Situation

Mardi Gras is the ultimate reminder that New Orleans shares its history and culture with the world, but the massive crowds and emphasis on beads and throws have become the face of Mardi Gras over the years. Making Mardi Gras aimed to correct the misunderstanding that those elements are not the only parts of Carnival. THNOC wanted to tell a fuller story of the season, one that went beyond the popular depictions of booze and beads to include the countless people, working separately or collaboratively from all walks of life and corners of the city to continually adapt and create the experience that is Mardi Gras each year.  

Gambel Communications created an external relations campaign to promote the opening of Making Mardi Gras and its complementary programs, and to reinforce their goal of correcting misunderstandings around Carnival season.  

Strategy

Media outreach was conducted in advance of the public opening of Making Mardi Gras utilizing tactics such as press releases, media alerts, community calendar listings and targeted pitches. Gambel coordinated several one-on-one advance tours for local media with the lead curator before the exhibition opened. Once open for public view, Gambel Communications coordinated in-gallery morning show interviews with all four New Orleans’ television stations as well as interviews with talk radio hosts and print publications. 

The Historic New Orleans Collection’s annual Williams Research Center Symposium was held in conjunction with Making Mardi Gras. Gambel identified key individuals within the community that could add value to several of the symposium discussions and brokered meetings between those individuals and The Historic New Orleans Collection. Originally planned to take place at Mardi Gras World Feb. 8-March 22 and consist of nine scheduled discussions, a spike in COVID-19 cases caused The Historic New Orleans Collection to shift the event from in-person to virtual. The sessions were pre-recorded and made available to the public via YouTube over the course of several weeks. Due to the change in the way the symposium would be structured, Gambel adjusted its approach to media outreach. Due to the high volume of YouTube content that would now be available at various dates, Gamble opted to focus media relations efforts on the most anticipated discussion, “In Conversations with Big Chiefs: Traditions and Music of Mardi Gras Indians” where in a rare gathering, Mardi Gras Indian chiefs told the story of masking traditions through their lived experience. Gambel’s targeted media outreach around this discussion resulted in multiple story placements and YouTube views that accounted for more than 50% of the symposium’s total views.  

Part of the larger Making Mardi Gras exhibit was a small stand-alone exhibit dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Rex Parade titled Fit for a King. Because The Historic New Orleans Collection’s ode to this specific parade was in direct competition to the Louisiana State Museum’s larger exhibition on this same topic, Gambel was very intentional around media outreach for this specific element of Making Mardi Gras. Since New Orleans media attention around the parade’s anniversary would be centered on the competing museum’s exhibit, Gambel’s strategy was to target media outside of Greater New Orleans, specifically Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB)’s Art Rocks, a weekly series that spotlights artists, performances, culture, literature and history and the impact of art in our world. Gambel worked with The Historic New Orleans Collection and LPB to facilitate the production of two segments.

While not directly related to Making Mardi Gras, The Historic New Orleans Collection museum store, The Shop, was secured as a second location for the King Cake Hub where more than 60+ varieties of king cake from more than 14 local bakeries were available for purchase under one roof. Additionally, The Shop distributed The Big Book of King Cakes by local food and travel writer, Matt Haines. To strengthen community relations and partnerships with the King Cake Hub and Haines, Gambel incorporated the two elements into the overall campaign tactics including incorporating the King Cake Hub into local media interviews to promote sales at The Shop and facilitating an interview with Haines and CBS News.  

Results

As a direct result of Gambel Communication’s Making Mardi Gras external relations campaign, The Historic New Orleans Collection’s Making Mardi Gras exhibition achieved the following results:

• 170 story placements including two national stories on CBS News

• 205.2 million story views

• 8,2821 views of the Williams Research Center Symposium sessions

• 15,282 visitors viewed Making Mardi Gras

Overall, the Making Mardi Gras campaign surpassed the established goals. As a result, when The Historic New Orleans Collection closed the exhibition to make way for another exhibit, they made the decision to open a condensed version of Making Mardi Gras in another part of their French Quarter museum to allow visitors more time to experience the exhibit. The extended exhibit ran from May 27-Aug. 7.