In general, museums of all kinds are often viewed with a certain stigma of being stuffy and academic.  To be honest, it may be well-deserved for the most part because of common stereotypes we associate with them and the type of people who go to them.

I am here to tell you that there is good news for museums.  I bet most museums share a similar goal in that they want to expand their customer base and attract a younger audience.  After all, this younger demographic is tomorrow’s museum member and donor, and which museum doesn’t need that?

In order to attract this younger demo, museums must go beyond their traditional ways of operating and reach out to the younger audience (ie Males/Females 25-45) in the places they frequent, which is online.  Smart museums are also catering to this younger demo by creating new events that appeal to them to get them in the doors.  An example of an event catering to a younger demo is The San Diego Museum of Art’s Culture & Cocktails.

We have been entrenched in the challenge of utilizing the tools the Internet provides to accomplish various goals for our client, The San Diego Museum of Art.  We have recently rebranded the Museum and will also be unveiling a completely new, revamped website in a few short weeks.  There were many objectives that were taken into account during the website redesign, but I’d like to focus on just two. First, we wanted to utilize high quality imagery to showcase the awesome works of art on display in the Museum and second, incorporate social media tools so that people who wish to interact in that capacity can do so.

Bailey Gardiner has worked with several museums in the past so we understand the challenges they face in marketing themselves.   We redesigned the website for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
Two years ago we also rebranded and designed new collateral for our client SUSHI, A Center for the Urban Arts last year (see an example below).

THE NEW BARBARIANS

Our most recent undertaking is with the Balboa Park Online Collaborative (BPOC) to redesign the website for Balboa Park. This new website will encompass roughly 85 organizations in San Diego’s famous park, including several museums and be the main portal for visitors to gather information.

Are there any museums out there that you’ve come across that you feel are innovators in regards to interacting with people and showcasing their various offerings?  I’d love to see who you think the leaders in this space are.

This week is the official launch of pedicab advertising campaign for Seaport Village.

Ten cabs from Yellow Bike Cab will be running the ads in the downtown area for the next three months. The ads are an extension of Seaport’s existing advertising campaign and coincide with summer — when Seaport sees it’s largest crowds.

What makes this campaign unique is that not only were we able to buy space on the pedicabs, we also created t-shirts with wording that ties-in to the cab messaging. The shirts will be worn by the cab drivers throughout the campaign.

Check out the photos of the final product below and this video we made showing how the pedicab company applied the artwork to the cabs. Neat!

Shirt reads: “Stop staring at my butt”

Shirt reads: “No weight limit”

Shirt reads: “My other ride is a carousel”

San Diegans didn’t know what a busker was. A busker is a sword swallower, a pancake juggler, a pogo stick-trickster hopping over a flaming shopping cart. It’s a robotic mime and a slight-of-hand master. It’s a street performer. 

At the same time, Seaport Village (our client) wanted to give San Diegans reasons to come visit.

At Bailey Gardiner we assessed this situation. We took the un-appreciated and connected it to the unknown and we created curiosity, ownership, buzz and pride. We created a Busker Festival. Without it, Seaport Village would never garner so much media in such a short period of time. An arts story in both the Union-Tribune and the LA Times, a week’s worth of TV segments, countless blog and regional print stories, I’ll stop tooting my really loud horn.

But stop for a minute and think about how simple it is. We gave our client an event to own. Our client jumped on board and embraced it. In turn, the city embraced it, bringing locals to what they used to consider a tourist destination and introducing new demographics to the spot.

The media embraced it, bringing a fresh perspective to a long-standing San Diego icon. It gave the media a reason to talk…and partner. This event in particular gave the busking art community a home in Southern California. It gave Seaport Village yet another asset to be proud of.

Media doesn’t just happen because a PR person puts a release in front of a writer. It happens because someone gives that writer something worth talking about. And if you find yourself with nothing to talk about, create something.

If you already knew what a busker was, you’re likely pulling your small bills from the ATM and heading down to the Big Bay to pay your tips to the talent. If you didn’t, it’s a good thing I’m writing this now. Come down, experience it. Seaport Village is offering to share with you an art little known to San Diegans – for free. These are some of the nation’s top buskers putting in hard work to build a respect for their acts in our hometown. It might seem strange to you, but stop and talk with any of them. One of our Canadian-born buskers, Masonious Max told me, “I’ve never seen an event bring a city together like a busker festival.”

And if you don’t believe him or me, believe the media. They don’t just write about stuff because it’s in front of them. They write about it because it’s worthy.

Do you agree? Can an event like this really change the reputation of a destination and leave a mark on a city?

We’ve selected the lineup for the Spring Busker Festival at Seaport Village. Because I’m practicing my website video production skills, I documented the selection process for you to enjoy.

Who knew our assistant could write so fast?

It’s getting very tiring to pretend here in San Diego; the fake snow, the scarves and sweaters making us sweat, Christmas trees from dirt lots and Target Garden Centers. It’s time to stop pretending and embrace San Diego’s true holiday spirit.

So while we don our flip flops, tanks and T’s, so will Seaport Village’s Santa Clause, because you know, nobody likes rockin’ all that red fur in 70 degree weather. Even Santa needs a break. He’ll make his arrival to Seaport Village this Sunday, 12/14 by sailboat on the San Diego Harbor. Then he’ll pose in his board shorts on his giant surfboard and wave for free pictures with the kiddies from 12 – 4 p.m.

So if you’re from out of town, or you’re a local and want to rub it in to the out-of-towners, grab a free picture this Sunday then go online to http://blog.seaportvillage.com to send it to your cold family out in the Northeast. They’ll reek of jealousy!

As you’ve read here before, we are thrilled to be handling the PR for Setai San Diego, the new 184-room premier luxury hotel located in downtown San Diego’s financial district, which opens next month (Dec. 2008). As Setai San Diego nears completion, the hundreds of design, art and custom-made features are being installed and really bringing the property to life. It is definitely unlike anything San Diego has ever seen and we think it will blow people away.

More pictures to come, but this gives you an idea of a standard room.

Setai San Diego has also just announced its dining and bar partner is Suite & Tender Bar, Lounge and Restaurant.  It will feature the cuisine of James Beard Award-winning Chef Christopher Lee, and will be a softer, more sophisticated take on the typical steakhouse. Suite & Tender is based on a gastro-tourism concept where diners have the chance to create an experience that is completely their own and will focus on choices, not rules. In addition to table-side cocktail service, it will offer a wine selection that gets this Napa Valley native very excited: guests will be able to sample various wines from a distinguished American-focused wine list, and create their own flights, deciding between a sip, a taste or a bottomless glass. Take a guess at which option I’ll be choosing from when dining or hanging in the Lounge…

We can now officially announce that we have been retained by the Setai San Diego to manage public relations for its grand opening. Slated to open at the end of the year in downtown San Diego, this is the first Setai to open on the West Coast. The brand is better known on the East Coast due to its luxurious So. Beach property. But pretty soon, the left side of the country will understand what all the buzz is about.

The hotel is located on Fifth Ave. in the Financial District just outside of the Gaslamp Quarter.  The ultra-chic property was designed by the Rockwell Group (and they really do rock). We did a walk through yesterday and I couldn’t stop touching the walls. I lost count of how many wall finishes there are from floor to floor, but truly it was the most touchable hotel I have every experienced. The installation art is gorgeous (and there’s quite a bit of it). The 184-room hotel, will feature a spa, rooftop pool, restaurant, lobby bar, luxe suites and the largest, most exclusive three-story penthouse on the West Coast.

Needless to say, we are stoked to be representing this luxury brand and bringing a new level of hospitality to San Diego.

Public relations is easy when you have something to say: the first, the only, the biggest, the best, the unusual, etc. But after a client gets through that initial announcement, what news do you have left to tell? Sometimes very little, and in a competitive market, that can be a scary ailment.

Our team faced a similar predicament this year with the 69th season of the Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego. While there’s always a lot going on with the track, we didn’t have a compelling answer when media asked, “What’s new?” Instead of letting that hinder our ability to garner news, we used a few PR tools to keep the community buzzing about Del Mar.

Here are my two favorite from this year’s meet:

1) Build your reputation with the blogging community– While this should always complement your PR campaigns, use slow news periods to expand your online conversations into new (and still relevant) categories and dig deeper into the blogger list. Not only will you see instantaneous results, but these results will continue to work for you through the long term.

With Del Mar, our team continually communicated with family, mom or dad, travel and “scene” bloggers. This year we expanded our list, spoke with them more often and extended free tickets to the track.

Not only did we earn coverage from this, but we even developed strong sponsorships with editorial-for-link exchanges.

2) Look back– Measuring impact and comparing “then to now” often make great pieces for media, but writers may not know enough about your product or service to put it together themselves. Lucky for us, Del Mar compiles economic impact figures every year, and we get to use them. Instead of pitching local media on “look at what Del Mar is doing this year,” our team pitched “look at what they’ve done.” We discovered that many writers didn’t know this, and we got to help several of them “discover” the facts.

Here’s an abstract from a Rancho Santa Fe Review article:

A strong public relations team should look at your product or service and see it from every angle possible. It is this creative thinking approach that will maximize your coverage in media, especially through the news droughts.

What creative angles have you used to garner media?

I’m way to tall too be a jockey.

I don’t look nearly as awkward as Shaq racing a thoroughbred, but I certainly don’t look natural.

How would I know? The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club just released its “Jockey Yourself” e-blast to promote the start of its season and its new website that we helped create. I couldn’t wait to see how I’d look on a horse and wanted to share that fabulous experience with you. You can watch me here (I recommend using sound…there’s nothing like Trevor’s voice to help bring about the excitement of the race meet).

This is Del Mar’s first interactive program to promote the season. Latching onto the area’s excitement for Opening Day that seems to explode after the 4th of July weekend, we expect this individualized treat to quickly sneak its way into everyone’s inbox.

So go ahead….Jockey Yourself.

Exciting news! We’ve added five new people to agency, rounding out our creative team.

Ian Graham is executive creative director (most recently CD and senior partner at Ogilvy, Los Angeles). He’s worked on Cisco Systems, ARCO gasoline, am/pm stores, Nestle, e*trade, the California Lottery, Dewar’s Scotch, A&E, NBC, and MGM Mirage Casinos in Las Vegas. Ian’s been responsible for pretty amazing work here, heading the creative team, and our literal integration of offices and workstations, giving a much-needed (literal) volume pump-up.

Art Director Nik Helgaas and Copywriter Lindsay Cliett form the newest creative team. Both attended Miami Ad School and are from out of market. Not only are they concepting smart work for our clients – they’re funnier than heck.

Francis Floro has been hired as a designer. This guy has not only taught at the New York School of Visual Arts, he was also a dancer for Malashock, and a truck driver (who are you?!).

Callan Green is an advertising and public relations account coordinator. She’s rocking our social media efforts, especially for Vet-Stem.

You can officially consider Bailey Gardiner a creative agency.