By Christy Wagner, Editor
Get ready, powerboat fans! The 2024 LOTO Race Guide is zooming your way with 10,000 fresh copies this coming May! Filled to the brim with thrilling and never-before-seen content, it’s your passport to the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout and Shootout Offshore–and so much more. Support and give back to the Lake of the Ozarks’ many nonprofits, first responders, and the entire tri-county community by advertising in this year’s one-stop-shop racing guide while taking part in a typhoon of exhilarating excitement and friendly fun!
What’s New in 2024?
For the first time in three and a half decades, the publication, advertisement, and distribution of the Official Shootout Program Guide has been taken in-house. So, what does that mean for the future of the Shootout? It means that 100% of advertising profits are also kept in-house and will therefore add to the total amount distributed at the Shootout’s Presentation of Checks this fall (last year yielded a record-breaking total of $675,000 in donations across a series of 39 checks to local nonprofit organizations, police, and fire protection districts).
When the Shootout first began in 1989 at Shooters 21, the Shootout worked in a similar manner as it currently operates, where funds are collected and donated back to local charities. The purpose of the Shootout blended over time to help support local first responders once four community fire departments became more heavily involved in the early 1990s. For a long period of time, fire personnel with the Cities of Osage Beach, Lake Ozark, Gravois Mills, and Mid-County took care of everything from soliciting St. Louis and Lake-based businesses to collect advertising sales and sponsorships within their own jurisdictions, to setting up and maintaining the racecourse on the weekend of the main event.
Over the past 36 years, the Shootout has grown by such an enormous measure that it has become a year-round event with various sub-events taking place throughout the year. The Shootout continues to expand by adding to its recipient pool with steady support from its behind-the-scenes board members, year-round staff members, and, of course, its dedicated volunteer base.
With this immense growth, the pressure is on to keep budding annually like flowering dogwoods in the spring while continuously seeking out new, innovative ways to make this feat possible. Key opportunities, such as acquiring and revamping the Lake of the Ozarks’ second major boat race, have made Shootout history within the past three months when it attained LOTO Powerfest/Lake Race and rebranded this late-May/early-June event to Shootout Offshore. Following this conquest, Shootout Offshore immediately joined forces with Powerboat P1 (with subsequent sanctioning rights falling under the umbrella of UIM/APBA), which put the Lake of the Ozarks onto the World Class Championship Race Schedule for 2024. Suffice it to say, the Shootout team has been incredibly busy.
In merging two standalone guides, the 2024 LOTO RACE GUIDE was born and while past marketers have previously paid for advertisements in two separate magazines, one magazine will now host it all.
What Can We Look Forward to in 2024’s LOTO RACE GUIDE?
Across an anticipated 250 pages and over a series of 10,000 printed copies, the 2024 LOTO RACE GUIDE will encompass a projected equal-in-degree ad-to-content ratio, which will allow for relevant and exciting articles, and staple features placed at the forefront of all readers’ inquisitive regard. Advertisers will not become lost in a sea of fellow advertisements, but rather, they will shine like Orion’s Belt in the inkiest of nights with limited overall advertising space.
Paramount to all else, your marketing dollars will support local 501(c)(3) organizations such as Kids’ Harbor Child Advocacy, The Changing Table, Wonderland Camp, Citizens Against Domestic Violence (CADV), the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Lake of the Ozarks Soccer Association (LOSA), and the Magic Dragon Trails System (to name a mere select few), along with various food pantries, animal shelters, and more, including a handful of police and fire protection districts that are oftentimes remote and/or underfunded.
Advertisements will be sewn beautifully across a woven tapestry of strategically written works which shed light upon our endless number of volunteer organizations, annual fundraising events, past winners, vintage tributes, back-to-the-basics informative digests, behind-the-scenes (and, quite frankly, hilarious) Shootout roasts, a history of both chief races here at the Lake of the Ozarks, a speckling of racer profiles, the annual Hall of Fame inductee announcement, brain teasers and crossword puzzle trivia, and beyond. The Shootout and Shootout Offshore’s combined racing guide will operate in a similar fashion as Facebook, which means that all 10,000 printed guide copies will be completely free to the public while all fundraising dollars will be generated from advertisements.
New also in 2024, the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout has procured more than a dozen magazine racks to help disperse its free guides across the Lake of the Ozarks between May and August. The Shootout’s target market will be boat brokerages, marinas, lakefront bars and restaurants, and high-traffic establishments, along with host hotel/venue locations near each main event. We are getting loud, dear followers, and we are making waves.
Likewise, prepare for a truly thrilling experience, powerboat enthusiasts! The 2024 LOTO RACE GUIDE is speeding toward you, and its big debut is only a month away. Every page will be jam-packed with exciting content that serves as your gateway to the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout and Shootout Offshore, but it’s more than just a guide–it’s a means to support and contribute to our community while indulging in a boatload of nautical fun. Hang on tight, because this is going to be a fun-filled, high-speed adventure like no other.
Consider contributing to our cause through donations, sponsorship opportunities, or advertising. Your contribution will help make this year our most memorable yet and your support doesn’t just give back to the Lake, but it allows you to reach thousands of potential customers (or millions if you consider our world-wide reach with a soon-to-be digital release of the 2024 LOTO RACE GUIDE). Remember, every marketing dollar invested in this guide has a significant footprint—and an amazing, all new opportunity for exposure.
How Can I Advertise in the 2024 LOTO RACE GUIDE?
Email: [email protected] to connect with Destiny Jones, Manager or Sales, or contact her directly via cell phone at (573) 693-8275.
