Cultural Marketing Initiative: Tourism | Destination | Event Marketing

Nonprofit and cultural organizations often work with slim budgets and fragmented media buying that lacks effectiveness. The Cultural Marketing Initiative, a program nurtured and grown for the Brevard Cultural Alliance and the Space Coast Office of Tourism, is a game-changing program representing a new way to manage funds and maximize media exposure and a new opportunity to showcase and support arts and cultural infrastructure to build destination profile for a community.

The pilot program involved 15 arts/cultural/heritage entities, and it is now entering its second year. CMI 2.0 will include an online capture, calendering and distribution tool and requirements for use of a set of Common Evaluation Criteria, based on “behavioral decision making” about participation in the arts.

Project Goals

• Preserve/Enhance the cultural, natural and historic attractions along the Space Coast.
• Promote attractions to residents and visitors; encouraging extended stays and return visits.
• Capture specific-purpose new visitors to cultural, natural and historic sites and special events.
• Support marketing to visitors in planning cycle for vacations to the Space Coast.

The ultimate target audience is potential arts patrons in established, overlapping drive markets of the organizations participating in the cooperative pilot program.

Emphasis was placed on shared slots thus often creating advertising that highlighted three or more NEXT BIG EVENTS, doing double or triple duty with the media money. Less fragmented and more strategically qualified media selections created stronger exposure per media channel for a more powerful collective presence and better mindshare.

Facebook Pay-Per-Click ads were added mid-year and represent the singularly most spectacular addition to this campaign that spans billboards (digital and static), radio, TV, online blockbusters, magazine, calendars, e-blasts and inclusion in TDC press events and efforts, with linkages to key portals such as space-coast.com and tracking through ArtsBrevard.org.

Facebook Pay-Per-Click advertising netted more than 57 million impressions (February to June 2010) and more than 21,000 click-throughs in this short timeframe for events and attractions within the CMI group.

Brandt Ronat + Company
Marketing | Advertising Agency ‘Communicate Better’