Our client, The Art Institute, needed to find a creative way to reach out to a very specific audience to attend one of their ongoing special events – the portfolio show. We came up with a solution using both printed materials and digital strategy to attract their ideal attendee.
Inspiration for the ARTiculate Campaign
The Portfolio Show is an opportunity for graduating students to display a selection of the work they have produced during their time as a student. Industry professionals are invited to the event to see the student work and also speak to the graduating students, facilitating professional networking and possible employment for the students. This concept of having a conversation, allowing the students to articulate their work and the employers to articulate their needs, was the inspiration for the ARTiculate campaign that we developed. From this concept, three different compositions were presented to the client, and they chose their favorite.
Creative Poster Design
As always, our work is executed as a partnership with our clients, so we communicated regularly with The Art Institute on making slight tweaks and revisions to their chosen design until we came up with just the right balance. The relationship between art and copy in this campaign is particularly fun. There were two different shows for different audiences – one creative and one culinary – so the photography in the posters was adjusted as needed.
Postcard Invitations
Two different postcards were also created to send to industry professionals – one for the creative degree programs and one for the culinary program. It’s important to our strategy to create a design that will stay true to the established branding guidelines of The Art Institute and also a look that will stand out from the other pieces of mail that people get regularly. We stuck with a crisp and clean look with vibrant photography and a fun play on typography just like on the posters for the front of the postcard and also had a cohesive look on the back where the date, time, and location of the event went.
Targeted Email Marketing
Along with industry professionals, family and friends of graduates are invited to attend the portfolio show. This is why it was essential to write copy for two different emails that would be sent out to two different lists of email contacts – one of them speaking to families, and the other to the pros. They had unique subject lines, headlines, and body copy based on what they are most likely to gain from attending. We let the pros know that they could find their next shining star team member at the event, and we told friends and families that this is a wonderful way to show these graduates their support and let them know how proud they are of this accomplishment.
Forming close relationships with our clients like we have with The Art Institute allows us to come up with campaigns that resonate with the brand and also speak to their target audience in a way that gets the response we are looking for – in this case, an RSVP to the special event.
