The Client
Consistently ranked among the nation’s top fine art fairs, the Saint Louis Art Fair attracts over 130,000 art enthusiasts annually. As a Midwest staple, the fair inspires and engages the community through a premier celebration of carefully curated visual art, handpicked local foods, and live entertainment.
The Opportunity
After nearly 30 years, the Saint Louis Art Fair sought innovative solutions to reinvigorate attendance at its renowned annual festival. To remain an industry leader, the fair needed to reengage past attendees, grow its audience, and drive higher event turnout. While well-known in the community, increasing competition and inconsistent media relations prompted the Art Fair to rethink its marketing strategy. After working with an out-of-state agency, they decided to partner with a local marketing firm to strengthen earned media, influencer marketing, media buying, and crisis communications, with a goal of securing 100 media placements for 2022.
Solutions and Successes
To deliver optimal results, we began by analyzing past coverage reports and media buying performance. Collaborating with the client, we identified areas for improvement and executed a refined strategy. We conducted a detailed analysis of content topics, spotlighting artists and story angles that resonated most with targeted outlets. A new, tailored media list was developed with enhanced targeting and attention to deadlines and lead times. Additionally, we ensured the event was listed across all local event calendars.
To maximize paid media impact, we created and managed a comprehensive media buying plan aligned with the festival’s goals.
Black Twig also introduced influencer marketing to broaden the Art Fair’s reach and engage new audiences. We selected 10 local influencers with varying followings, offering a VIP experience at the fair in exchange for social media promotion and on-site content creation.
Results
The 2022 Saint Louis Art Fair exceeded expectations, with over 150,000 attendees and a record-breaking 218 media placements. Key outcomes included:
- 218 Placements in outlets such as Feast, Sauce, Ladue News, KMOV, KSDK, FOX2, KMOX, KTVI, St. Louis Magazine, STL Today, Riverfront Times, Gazelle, STLPR, St. Louis Business Journal, and KTRS.
- 55 Average Engagements per online article.
- 86,169,883 Unique Visitors per Month (2021: 10,136,650).
- $797,072 Advertising Value Equivalency (2021: $360,403).
- 660,079 Journalist Reach.
- 10 Influencers Engaged generating 35 unique pieces of content.
- 34,000 Social Media Views and Likes.
- 65,000 Additional People Reached.
What Our Clients Think
It was Bill Gates who coined the phrase “content is king” back in 1996 and, boy, was he right. Valin’s journey in developing original content began back in 2012 when we first signed on with Black Twig. Since then, we’ve published 119 articles in various industrial publications, which has helped Valin be seen as a thought leader in our space.
It was Bill Gates who coined the phrase “content is king” back in 1996 and, boy, was he right. Valin’s journey in developing original content began back in 2012 when we first signed on with Black Twig. Since then, we’ve published 119 articles in various industrial publications, which has helped Valin be seen as a thought leader in our space.
