The National Portrait Gallery asked me to help launch the campaign for their major Martin Parr exhibition, ‘Only Human’. Changes in their team meant time was tight, but because I’d worked for big photography exhibitions in the past (including the launch of Tate’s The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection), I knew the right journalists (from specialist publications to more general and mass market media), partners and influencers to approach.
The NPG had already done qualitative market research, so I did my homework and created the strategy and plan to get the name Martin Parr on everyone’s lips, and their feet through the NPG’s doors. I briefed teams at the NPG, as well as their agencies, for the exhibition’s creative, media buying and digital. Martin Parr’s name was on the poster, and it was important he was involved and liked the campaign, so I worked with his studio and the curators to make sure everyone was happy with the work.
I also brought in new partners to reach the audiences I’d singled out. We opened the exhibition to Time Out’s social media big hitters, so they could see it first, sip a Martin Parr-inspired craft beer in the exhibition’s pop-up café, and spread the word. Dover Street Market brought Blackpool to Mayfair, creating a Martin Parr-esque beach scene in-store and hosting an exclusive book-signing event with the artist.
Short on time, big on results: Martin Parr was 2019’s first must-see photography exhibition and ticket sales were way above the Gallery’s targets.