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Brief
"I need some help generating buzz for my upcoming exhibition and live event, particularly online. Can you help?"
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Process
In order to help bring Natty's fantastical vision for Chant of the Firefly to life, I got to work producing some flyers, posters and banners. Natty provided me with a fantastic watercolour by his associate Joshua Squashua to use as a base, and, working iteratively with Natty and the Fusion team, I produced materials that met the needs of each party. I used a warm filter and overlaid some glowing ember graphics onto the artwork to evoke the feel of fireflies and suggest a magical or supernatural component to the scene. The typeface and colour scheme was chosen with consideration to the ancient tribal theme of the poetry and accessibility contrast guidelines.
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Chant of the
Firefly campaign
Igniting anticipation for this Afro-Caribbean folklore poetry exhibition
Background
Chant of the Firefly was a poetry exhibition and accompanying live event devised by African School founder and educator Natty Mark Samuels with support from community charity Fusion Arts. The exhibition ran from December 2021 - January 2022 and presented nine original poems penned by Natty in celebration of African and Caribbean folklore. The exhibition was displayed in Fusion Arts' pop up #WindowGalleries spaces along Friars Entry in central Oxford. The work took visitors on a spectacular journey across continents, introducing them to some of the smaller and larger characters of ancient Saharan African and Caribbean folklore.
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Complimenting the exhibition was a free, family-friendly event led by Natty and local roots reggae musicians held at the Fusion Arts Centre and broadcast live on Fusion Arts' YouTube channel. The event consisted of a lively interactive evening of poetry, chanting, singing, dancing and music.
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Natty had all of the exhibition material and live event content sorted out but needed some publicity for the events, as well as an online platform for people to book event tickets and access the event broadcast.
As the Digital Marketing, Communications and PR Manager for Fusion Arts at the time, I was only too happy to help with this!
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Flyer and banner variations designed for various communications platforms
Once the materials were created, I used the banner to set up an Eventbrite booking page for the interactive event. Using the banner, I also posted entries for the event and exhibition on Fusion's website, other local events listings websites and set up a Facebook events page for both events. This wide and consistent and coverage combined with SEO copy also led to the live event being listed on Google's Oxford arts events page.
The next step was to schedule a live event broadcast from Fusion's YouTube account, again using the banner as the promotional image.
Once these logistics were in place, the team was able to start printing and distributing Chant of the Firefly posters around Oxford, complete with an Eventbrite registration QR code. Meanwhile, I scheduled social media posts (using a mix of the square flyers and photography from a similar prior event) and several paid for Meta adverts targeting young families in Oxfordshire. I cross-promoted the events on relevant local Facebook pages including Oxford Windrush Group and Family Events Oxford, and invited relevant contacts from Fusion's network of cultural partners, community groups, artists and individuals along to both events.
Another component of this campaign's communications matrix was to feature it in Fusion's newsletter. The events were highlighted in the organisation's festive mailout, resonating with the themes of magic and tradition associated with the holiday (but with an Afro-Caribbean twist!). Further exhibition information and event sign-up was made available through Fusion's Linktree.
Left: mock ups of the posters in situ; right: promotional Instagram posts
"Readers will be taken on a spectacular journey, transported to different regions via the adventures of characters created by the ancient peoples of sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean..."
To spark interest and reach a wider audience, I wrote and distributed a press release. For this I spoke to Natty to gain insight into the show and tease out an engaging story. I was intrigued to discover that the characters featured in his poetry originated from regions across sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, taking readers along for trans-continental tour of folklore and fantasy. The press release lead to an article in the Oxford Mail and an interview with Natty on BBC Radio Oxford in which he spoke to presenter Lilley Mitchell and read poetry in tribute to the late Desmond Tutu.
Another communications consideration was the explanatory exhibition copy displayed on the windows of the gallery. I liaised with Natty and Fusion's Exhibitions and Events Coordinator to ensure that this précis was consistent with the exhibition narrative of the press release.
Once the exhibition was installed, I capitalised on its ambient location in social media communications - the show was fortuitously positioned opposite Caribbean restaurant Turtle Bay, making it the perfect destination to soak up some Caribbean vibes in the depths of a chilly British winter! We shared a video of the exhibition accompanied by Turtle Bay's laid back reggae beats to help entice Fusion's audience to this tropical haven. Click on the video below to hear what I mean...
Results
The exhibition netted a large and varied number of guests during its month-and-a-half run. Organic social media communications for the show and live event attained a total of 537 interactions over nine posts, (an average engagement rate of 2.3% per post), while paid for social promotions reached 2,695 people and garnered 33 click throughs either to the exhibition overview or the live event booking page.
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Due to my promotion and SEO, the live event was featured in Google's event listings, while both the exhibition and event were featured in Oxford Mail and on BBC Radio Oxford.
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The live event was booked to full capacity (which was 25 guests due to social distancing precautions) with a waiting list of 10 people, and was streamed both on Instagram, where it netted 200 views, and on YouTube, where it attracted an additional 66 viewers. Click here to watch the YouTube livestream.
