Kosta Boda has been creating premium quality art glass for almost two centuries. But during the last decade the interest for art glass in general has declined and Kosta Boda has lost its once natural position in the art world.
Mission: reclaim that position, particularly among the younger generation. How? By joining the ongoing art discussion, but adding something new. We staged an art auction and auctioned off art glass worth in total 25 000 euro. However, instead of paying with money, the bidders paid with their emotions.
The emotional reaction was measured with GSR technology combined with a heart rate monitor. Sensors were fitted to the bidders’ fingers and ears. The three people with the highest emotional bids won the artworks.
a/ First step, building a hype around the auction informing bloggers and journalist about the event. We created a teaser film and a campaign website. We also targeted key journalists offering them the exclusive right to try out the technology beforehand. GSR meters were also sent to a select group of influencers to play around with. Main focus: national media.
b/ To honeymoon key influencers we staged an excusive art auction the night before the public auction.
c/ During the auctions we offered many possibilities to share the experience in social media. You could, for example, share your emotional bid via text message and the campaign site.
d/ The auction was filmed and used to activate a select group of media with high credibility all over the world.
The Brief
Our goal was to fuel the debate and start building relationships with influential people in the art world such as bloggers, artists and journalists.
Our aim was to get the online community to create 100 million impressions for the auction and Kosta Boda.
Target audience: males/females 20 – 45 years old (young in this context).
Results
Over 300 influencers participated in the auction. The event was covered both by national and international media, such as the BBC and Swedish National Radio. To create content for traditional media and social media we documented the auction in a film.
The auction has so far generated 345 000 000 media impressions and has had a social media reach of 45 000 000. A substantial part of this in art-related media.
Execution
1. Teaser movie mass distributed to media and key influencers: 4th June 2014
2. Honeymooning bloggers and active social media people: 15th May – 16th June 2014
3. Invitations for the pre-auction event: 28th May 2014
4. Targeting key journalists, offering them an exclusive opportunity to try out the technology beforehand, for instance the BBC: 4th June – 16th June 2014
5. Direct mail with GSR meters to a selected group of people: 10th June 2014
6. Launch of pre-auction the night before the public auction targeted towards media and the art community, at a gallery in Stockholm, Sweden: 17th June 2014, 18:00-20:00.
7. Live auction for the general public: 18th June 2014 11:00 – 20:00.
8. Distribution of film from auction: from 3rd July 2014
The Situation
Kosta Boda needs to be relevant in the art world once again, particularly among the younger generation. We did that by putting the art back into art glass and setting Kosta Boda in tune with our time. The target audience is aware of that Kosta Boda designs glass but unaware of the art heritage.
The Strategy
The auction itself was a catalyst for the PR. The strategy contained two phases.
1. Announcing the auction and inviting journalists and bloggers with the aim to get them to attend and write about the auction.
2. When the auction was completed we wanted international media to write about it and targeted a number of bigger media with the goal that word of the auction would spread from there.