The Soul of Philanthropy Cleveland
Situation: Two members of the newly formed executive steering committee went to Charlotte, NC to view The Soul of Philanthropy exhibition hoping to bring it to Cleveland. It is a traveling exhibit of unique multimedia comprehensive black and white photos, videos and vignettes that tell the story of African American philanthropy.
It was the exhibit’s first time in Cleveland. The objective was for Clevelanders to visit the exhibit, participate in complementing community forums, and begin or continue to support community efforts through philanthropy.
Action: We created and executed a public relations campaign that involved:
- Press releases
- Earned media
- Media relations
- Spokespersons/interviewees
- Media interviews
- Website and e-newsletter content
- Billboard, transit, pole, and kiosk advertising (163,000+ impressions)
- Exhibition, program, and outreach materials
- Driving traffic to the exhibition
- Strategic messaging to targeted audiences
Outcomes: Phenomenal! No one imagined the amount of community support it received! Our efforts garnered 163,547 billboard impressions, 14 weekly interviews on WOVU (a community radio station), The Plain Dealer/ Cleveland.com articles with 250K/3,810,269 impressions and four We the People appearances on WKYC (NBC), a community news program, and 50 Ideastream Public Media ads. There were also 800 media hits reaching 2 million people locally and nationally, 2K followers, engaging more than 300,000 people regionally.
Over 10,000 people visited The Soul of Philanthropy Cleveland located in the Cleveland History Center. More than 1,500 attended the closing ceremony which was also the permanent exhibition’s unveiling.