The Arts – Case Study
Promoting Public Art
Houston, Texas
The Assignment
Brookfield Properties: This commercial real estate company is an innovative leader in creating world-class art events and exhibits that engage tenants and the public at Brookfield’s premier properties around the world.
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- Amanda Parer’s popular installation, Intrude, was exhibited in Houston as part of a four-city tour presented by Arts Brookfield.
- Intrude consisted of five larger-than-life sculptural rabbit forms installed on the lawn of 1600 smith in downtown Houston.
Carbonara Group’s Role
- Building anticipation and awareness for the week-long Houston exhibition to draw crowds to the opening reception and daily exhibitions
- Increasing the general public’s awareness of Brookfield Properties, the company’s commitment to arts and culture,
- Promote additional art exhibitions and events that Brookfield Properties presents year round
- Increasing social media followers in the Houston market
The Approach
Prepared and executed a comprehensive PR plan that included:
- Regional and local arts and events calendars, all including mentions of the client;
- Story development and targeted pitches to arts reporters for advance feature stories and artist interviews
- Recruited, hired and trained “Brand Ambassadors” to educate the public about the exhibition and promote Brookfield’s upcoming events, encourage social media engagement, and monitor activity around the valuableinstallation during peak times
- Organized grassroots distribution of exhibition postcards and information to targeted coffee shops, retail and community gathering places
- Coordinated opening day media event promoting the first “bunny inflation”
- Created social media campaign featuring rabbit puns / word play and encouraged visitors to post their photos using the hashtag #Intrude
The Results
Carbonara Group’s media and social media campaigns resulted in:
- Total earned media value of $310,092 and more than 30 million impressions
- Print coverage – 7 key local outlets; Online coverage – 15 local outlets
- Broadcast coverage – 2 local outlets
- 500+ #Intrude postings on social media, the highest for any Brookfield Properties Houston exhibition to date
- Daily exhibition traffic that exceeded client expectations
- Increased client contact database of arts enthusiasts by 30%, representing new touchpoints for future exhibitions
