Campaign: Voluntary sector - Art in the park event raises mfpa profile

The mfpa is an international organisation of artists who have lost the
use of their hands through accident or illness or who were born with a
disability. The organisation helps them to live independently through
the proceeds of their artwork.

A Painting in the Park event was held in Hyde Park so children and
adults could discover the work and techniques of these skilful artists.
The artists were available to speak to people about their lives,
training, experience of living with disabilities and being members of
the mfpa.

OBJECTIVES

- To meet the public and provide demonstrations of mouth and foot
painting techniques

- To raise awareness of the mfpa and the organisation's work

- To promote the artists and their paintings online and to the
public

- To drive sales of the artists' work and products, including prints,
books and Christmas cards.

STRATEGY AND PLAN

Timed to coincide with the summer school holidays, Painting in the Park
was positioned as a unique, free, fun day out in central London,
appealing to families, educational groups and visitors.

Various human interest stories were put together around the lives of the
principal artists demonstrating at the event. A photocall was also
initiated for TV and photographers. The PR team undertook an online
campaign to drive awareness of the event among potential visitors,
including families, people looking for summer days out in London and art
enthusiasts.

In the run-up to the event, VP Communications contacted regional
newspapers, event listing outlets, artist and disability publications
and selected consumer magazines - and, closer to the day of the event,
national newspapers and broadcast media - to offer interviews with the
artists and issue invitations to a photocall in the park. This provided
images to media unable to attend on the day, and created a colourful
focal point around the event.

MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION

The campaign generated interviews for artists on BBC Radio, BBC News
online, ITN News and local radio. The event received extensive coverage
online, driving visitors to the event and generating video news reports
on AOL video, Virgin video and Tiscali news and on blog reports. There
were also mentions in listings, including in the London Evening
Standard, tweets and online articles. The professional photography led
to the inclusion of artist Keith Jansz in the prestigious LIFE online
photo archive.

RESULTS

Through Painting in the Park, the mfpa publicised the work of its
members, met with the public and raised awareness of the organisation
and its products. Participating artists have seen an increase in
requests for interviews, personal appearances and demand for prints. A
follow-up exhibition in City Hall in September attracted 12,000
visitors, building momentum in the run-up to Christmas, and the mfpa has
projected increased sales in December.

SECOND OPINION - Adam Vincenzini, Consultant, Paratus Communications

A great example of PR being deployed to not only magnify some incredibly
talented people, but also meet the commercial and comms objectives of an
organisation.

Within a limited budget, VP Communications adopted a pragmatic and
workman-like approach, identifying the inherent news value in this
activity and packaging it in a thoughtful way.

The results are impressive, given that competition for media space is
increasingly fierce, even for remarkable human interest stories. With
that in mind, we know proximity is the key consideration for regional
media, and I couldn't see an obvious link that made the event relevant
to those titles, unless the artists in question were from particular
regions or the paintings were of landmarks and/or people from different
parts of the country. On the national side, investigating whether artist
Alison Lapper would have been willing to participate in an exclusive
feature might have worked well.

The other area I thought could have been extended further was online.
Even with a limited budget, a dedicated YouTube channel could have been
set up with video diaries about the artists, extending the reach of the
campaign and bringing the artists' talents to life. For people who
attended, a Flickr group could also have been created.

Apart from the additional digital opportunities identified, the campaign
was well delivered, met its objectives and generated some quality
coverage.