Challenge
The American Craft Council, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting contemporary American craft, needed to revitalize the largest juried craft show in the West in the face of declining ticket sales. The Council chose Landis to execute an integrative public relations campaign for the 2009 American Craft Show in San Francisco. Landis was challenged to:
- Increase paid attendance at the San Francisco show
- Engage new audiences, including a younger demographic and DIY community, with the show
- Build brand recognition for the American Craft Council and the show
Strategy
With younger audiences getting their information online and sharing it with friends via social networks, Landis leveraged social media as a key strategy to build buzz about the show. A social media campaign would build on awareness created through traditional earned media.
To reach the Bay Area’s thriving Do-it-Yourself (DIY) community, Landis recommended that the Council partner with filmmaker and author Faythe Levine to screen her acclaimed 2009 film ‘HandMade Nation’ at the show. Dubbed the ‘Ambassador of Handmade’ by the New York Times, Levine was a highly visible influencer in craft and DIY communities nationally – both online and off.
Landis also recognized that the $12 admission fee to the show could represent a barrier to attendance, particularly for younger audiences and those looking to stretch their dollars in a down economy. To help drive attendance and build buzz, the Landis team recommended that the Council host a first-ever ‘5 after 5’ Friday night event that offered a chance to shop the show, sample wine and meet Faythe Levine for $5 after 5 p.m.
The ‘HandMade Nation’ screening and ‘5 after 5’ Friday night event created fresh hooks for both print and broadcast media, as well as DIY, craft and design bloggers and influencers. In addition, Landis highlighted ‘green’ artists utilizing sustainable materials and processes, as well as an expanded AltCraft category, which showcased work by indie artists, to build interest among DIY enthusiasts. As part of the integrated campaign, Landis targeted blogs associated with publications, such as Dwell, ReadyMade, Craft, 7×7 and San Francisco Magazine. To build grass-roots buzz, Landis reached out to local DIY influencers to encourage them to spread the word about the show and Faythe Levine’s appearance via blogs and social networks, Facebook and Twitter. When blog coverage appeared, Landis followed up with influencers to share a thank you and to request that they tweet links to their blog posts to drive additional visibility. Landis also engaged store owners and influencers without their own blogs to tweet about the show.
Additionally, Landis recommended that the Council set up a Twitter account and regularly tweet about trends in craft and relevant media articles to position the organization as a thought leader in the field. The Council’s new Twitter account also created a platform to share updates about the San Francisco show and exhibiting artists with interested followers.
Results
Landis engaged a dozen DIY influencers and local store owners to help spread the word about the San Francisco Show. This work resulted in blog posts on Curiosity Shoppe, Candystore Collective, Rare Device, SF Girl by the Bay, Design for Mankind, Poppy Talk, Modish, Handmade Renegade and SF Art News. In addition to traditional blog coverage, Landis worked with bloggers to ensure that they also utilized their Twitter accounts to tweet about their posts. Coupled with The Council’s constant Twitter updates and the DIY influencers tweets; the American Craft Council San Francisco Show received dozens of tweets and retweets. Landis also reached out to reporters working within traditional media outlets who also have Twitter accounts. While these reporters couldn’t write about the show they agreed to use Twitter to help us reach out to the community. Traditional media reporters who twittered about the show were Mary Jo Bowling of San Francisco Magazine and Sally Kuchar of the 7×7 ‘Domain’ blog.
Landis secured home or living section cover stories in target Bay Area publications: San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Santa Cruz Sentinel, San Jose Mercury News, eight BANG Newspapers including the Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune and San Mateo County Times. Landis secured two television placements. Comcast Cable’s ‘Inside City Limits’ featured two local artists and KGO-TV(ABC) highlighted the show in the ‘What’s Hot’ segment with reporter Don Sanchez.