In their efforts to promote Bella Sara card series, Hidden City Games and Conceptcard held a number of promotional events throughout the years in North America, as well as internationally.[1]
To encourage a better tomorrow in today's youth, Bella Sara funded the first ever Girls' Day San Diego on Saturday, November 4th. The free event featured uplifting chats from social organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County, fun activities and performances to inspire goodwill and optimism in its participants, and a special appearance by actress Ashley Tisdale.[2]
Girls were able to collect complimentary Bella Sara trading cards and write down their own positive messages to be read aloud by Tisdale throughout the day. Participants could log onto BellaSara.com to care for their new horses. [3]
Pictures of the event also show an appearance of Peter Adkison, the founder of Bella Sara's worldwide distributor: Hidden City Games. [4]
Ashley Tisdale speaks on stage with young Bella Sara fans
Ashley Tisdale shares the stage with Hidden City Games CEO, Peter Adkison
Goodie Bag
A goodie bag of various Bella Sara items was handed out to event-goers.[5] It included:
+ A signed photo of Ashley Tisdale
+ A Sticker Sheet of either Thunder, Fiona, or Bella
+ 5 "First Series" Cards, Rose, Ghost, Moonlight, Saga, and Starfighter
+ A paper fortune teller sheet
+ A Bella Sara themed pencil
Stickers Size Comparison with Regular Sticker Sheet
To encourage a better tomorrow in today's youth, Bella Sara funded the first ever Girls' Day Seattle on Saturday, November 11th. The free event featured uplifting chats from social organizations such as Girls on the Run, fun activities to inspire goodwill and optimism in its participants, and a special appearance by actor Devon Werkheiser.[2]
Girls were able to collect complimentary Bella Sara trading cards and write down their own positive messages to be read aloud by Werkheiser throughout the day. [6]
Unfortunately, the only images available of this event are from the archived photos on BellaSara.com, hence the low quality. [7]
Devon Werkheiser speaks with young Bella Sara fans at Girls' Day Seattle, 2006.
At Gen Con Indy 2007, Bella Sara invited TV star, Hayden Panettiere, to make an appearance at the Bella Sara booth in the Family Fun Pavilion on Sunday, August 9th. Panettiere would offer an inspirational speech about "Following Your Dreams" to young fans and sign autographs throughout the day.[2]
At the booth were photos of Hayden herself, jumbo-sized "Northern Lights" Bella promo cards, and Lugh promo cards to be handed out to convention-goers. Attendees could also access BellaSara.com, demo-test the Treasure Trot board game, partake in arts and crafts and storytelling activities, and meet Gitte and Spoops at the booth. [8]
Panettiere and the CEO of Hidden City Games, Peter Adkinson
Panettiere and the creator of Bella Sara, Gitte Brændgaard
Panettiere signing autographs
At SDCC 2007, Bella Sara had a booth where they handed out Erinn promo cards; sold "First Series", "Second Series", and "Northern Lights" packs; and advertised the upcoming "Ancient Lights" cards. An info-video played on loop by the booth.
In late November of 2007, Bella Sara was licensed to distribute merchandise and cards in Limited Too and Justice stores. To celebrate, the "Ancient Lights" Promotional Card, Dreamer, was given out to shoppers for a limited time.[9]
Dreamer advertisement on BellaSara.com circa 2007
On January 17th and 18th, Bella Sara was featured on the radio show "Weekends Around the Northwest", a US radio show running since 1990 that plays on 6 stations, updating residents of the Northwest US about new events and things to look out for around them. [10][11] It is assumed these features were advertising breaks in the regular programming.
CD from Bella Sara company employee with recordings of the featured content
Prior to the release of the "Magical Friends" series, Hidden City Games issued the "Quest for the Lost Horse" event that spanned from May 16th thru June 12th and featured four promo cards and one exclusive online horse, Falcha.
Customers who bought Bella Sara cards at participating stores would receive one of the following cards depending on the date:
Once all four horse codes were entered into a user's account, the lost horse, Falcha, would appear in the user's stables. [12]
Quest for the Lost Horse promotion on BellaSara.com. May 17th, 2008
To promote the arrival of the "Baby Bella" series, Hidden City Games issued the "Family Reunion" event that took place from October 7th thru December and featured four promo cards and local Bella-Sara-themed family game nights that included games, activities, and exclusive prizes.
The story for the event is that foals Dusk and Dawn are unable to find their way home after an eclipse disorients them. Concerned parents Rimfaxe and Aurora seek the help of Wildflower in order to find their lost children.
Each of the four promo cards could be collected in the following way:
- "Rimfaxe & Aurora" Parent Card: free with purchase of Baby Bella card packs at participating stores from October thru November.
- "Dusk" and "Dawn" Offspring Cards: free to those who participated in the "Family Game Night" event at participating stores during December.
- "Wildflower" Teacher Card: available in the 2008 November/December issue of Discovery Girls Magazine. [13]
Screenshot of the Family Reunion Event on BellaSara.com/BabyBella/ detailing how each card can be collected, 2008.
Bella Sara was featured as a promotional item for the 2008 Zecchino d'Oro competition in Italy. A unique promo card featuring the artwork from Friends Forever with the events logo was handed out alongside flyers to promote the even.
Zecchino d'Oro is an Italian children's song competition that has been held since 1959. [14]
Friends Forever Promo Card
Zecchino d'Oro Promotional Flyer featuring Bella Sara.
Bella Sara was featured at a booth for the Flanders Horse Expo in 2008. The booth included "Second Series" card packs, informational posters and flyers. [15]
The Flanders Expo is yearly horse expo held in Belgium. The expo has been running as recently as 2024. [16] The Expo features a number of exhibits, as well as shows and competitions.
Sometime during 2009, Hidden City Games released retailer event packs based around the "Royalty" series. The packs appear to include BINGO mats and prizes including Books, Bella Sara Miniatures, and Promo Cards.
A single image has been found referencing a card signing event that took place in Verona, Italy. However, nothing is known about the details of this event.[17] It is possible that this may be connected to, or a part of, the 2008 Italian event. However, this is also unconfirmed.
References
- ↑ All information on this page was compiled and researched by the bellasara.wiki.gg staff and supportive collectors! If information from this page is found elsewhere it has been copied without permission from staff, the community, and collaborators.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Info confirmed by this Promo Image
- ↑ Zaleski, J. (2006, October 20). Girls Unite to Spread Optimism and Goodwill at Girls’ Day San Diego. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20080102232346/http://pressroom.bellasara.com/pr/bellasara/girlsdaysdrelease.aspx
- ↑ Ashley Tisdale Source. (n.d.). Retrieved July 14, 2020, from http://tisdalesource.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=1848
- ↑ Goodie bag information and photos provided by Kayalexi
- ↑ Zaleski, J. (2006, November 1). Girls Unite to Spread Optimism and Goodwill at Girls’ Day Seattle. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20071107012000/http://pressroom.bellasara.com/pr/bellasara/girlsdaywarelease.aspx
- ↑ Photo Album. (2008). Retrieved July 14, 2020 from https://web.archive.org/web/20080221202827/http://pressroom.bellasara.com/pr/bellasara/album.aspx?id=2752
- ↑ Zaleski, J., & Handschiegel, P. (2007, August 9). Bella Sara™ to Present Appearance by Hayden Panettiere at Gen Con Indy 2007. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20080223165052/http://pressroom.bellasara.com/pr/bellasara/Hayden-Gen-Con.aspx
- ↑ Bella Sara Products & Exclusive Card at Limited Too/Justice Stores! (Nov 28, 2007). https://web.archive.org/web/20071128220205/http://www.bellasara.com/news-dreamer.aspx
- ↑ Wende Rick. Linkedin. Retrieved 5/25/20204 from https://www.linkedin.com/in/wende-rick-923ba3101
- ↑ Amazing Getaways. Weekends Around the Northwest. Retrieved 5/25/2024 from http://www.amazinggetaways.net/weekendsradio.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0HSIKU8FTFCVyzSydKDQeeh6oSCwURUa7ffS_Xli_1iA-gU-A9EKuFSJE_aem_AU071EPVX4pIgwVaqWJdVGH_EIZaw21yqhSR_cBF-0imPSn4dY62q_bHzjC-So5yaZffsiKj1RcZSdBVas1zaEhA
- ↑ Bella Sara. (2008, May 17). Retrieved July 20, 2020 from https://web.archive.org/web/20080517174940/http://www.bellasara.com/quest.aspx?ref=HPCB5LNK
- ↑ Baby Bella. (2008). Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20190907022103/http://bellasara.com/BabyBella/
- ↑ Zecchino d'Oro. Wikipedia. Accessed 4/20/2024 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zecchino_d%27Oro
- ↑ From the Equi-Info-Développement asbl page, caption of:"Sensibiliser le grand public au "cheval" à travers la présentation de films comme"Danse avec lui", Pom le Poulain, etc. ainsi que par la distribution d'albums Panini dédié au cheval et de cartes "Bella Sara"", from https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1227119064010141&set=t.100046508844457, https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1223280654393982&set=t.100063640916281, and https://www.facebook.com/equinfo/photos/t.100046508844457/1227119087343472/?type=3
- ↑ Official Flanders Horse Expo Website https://www.flanders-horse-expo.be/eng/welcome
- ↑ This photo from Gitte's public facebook account. Retrieved 1/9/2024 from https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1142621485656&set=pb.1231033415.-2207520000
