SITUATION

Tall Ships America is a nonprofit organization focused on youth education, leadership development and the preservation of the maritime heritage of North America. In addition to organizing the Tall Ships Challenge Series, Tall Ships America manages scholarship programs to make sail training experiences more affordable for young people; grant programs to assist crew of member vessels with the costs of professional development courses and licensing requirements and publishes Sail Tall Ships! A Directory of Sail Training and Adventure at Sea.

In 2018, Tall Ships America announced it would set sail for New Orleans as part of the Tall Ships Gulf Coast Challenge to help celebrate the Tricentennial of New Orleans. Operating through the Tall Ships New Orleans 2018 Committee, Tall Ships America endeavored to create a week of events for tourists and locals to experience maritime activities and educational functions.

CAMPAIGN

Tall Ships New Orleans 2018 worked with Gambel Communications to raise awareness of the historic fleet’s arrival in April 2018 and to help secure support for sponsorship funding through event awareness in conjunction with the Tricentennial. Tall Ship New Orleans 2018’s goal was to share the educational mission of each of the visiting ships and the impact on the city. Together with the city’s NOLA Navy Week, Tall Ships New Orleans sought to attract record numbers of experiential tourists to the city and highlight New Orleans on the global stage.

Gambel Communications secured extensive media coverage of the arrival of the ships and the events taking place at Woldenberg Park. These included media tours of the ships, interviews with key leaders of Tall Ships America and exclusive “sailaway” opportunities including a media tour on Lake Pontchartrain. Gambel also sought to highlight the partnership with the New Orleans Tricentennial celebrations. To leverage the partnership, Gambel Communications hosted a press conference to announce the arrival of the ships and featured key community leaders at the event.

RESULT

Gambel Communications garnered significant media coverage for Tall Ships New Orleans 2018 leading up to and during the arrival of the ships with 495 million impressions and more than 530 total mentions. Gambel’s objective to bring vast number of tourists to the events was exceeded, and comprehensive media coverage was achieved across all platforms including all four local television stations and front page stories in The Advocate and Times-Picayune, as well as national coverage in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Associated Press and local major social outlets.