Challenge
After decades of successful jazz presentation and education, SFJAZZ was poised to announce its first-ever permanent home. Spurred by an anonymous $20 million gift, the SFJAZZ Center is made possible by an overall $60 million capital campaign.
Goal
LCI planned to maximize the SFJAZZ Center announcement and its capital campaign to as broad an audience as possible. LCI’s goal was to leverage the announcement to elevate the organization’s status as among the premiere arts organizations in San Francisco. The objective was to generate media coverage of the new building and the capital campaign efforts, engage the support of community influencer and to mobilize potential donors.
Strategy
LCI developed a comprehensive public relations strategy in which timing was critical, tying the unveiling of the new facility design to the announcement of the capital campaign. Using “embargo” techniques LCI released the story first in the San Francisco Chronicle, and next in the New York Times. The overall campaign required coordination among several entities, including elected officials, community representatives, and media.
Results
The SFJAZZ Center announcement enjoyed overwhelming response from the media. The story broke on page A1 of the Chronicle, followed by the New York Times. The story received more than 300 placements in print, on TV and radio, and in blogs and other online outlets. Overall coverage included numerous angles, from the SFJAZZ organization and history, to SFJAZZ personality profiles, to business and architecture stories, and features about what the new building symbolizes for music. LCI’s extensive local, regional and national media coverage included (among others):San Francisco Chronicle; New York Times; Chicago Tribune; San Francisco Business Times; San Francisco Examiner , Downbeat Magazine; KGO-TV; KTVU-TV; KQED Radio; San Francisco Chronicle online; San Francisco Examiner online; New York Times Bay Area Blog; San Francisco Chronicle’s City Brights blog; ABC7.com; JazzTimes; NPR’s A Blog Supreme; Chronicle of Philanthropy; Jazz Chronicles; World Architecture News; many others.