The Brief

The Art Gallery NSW, Australia’s premier art gallery since 1874, relies on donations and corporate sponsorships. The Art Gallery Society, responsible for acquiring corporate sponsors, wanted to leverage the Archibald Prize (Australia’s largest, most important portraiture competition since 1921) to recruit new corporate sponsors for the gallery. The Society wanted a creative strategy to better their usual 5% response rate for leads, and 0.6% conversion rate for acquisitions.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We secretly sourced photos of targeted CEOs, digitally treated them to simulate different ‘paint ‘ techniques (Van Gogh, Münch, Durer, Rembrandt, etc), printed them onto canvas, stretched them over wooden frames, and then applied gel medium over the surface, creating the texture of real brush strokes. The finished pieces looked so genuine, even the art gallery staff thought they were real oil paintings. We then sent a direct mail piece to our targets inviting them to collect their own portrait painting from the Australia's most famous portrait competition in the prestigious gallery – a portrait they didn't even know existed.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The direct mail piece had a 34% response rate (nearly seven times the average). Those who attended the event were delighted to see their personal portrait displayed in Australia’s most prestigious art gallery. This generated an acquisition rate of 14% (over 23 times the average). The Society used the ‘portrait offer’ as an ongoing hook to attract further acquisitions, resulting in the largest increase in annual sponsorship in decades.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Usually, only celebrities and politicians have the honour of getting their portraits entered into the Archibald (Australia’s largest, most important portraiture competition since 1921). So we appealed to the egos of our target CEOs by giving them a similar honour. Upon arrival, they discovered their own portrait on display in Australia's most prestigious art gallery, and were instantly receptive to being a sponsor of the arts. And they were given their portrait to keep as a constant reminder of their connection with the gallery.