slc arts council report (2)

aMY doMINGUEZ lauren newman tory guilfoyle

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

AN INTRODUCTION

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It was such a pleasure to work with our chosen non-profit organization, the Salt Lake City Arts Council, on their annual Holiday Craft Market event over this fall semester. After meeting with the Salt Lake City Arts Coun-cil (SLCAC), we learned that they would prove to be a professional and earnest client; they know what they want to achieve and have certain goals in mind that we were able to expand upon by initiating our distinct ideas and concepts. Our team collaborated with the SLCAC on several small projects in order to assist in broadening the scope of their audience using social media and specific marketing tactics.

In this report, you will find a detailed outline of our collaborative efforts. Our main goal was to assist SLCAC in connecting and appealing to a younger audience, while still maintaining a reputable rapport with their more mature and long-standing supporters.

This report introduces a brief history and mission of SLCAC. It discusses our analysis of the publics, strategies we would like to implement, and tactics we developed. We have created deliverables for future marketing campaigns. Our timeline is an example of how the event should be carried out in the future, as well as a suggested budget we have established with the SLCAC. We have created suggestions on how to continue to carry out these strategies. We believe our ideas and tactics will help the SLCAC grow and ex-pand their audience.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary ................................................................................................ i History & Mission Statement .................................................................................. 1 Communication Audit ............................................................................................ 2-5Goals ..................................................................................................................... 6Analysis of the Public ............................................................................................. 7-8Goals, Strategies, Tactics ....................................................................................... 9-11Deliverables ............................................................................................................ 12-20Press Release ......................................................................................................... 21-22Timeline ................................................................................................................... 23Budget ..................................................................................................................... 24Ways to Assess Success ........................................................................................ 25Appendix A .............................................................................................................. 26Appendix B .............................................................................................................. 27

details

HISTORY

MISSION STATEMENT

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The mission of the Salt Lake City Arts Council is, to promote, present, and support artists, arts organizations, and arts activities in order to further the development of the arts community and to benefit the public by expanding awareness, access, and participation. It was very important to us that we thoroughly promote the values contained in the mission statement and embodied what the Salt Lake City Arts Council strives to achieve as a successful community organization. We hope to continue to support their mission and carry it over the course of this semester

The Salt Lake City Arts Council was founded in the 1970s in order to establish a strong arts community in the Salt Lake City area. The SLCAC is a driving force in initially developing and supporting the arts in Utah. They work hard and endeavor to support local, public programing and events in the community through grant funding, as well as, creating and expanding their own programming

COMMUNICATION AUDIT

A BRIEF NOTE

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Before we begin to delve into the thick of things, it is important to distinguish Finch Lane Gallery’s role as a part of the Salt Lake City Arts Council. The council has many different departments with various different purposes. Among many things, Finch Lane Gallery is in charge of planning the annual Twilight Concert Series, hosting year-round visual arts exhibitions for local artists, and hosting as well as planning the Living Traditions Festival.

EXISTING COMMUNICATION EFFORTS A goal of Finch Lane Gallery’s in relation to its public is to make sure that community members are informed of up-coming events. This is accomplished through mailers that are sent exclusively to members, public service announcements, as well as press releases that are sent to Salt Lake’s premier newspapers. However, the Gallery sees the most success through the mailers. This works well in that it informs the Gallery’s main and most important public, the members. The mailers are sent directly to them and are decorated festively as a means for members to keep the card.

What isn’t working well, would be the public service announcements and press releases. Public service announcements are chosen to run by program directors. It is not guaranteed that they will be played on a given radio station. Even still, if the PSA only runs once a day at a certain time, a wider audience simply cannot be reached. In regards to the press releases, they also are specifically selected based on importance. If a news story is written and published, a fraction of the population will see it depending on which source it’s coming from.

Since a goal of the Gallery’s is to increase attendance to events by making sure community members are informed, the existing tools must be supplemented in order to make announcements widespread. That said, a goal we recommend is for Finch Lane Gallery to refocus their outreach attention to a younger demographic, the milennials. Narrowing their demographic to this group will benefit the organization in adapting to an online world, something we are moving closer to with each passing second. We especially want Finch Lane Gallery to become more active on social media, and to create a design package that will appeal to a younger generation.

In regards to existing deliverables, we found it’d be best to deconstruct the current mailers that are being used, since they are the most popular and have multi use.

COMMUNICATION AUDIT

DESIGN

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MAILER ASomething that is almost immediately recognizable from this mailer is how heavy it feels due to the dark colors being used. After opening the card, the reader will find that the second page is cluttered, and the section with the most crucial information has to be completely read to gather the information needed. The design is functional in that information is easy to find. If this card were to be better organized, it would feel less overwhelming.

WRITING MAILER ABecause of the list of participating artists, the card already seems text heavy. The two paragraphs on the second page become overwhelming. Every other category within this card has a header, and the two paragraphs do not. Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that these cards are sent exclusively to members of Finch Lane Gallery who are already familiar with the Holiday Craft Market and what it includes. That said, the second paragraph on the second page becomes unnecessary. When this paragraph is eliminated, the card is better spaced out and there is breathing room. This increases readability and scanability.

DESIGN MAILER BIn this mailer, it is easy to tell that the designer wanted to let the text do the talking by excluding fancy imagery exampled in mailer A. Including the imagery would simply distract from the message. The inside of the card appears to be cleaner, with the section discussing gallery hours layed out in a much more readable manner. What is inconvenient in the design is the need to flip the card when opened. The card is horizontal and the text within the card is set vertically, this forces the reader to flip the card to read the details of the event. Though it is minor, it is something that could discourage a reader to read the contents of the card.

WRITING MAILER B

Though the text is vertical and the card itself is horizontal, the text is organized well enough that it is readable. Information can be found easily with the headers that were incorporated in the card. The headers allow for the text to be broken up. However, the same comment in regards to the second paragraph on the second page applies here as well. Because the cards are mailed to existing members who are already aware of what the Holiday Craft Market is, detailing what will be for sale at the event is unnecessary and takes up valuable space.

COMMUNICATION AUDIT

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THE MAILERS MAILER A

MAILER B

A DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT

GOALS

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Something that we immediately prioritized as a goal for the gallery, is to appeal to a younger demographic, the millennials. After discussing details over what the Holiday Craft Market is, we all thought it was reminiscent to the summer arts festival, or Craft Lake City. Two events that are very appealing to college students.

Through our initial meeting, we found that Finch Lane Gallery also puts together the Twilight Concert Series, something that people of all ages can enjoy, but a younger generation over populates. We felt they had the tools to appeal to a younger generation, but needed a revamp in regards to their holiday event.

Appealing to a younger demographic will benefit the Salt Lake City Arts Council in becoming social media oriented. With appropriate text, pictures and shares, an organization can gain thousands of followers on various social media platforms. These followers believe in what the organization does, and have the ability to spread messages.

WHAT WE RECOMMEND

Information is valued when it is accessible. By sharing gallery information on various social media platforms, the public will be able to instantly find what they are looking for. We suggest the use of Instagram, Youtube and Facebook.

Instagram will allow photo sharing of the event. This can be used to our advantage by taking pictures of the event set up, as well as sharing pictures of work that will be for sale.

Youtube often times is a difficult tool to manage because organizations don’t know what to do with it. We believe the Salt Lake City Arts Council does so many interesting events, that the public would go out of their way to watch videos. Videos of set up, video interviews, inteviews of people attending the event. Youtube could go a long way.

A STRONG SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

BLOG POSTSBlog posts can be useful in that they act as stories. Posts can include an individual’s experience at an event, there can be guest posts with a community member that writes what their experience was like. Blog posts provide a back story.

A RE-DESIGN With the deliverables currently in place, the designs are lacking a fresh feel. They aren’t exciting to look at and are quite bland. We suggest a bold re-design with bright colors and clean fonts.

ANALYSIS OF THE PUBLIC

THE MILLENNIALS

THEIR VALUES ARE YOUR VALUES

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“Born between 1980 and 1999, the Millennial generation seeks to feel involved through online engagement. Raised during a time with instant internet gratification, millennials expect real time information” (Graham, 2014).

WHAT THEY LOVE In an article posted by the Journal of Marketing Channels, authors Jennifer Dapko and Andrew Artis go on to write that millenials are attracted to simplicity. More and more, millennials are seeking clean designs that have more imagery than text. In accordance to design, millennials are minimalists (Dapko and Artis, 2014).

WHY THEY’RE IMPORTANT According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2013 alone, there were approximately 85 million millennials in the United States. At this time, this was a figure equivalent to 27% of the entire population. Their generation rivals the size of the baby boomer generation.

Most importantly, the millennials are incredibly influential consumers. They are selective in their buying habits, often opting to buy brands that are globally conscious (Millennials drive Consumer Electronics Growth, 2013).

Because millennials are becoming increasingly aware of what they are purchasing (Millennials drive Consumer Electronics Growth, 2013), it can be deduced that buying locally would be a great factor to grab their attention. Buying locally also supports the community, in this case, attending the Holiday Craft Market and purchasing pieces, local artists in the community of Salt Lake City are being supported.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED FROM THEM

ANALYSIS OF THE PUBLIC

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PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL MEDIA

EVENT ATTENDANCE

SUPPORT FOR LOCAL ARTISTS

The millennial’s participation in social media is highly important. Through sharing on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube, the public can go on to share valuable information regarding events, artists, grants, and so on. Their participation can be brought on through consistent, interesting posts. However, if posting wanes, it will be easy to forget about the organization.

To further continue interest in Finch Lane Gallery as part of the Salt Lake City Arts Council, event attendance is important. With a higher attendance, more events can be planned. Event attendance can be attracted through posts that if “liked” will allow free admission, or posts in general that give back to those who share or like posts.

Since millennials are a generation that is more conscious of spending habits, we will need them to support local artists through the purchase of their work. Millennials are a generation that if shown where their money is being put, are more willing to spend it. This can be done through videos that show who the artist is, why they do what they do, and how the purchasing of their peices allows them to continue doing what they love.

explanation

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IT’S IN THE DETAILS

OBJECTIVE 1:STRATEGY:TACTIC:

WHY: We wanted to create younger media relations for SLCAC. They weren’t fully taking advantage of social media and the benefits it allows for. We inspired the organization to create a Facebook page that was specific to their holiday event and started a SLCAC Instagram account.

We see these two sites as free marketing towards a mainly younger crowd. It has been noted that Facebook and Instagram are the two most commonly used social media sites for the ages 18-29 (Widrich, 2013). This is the perfect age group the SLCAC needs in order to broaden their demographic.

As a team we used our individual strengths to create various forms of advertising on both sites: photographs, videos, and interviews. By posting various multimedia posts, we believe that these posts can catch the at-tention of the younger generation better than plain text posts would. Both Facebook and Instagram allows for their users to post videos and images and both sites can be linked together for easier sharing practices.

Create new media relations

Join Social Media

Facebook and Instagram


WHY: We think that the SLCAC needs to rethink their forms of communication. We feel that the SLCAC was using outdated and boring designs that could send out the wrong message to a younger audience. The old designs could have the potential to actually hinder the growth of the interest of young people.

We believe rebranding the SLCAC is a crucial step in order to broaden their age demographic. We have created an entirely new package of design work including a flyer, mailer, and a “takeaway” design. Our designer wanted to use designs that would catch the attention of teens, college students, and young adults, while still remaining relevant to the preexisting members. We are confident that when rebranding is done cor-rectly, the organization can successfully broaden their age demographic.

Improve Communication

Rebrand

Redesign the mailers, flyers, and other documents/files that would be seen by the public

explanation

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WHY: We wanted SLCAC to start taking advantage of the college-based neighborhoods surrounding their organization and force them to pay attention to the age demographic that is already so close to them.

We decided to advertise the SLCAC’s holiday event in neighborhoods located near these colleges: The University of Utah, Westminster, and Salt Lake Community College. We posted flyers in local coffee shops, bookstores, grocery stores, and in the colleges themselves.

We focused mainly on advertising in the Sugarhouse area simply because it is an up and coming young neighborhood, located near two colleges, and already has an artistic feel to the location. We felt that all of those factors could be helpful in generating interest towards the Sugarhouse’s publics. We feel advertising in young neighborhoods is such an easy tactic that could drastically change their audience.

Use demographics as a tool

Outreach

Advertise in young neighborhoods

deliverables

DESIGN WORK

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AUDIENCE TARGETED: SUGGESTED METHOD(S) OF DISTRIBUTION:

THE LOGO

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Because the current graphics the Arts Council has in place does not appeal to the millennial generation, we designed a logo to be used as the main image in any distributable artifact. This logo can be placed on a mailer, a flyer, and can also serve as a profile picture on social media platforms.

Community members, students, artistically inclined demographic. To be used as the main image in any informing of event

deliverables

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DESIGN WORK

THE FLYER

deliverables

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DESIGN WORK


THE FLYER

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: This flyer serves as somewhat of a mailer to the public. By posting it in locations where the artistically inclined millennials will see it, they will notice the social media icons at the bottom right hand corner, and follow.

Community members, students, gallery goers To be posted at coffee shops, university buildings,

Westminster College campus and surrounding businesses.

deliverables

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DESIGN WORK


THE TAKE HOME

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: We thought that a take away would be a fun reminder letting the public know that the Arts Council is active on social media. It would be printed on thick stock paper so that it resembled something of a coaster.

Attendees of the Holiday Craft Market To be slipped into the bag along with purchases

deliverables

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BLOG POSTS


FORMATTING FOR NEXT YEAR

Followers of the social media platforms the Arts Council engages in To be distributed as perk that supplements videos.

Posts can be on something of a, “For more information,” basis. Followers of social media will have access to it.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Blog posts allow for a little something extra. If a community member finds a video and finds the artist incredibly intriguing, they can read more about the interview in a blog post. It allows for a personal connection between the consumers and the artists.

With the multiple interviews we provided, we thought they would be most beneficial in blog post form. To provide a better idea of what the interview should look like on the Arts Council’s website, we provided an example on the next page.

The text that was chosen is meant to intrigue the reader into selecting to choose to read more, and the pictures provided are artist Vicki Acoba’s own.

press release

WESTMINSTER COLLEGE1840 S 1300 E

SALT LAKE CITY, UT. 84105

801-832-2680

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:Krista DeAngelis

Director of Media Relations 801-832-2682

[email protected]

News ReleaseFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dec. 11, 2014

Westminster students shift SLC Arts Council’s Attention to Millennials

Salt Lake City, UT.— Part of the Westminster College experience is providing students with real world experience, while also being community conscious.

Every year, associate professor of Communication, Kim Zarkin, has her public relations principles students pair with a non-profit to assist them with whatever they might need. Students help the non-profits with re-branding, design work, or shifting demographics.

Senior students Amy Dominguez, Lauren Newman and Tory Guilfoyle sought using the skills they’ve been learning to help the SLC Arts Council shift their holiday event’s demographic.

Previously, the Council’s Holiday Craft Market outreach was geared at members of Finch Lane Gallery. These 3 Westminster students had early plans to re-focus the spotlight on millennial students of the Salt Lake community.

“After meeting with Event Director Kandace Steadman about the event, we wondered why students weren’t being targeted” says Amy Dominguez. “The event sounded like something students would definitely be interested in, so we started planning on how to get their attention.”

The students aided the Council by providing design work, blog posts, videos, a Facebook event page and an instagram accound. Tools that Steadman agrees are keeping the organization young.

“When they suggested we join Instagram, I had no clue what it was.” Steadman says. “I realize that as time goes on, it is important for us to stay relevent. These new platforms allow us to do that.”

With approximately 85 million millennials in 2013, they are increasigly surpassing the size of the baby boomers. The power they have in numbers makes them valuable consumers that should be actively sought after.

MORE21

“More and more it is becoming important to include this generation, because they’ll be a consumer power house.” Steadman says. “With the students’ help, we can get to their level.”

The council plans on taking the tools the Westminster seniors provided them and keeping them up to date.

They can be followed on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube by searching for @SaltLakeCityArtsCouncil

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press release

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TIMELINE

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WHAT YOUR CALENDAR SHOULD LOOK LIKE:3 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE EVENT

WEEK 1Work with a designer that you trust, but is willing to take new design risks

Post picture or video on Instagram using hashtag #iloveslcarts

Share a picture or video on both SLCAC Facebook wall, or if relevant, to the event page

WEEK 2Continue to post on Instagram


WEEK 3Post picture or video on Instagram using hashtag #iloveslcarts


MONTH 2• Keep informing followers about event via social media• Have a deliverable design chosen• Design must be ready for print by the last weeks of the month

WHAT YOUR WEEKS SHOULD LOOK LIKE

MONTH 1• Inform people via social media about the event• Work with a designer and plan deliverable designs• Post 1-2 Instagram picture/video posts a week• Keep the both Facebook pages current and active• Have a due date for the potential deliverable designs

MONTH 3• Keep people interested in event via social media• Increase posts to 2-3 Instagram picture/ video posts a week• Send out mailers • Post flyers• Prepare for event

WAYS TO ASSESS SUCCESS

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• Compare how many Facebook likes SLCAC started with to how many the organization has now• Observe Instagram follower increase• Track subscriptions for new membership

TRACK GROWTH

SURVEY

• Offer a survey that will track the demographics of the audience by:o Leaving a paper survey at the front of the galleryo Linking to an online survey made available on social media platforms• Make sure to share surveys after events

APPENDIX a

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Lauren Newman• An Introduction of who we are• A brief introduction of the SLC Arts Council• Discuss goals• Blogpostso Interview Process

Tory Guilfoyle• How it was before, and what we want to provide • Social Mediao What we’ve createdo What they can do to expand further

Amy Dominguez• Deliverableso What was used in the pasto Why we thought it needed a changeo What I created• What it will be used for• Where it will go

o Real world experience

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APPENDIX B

REFERENCES

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Dapko, J. L., & Artis, A. B. (2014). Less is More: An Exploratory Analysis of Optimal Visual Appeal and Linguistic Style Combinations in a Salesperson’s Initial-Contact E-mail to Millennial Buyers Within Marketing Channels. Journal Of Marketing Channels, 21(4), 254-267. doi:10.1080/1046669X.2014.945358

Graham, Garth. “To Reach Millennials, Think Outside The Box.” National Mortgage News 38.48 (2014): 1. Business Source Premier. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.

Lee, Teresa Y. “The Millennials.” HVS Global Hospitality Report (2013): 1-16. Business Source Premier. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.

Millennials Drive Consumer Electronics Growth. (2013). TWICE: This Week in Consumer Electronics, 8-10.

Paulin, Michele, et al. “Motivating Millennials To Engage In Charitable Causes Through Social Media.” Jour-nal Of Service Management (2014): 334-348. Business Source Premier. Web. 3 Dec. 2014

Widrich, L. (2013, May 2). Social Media in 2013: User Demographics For Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Retrieved December 5, 2014

slc arts council report (2)

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