout.

“We believe very strongly that this promotion will drive measurable store traffic for Sears”, said Karla Lucia, Managing Partner of LatinSphere. “The only way to participate is to come to Sears, so we anticipate sales spikes for each of the nine participating stores during the promotional window”.

The schedule of the nine store promotions can be found at http://www.searsenespanol.com/.