New Museum wanted an idea that looked back and celebrated their 40-year history. So we took their core values––championing new art and new ideas and making them accessible to everyone––to create New Museum LIVE: five exhibitions, hundreds of artworks and special events and performances all broadcast live 24/7, online and in out-of-home locations and installations around New York City. By allowing anyone with an internet connection to view and experience art, we upheld their values and democratized the art, taking it off the pedestal and putting it into the hearts and minds of the public.

Knowing our audience’s desire to have a pulse on the latest, we seeded mysterious “glitching” images around NYC to spark intrigue and conversation. During this four day “tease” phase, the animated creative, which revealed only the launch date and New Museum’s logo, popped up throughout the city in places like movie theaters and on double-decker buses, as well as online via targeted social posts.

During the ensuing “live” phase, we launched full force online and across NYC to celebrate New Museum’s 40th anniversary. Every piece of artwork in the museum was given its own live stream which was broadcasted 24/7 on a dedicated site. These live streams could be watched on the website and New Museum’s social feeds, but also appeared real-time across familiar locations around the city--from a digital Times Square billboard to an arcade cabinet, to front windows of galleries, cafés to even the NYC Ferry.

In a few weeks, New Museum LIVE bolstered awareness and consideration for the museum during one of the busiest times of year in New York.

Through a fully integrated effort, New Museum LIVE successfully generated 60,307,348 potential earned impressions valued at an estimated $358,026 in earned media (4.7x higher than our original budget).

Consequently, we saw a directional impact on key brand health metrics, including a lift in aided awareness for the New Museum, from 43% pre-campaign to 45% post-campaign, as well as a significantly higher willingness to visit the museum in the next year among those aware of the campaign (88% of those aware said they were likely or very likely visit vs. 59% among all respondents). We also saw a 10% increase in online ticket sales from pre- to post-campaign, showing we were able to convert online interest and engagement into foot traffic.