In 2009, The Art Institute of Chicago had 501 locations. For three months, 500 numbered Red Cubes, each with a URL and unique password, were placed all over Chicago as an experiential marketing program to bring the surprise of Art outside of the museum and directly into the hands of Chicagoans. Upon finding a cube, various Chicagoans would go to www.500-ways.com and “activate” the cube – and participate in 500 unique Art projects. Once activated, the cube finder would share, blog and post the process of their project on the site, allowing fans and followers to gawk, comment and participate. The project culminated with an exhibit of all the original art-work generated from the cubes and displayed in the beautiful new Modern Wing of the museum.

The 500 Red Cubes were designed to be a branded conversation, a game, a project, a relationship, an interaction outside the conventions of a museum. The design of the Cubes intrigued Chicagoans in their daily routine when they weren’t thinking about the Art Institute, or art, for that matter. The design used iconic typeface, shape, colour look and feel of the Art Institute to reframe the brand in a new, unconventional manner. The design behaves very much like the addition of the Modern Wing does in relationship with the rest of the museum. Classic, but now fresh, meaningful and contemporary.

The campaign generated 80m impressions with only using paid media that guaranteed 38m. Earned an additional $30k in PR and collected a 1,000 new e-News subscribers. Paid attendance increased by 7% vs. YAGO. It was the client’s first venture into designed experiential marketing and it exceeded their expectations which encourages them to continue with innovative marketing. TimeOut Chicago praised the campaign by writing: “The Art Institute knows their audience is too savvy to roped in by a tag line. They are using interactive involvement to capture patrons’ attention. And we’ll be the first to admit it: We’re sold.”