Company: Longwood Gardens
Company Description: Founded in 1906, Longwood Gardens is the living legacy of Pierre S. du Pont, inspiring people through excellence in garden design, horticulture, education and the arts. Longwood has proven itself to be a global leader in the field of horticulture through our commitment to conservation, sustainable practices, and our passion for excellence through innovation, creativity, and experimentation.
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Awards Categories - Industry
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Campaign of the Year - Non-Profit Organizations

Nomination Title: Light: Installations by Bruce Munro

Tell the story of this nominated marketing campaign for the judges (up to 525 words). Describe the genesis, planning, execution, and results to date of your campaign. If applicable, remember to describe what's unique or innovative about your campaign:

In the summer of 2012, eight light installations of thousands of radiant lights,fiber optics, blown glass, and re-imagined materials created by up-and-coming UK artist, Bruce Munro, were strategically placed throughout the Gardens to highlight a range of natural areas, so that lake, meadow, forest, and field were transformed, as a tribute to the artful combination of nature and culture that is Longwood Gardens.

This exhibition, Light: Installations by Bruce Munro, exemplified our founder Pierre S. du Pont’s passion for excellence through innovation, creativity, and experimentation. Light played a major role in conveying Longwood’s refreshed brand, launched in January 2012, to guests. The illuminated works drew thousands of deep-rooted members and first-time guests, introducing each of them to Longwood’s new identity as they encountered advertisements, brochures, catalogs, exhibition signage, and many more visual depictions of the new face of Longwood along the way. All content within these materials was scrupulously vetted against the brand Stylebook & Communications Manual to ensure that the brand language was implemented correctly for this grand introduction.

To promote the debut of a relatively unknown artist whose work had never before been seen in the U.S., Longwood constructed a multifaceted marketing campaign, expanding our market radius beyond the greater Philadelphia area to New York City, Baltimore, Northern New Jersey, and Washington D.C. to reach more members of our target audience: arts and cultural enthusiasts from outside our 50-mile radius, a demographic selected for its potential to expand Longwood’s reach in our Light Strategic Marketing Plan. The goal of targeting this group was to reach 55,000 additional guests and expand brand awareness outside of the exurban location in which we reside. Longwood also engaged in an extensive targeted online campaign with The Lukens Company, and embarked on an aggressive media relations campaign reaching 41,399,147 media impressions across the globe. To further appeal to our target market, Longwood partnered with Dutch fashion photographer Corriette Schoenaerts to visually capture the exhibition. Her images were consistently used throughout all interpretive media on Light.

Diverse, engaging public programing was aimed at a variety of demographics to ensure that all guests experienced enrichment through Light. A robust mobile app available for download on both Apple and Android devices was also developed as our first foray into mobile applications to appeal to this market segment.

Allowing guests to access exclusive content, investigate their favorite exhibitions further as they stood in their glow, and encourage social interaction among guests, this app received 15,047 downloads by the close of Light.

Guests were drawn in record numbers to experience the magic which Light ignited at twilight. We met and exceeded our quantitative and qualitative goals with 290,848 Light attendees, an increase in attendance of 68%, 99% of our guests recommending this experience to their friends, revenue generated from admissions during this period 51% higher than the same time in 2011, more than half a million dollars, and 5,290 people so impressed with their experience that they became first-time members. Unprecedented interest in Light by guests new to Longwood and to the field of horticulture, allowed Longwood Gardens to reach the milestone of welcoming over one million visitors in a fiscal year.

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Provide a brief biography of the leader of the team that planned and executed this marketing campaign (up to 125 words):

Founded in 1906, Longwood Gardens is the living legacy of Pierre S. du Pont, inspiring people through excellence in garden design, horticulture, education and the arts. Over the past century, Longwood has proven itself to be a global leader in the field of horticulture through our commitment to conservation, sustainable practices, and our passion for excellence through innovation, creativity, and experimentation. In January 2012, Longwood launched a new brand identity which was championed in the summer of 2012 through the illuminated works of Bruce Munro which shaped lake and meadow, forest and field in a tribute to the artful combination of nature and culture that is Longwood Gardens.