Delivering record breaking pre-opening sales for internationally renowned immersive exhibition
Van Gogh Alive is the world’s most popular immersive, multi-sensory experience that has been enjoyed by over 9.5 million visitors in 95 cities around the world.
We were briefed to generate substantial pre-event demand and help sell over 60,000 tickets by ensuring Van Gogh Alive became Brighton’s premier visitor attraction during its run from May to September. This was delivered with a pre-opening and ongoing media relations campaign, targeted influencer outreach, a media and VIP media launch event and strategic local partnerships.
Working closely with the venue’s marketing team, our dedicated press office secured reviews, features and news stories based around four key news moments. One such moment focused on a local artist who was commissioned to create a bespoke ‘Starry Night’ inspired painting of Brighton, this was also used in a competition to encourage sign ups. We also secured two media partnerships and hosted a VIP launch day event and pre-opening media day.
The pre-opening media day resulted in event previews and interviews with BBC South East, ITV Meridian, BBC Sussex and local grassroots station Radio Reverb, as well as reviews in all local media print and digital titles. We also connected Van Gogh Alive with strategic local partners to deliver bespoke events and content for their audiences, including Brighton Chamber of Commerce, VisitBrighton, Brighton i360, Shelter Hall and The Hilton.
In total, the media campaign led to 70 editorial articles reaching an audience of more than 2 billion with 1.75 million estimated views and our influencer campaign saturated the local audience’s feed during the show’s run.
Ticket sales exceeded the original target by nearly 15%, pre-opening ticket sales broke all records and demand was so high that it caused the venue booking website to crash!
“Fugu are the most connected, creative and proactive media and influencer specialists I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. They exceeded all expectations, beat all media and sales targets and the team was a real pleasure to work with.”
Greg Talbot, Head of Events at Active Sport & Entertainment Ltc, UK promoters of Van Gogh Alive
“Huge thanks to our amazing PR team at Fugu. Without doubt, Brighton’s best!”
Dan Flynn, marketing director, Van Gogh Alive