Company: Cultural Council of Palm Beach County
Company Description: The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, a community-based organization, enhances the quality of life by creating a cultural destination through support, education and promotion of arts and culture within Palm Beach County.
Nomination Category: Live Event Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Public Relations Event

Nomination Title: Break the Ice Governor's Conference

The date on which this nominated production was first presented: September 22, 2014

Briefly describe the nominated event's objectives and how it met those objectives (up to 525 words):

The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, a non-profit organization, enhances the quality of life and economic growth of the community by creating a cultural destination through the promotion of arts and culture. The goals of the “Break the Ice” event were to bring worldwide attention to Palm Beach County arts and culture through social media, print, digital and broadcast media; and to show government officials and Florida Governor Rick Scott the impact of the arts on the state’s economy and tourism.

By bringing together Ballet Palm Beach, the Palm Beach Symphony and Palm Beach County resident Vanilla Ice (Robert Van Winkle), the Cultural Council coordinated and created an event during the Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Boca Raton that combined the three art forms of dance, classical music and rap. After the symphony and ballet each performed traditional works by Bach and Tchaikovsky, Vanilla Ice took the audience by surprise when he performed his hit single, “Ice, Ice Baby,” in tandem with the symphony and ballet. Vanilla Ice, who donated his time, was enthusiastic about performing a version of his song professionally scored by the symphony and choreographed by the ballet. (Performance video as seen on the provided YouTube link.)

The Council developed a public relations strategy that launched weeks before the actual event and combined social media posts and photos using the hashtag #breaktheice to create “conversation” about the upcoming event. The scope of the performance remained a surprise to the more than 1,000 guests and media attending that evening.

After directing the video and still photography, we immediately shared a video of the performance on social media. Our success was instantaneous. Using #breaktheice, Vanilla Ice, the arts organizations, members of the press and audience were virally active on all social platforms. This delivered the highest number of impressions the Council has ever had. Some numbers include: YouTube views totaling 12,347 (current); Tweet impressions totaling 10,250; and 5,090 people reached with 169 likes on Facebook. Our total for all media including print, digital, social and broadcast was calculated at 97,534,629 impressions. The Council was recognized by the South Florida-based Gold Coast Public Relations Association with the 2014 Bernays Award for best special event.

Our organization considered our goals fulfilled not only by the press coverage but also by the quality of discussion generated about Palm Beach County, the arts & culture of our area and the importance of the relationship between politics and arts advocacy. For local and regional patrons, our event showed that one would not have to go far to see an eclectic mix of excellent arts entertainment. But, more importantly, to a crowd gathered specifically for the benefit of tourism, our message was clear that Palm Beach County is a high quality cultural tourism destination.

List the appropriate creative and production credits for this entry: Advertising Agency/City: Client: Art Director: Cinematographer: Creative Director: Designer: Director: Illustrator/City: Music Producer/City: Photographer/City: Printer/City: Producer: Production Company/City: Programmer: Writer: Web Development Firm/City:

Creative direction, production, design by the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, Lake Worth, FL

Cinematographer: Olympusat Entertainment, West Palm Beach, FL

Photography by Bill Barbosa, Jupiter, FL

Music & lyrics of "Ice, Ice Baby" written and performed by Robert Van Winkle "Vanilla Ice", Wellington, FL

Symphony music arranged and performed by Palm Beach Symphony, conduction by Darwin Aquino, "Ice, Ice Baby" scored by Palm Beach Symphony's Alfredo Oliva, Palm Beach, FL

Dance choreographed by Colleen Smith of Ballet Palm Beach & performed by Ballet Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, FL