Launching a seemingly obscure art exhibit in San Antonio is a
challenge in and of itself. And it's a whole other challenge
pitching the idea right after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Add a
target audience of multicultural reporters, many of whom initially
have little interest in your story, plus major hurdles in the
development of an appropriate press kit, and you have a media
relations campaign that seems doomed from the start.
But it worked for Durazo Communications in Fall 2001 when the
firm helped launch "Chicano," an art exhibit profiling the work of
Mexican-American artists, and landed 20 million media impressions
for the gala opening.
Challenges
The exhibit was the brainchild of actor Cheech Marin (of "Cheech
& Chong" fame). Marin chose San Antonio -- the birthplace of
the Chicano movement -- to launch "Chicano," slated to visit 15
U.S. cities in five years. He approached Target Stores, which
agreed to serve as the presenting sponsor.
Target contacted Durazo Communications, which has a strong
reputation for its work in the Latino market, having worked with
the California Integrated Waste Management Board and the City of
Los Angeles, among many others, on Hispanic outreach efforts.
Durazo would have to create a campaign that spurred interest in
the exhibit among general market media as well as ethnic media.
Plus, the team would have to persuade reporters accustomed to
covering events at the MOMA in San Francisco, The Smithsonian in
Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, to head
down to San Antonio to the San Antonio Museum of Art and the
Alameda Museo Americano.
Target and Durazo made constant agency/ client communications
the foundation of the effort. They were open about problems, like
one that cropped up in July as they began developing publicity
materials for the opening.
Because the campaign hinged on an art show, the press kit was
bound in a colorful binder with plenty of artistic themes from the
exhibit and reproductions of art included in the show. But the
original idea called for the binder presented in a burlap bag with
the Chicano logo. Once the prototype for the press kit was
developed, Durazo began to have doubts. They confirmed those doubts
in soundings with some members of the Hispanic media. "It's a cool
concept," says Talia Rodriguez, assistant account executive on the
campaign, "but we felt it might offend some members of the
[Hispanic] media. They might think, 'Is this supposed to mean [the
Chicano movement] is about a bunch of farmers?'"
So, the Durazo team let Target know they would have to switch
gears. Durazo came up with a new packaging concept that included a
red suede box embossed with a silver Chicano logo. All the
materials were developed in Spanish and English so bilingual media
outlets had their pick.
The next hurdle came just about the time the press kits were
ready to roll out. The attacks of Sept. 11 made it even more
difficult to catch the ear of already elusive media. By October,
when Durazo began distributing materials, the focus of the media
was on the U.S. declaration of war. But the team doggedly pitched
the press, leveraging the media's interest in all things American
by positioning the exhibits as a showcase of an important part of
American history.
This was also key when pitching ethnic media who often were not
specifically Latino. Underscoring Target's interest in diversity
helped when targeting African-American journalists, for example.
But it was often presenting the Chicano movement as representative
of a core element of American culture -- especially considering
that there are 25.5 million Mexican Americans -- that helped.
"Certainly our assignment was to reach Latino [media], but also the
general market," Rodriguez says. "Chicano is as much a part of
American history as the Declaration of Independence or Black
History Month."
Results
Ultimately, the media relations program surrounding the launch
of the exhibits resulted in a landslide of press coverage, despite
the tough media environment and other challenges. The launch events
were attended by more than 36 media outlets including Univision,
Telemundo, People, and all the local broadcast affiliates, and
media monitoring was conducted for a month and a half following the
event and showed 20 million target audience impressions for the
story.
Campaign Stats
Timeframe: July, 2001-December, 2001
Budget: Target's PR budget for the campaign was $31,250. The
national media relations campaign accounted for $16,550; the San
Antonio campaign added up to $14,700.
Overcoming the Obstacles
The challenge: Overcome a "hard news only" environment following
the Sept. 11 attacks.
The solution: Leverage patriotic fervor by pitching the exhibits
and the Chicano movement as a core part of American history. This
also helped in drawing non-Latino ethnic media to the event, as
well as artsy reporters used to covering events in San Francisco,
D.C. and New York.
The challenge: Create an appropriate media kit that had an
artistic flair but was not offensive to members of the media.
The solution: Ditch the original burlap sacks and go for a
sleeker red suede package. The original kits also included a bag of
"magic powder" representative of the many spiritual and medicinal
powders that are a part of Chicano culture. In the wake of the
anthrax scares, Durazo staffers wisely picked through the media
kits and removed all traces of "magic powder."
(Contact: Talia Rodriguez, 213/239-6555 ext. 211; [email protected])