A communications campaign developed on behalf of the Whitney Museum and the Family program offerings.

1. R – Research – pg1
Researching the Whitney – pg. 1,2
Researching the stakeholders – pgs. 3,4
Analysis – pg. 5
SWOT – pg. 5-9
Benchmarking for evaluation – pg. 9
O - Objectives – pg. 10
P - Program- pg. 12
E – Evaluation – pg. 14
** Additional plan option – pg. 15
Family Programs: Redux
A Corporate communication strategy
By Elizay Pierre

2. Pierre-Louis, 1
The Whitney museum family and kids program marketing ideas.
R.O.P.E. model
R. Research: Research performed through direct engagement with the Whitney museum, press and
marketing department staffers, interviews with educators, online assessment of website and social
media platforms, press coverage and topical demographic searches (i.e. U.S. Census, NYC.gov)
 Researching the Whitney Museum: Museum experience, website, social media platforms
o Museum visit / Family Program Participation: Courteous friendly staff severely
misinformed and not on the same page in regards to family offerings and the
procedures.
 Discrepancy on what to charge
 Mischarged me
 Sent me up to the family programs areas, where I found out that my son was
not of age for the activities being offered.
o Website Assessment: Website hosts a lot of information. Family programs offerings are
buried under various. Once found, the information is disjunctive and difficult to
ascertain at quick viewing. Takes time and effort to sort through the various offerings,
different age groups, dates, times of regular activities not including special one time
events.
o Contact Whitney Museum Staff: Friendly and courteous with inter-organization
communication struggles. Possibly too many divergent channels without a unified voice,
leading to a constant need to relay messages to different people or different
departments in a time consuming tedious manner. In order to get access to accurate
information.
 Front desk sales and information Ticketing agents: Friendly, courteous staff,
misinformed about family offerings, dates, age ranges for groups and pricing.
 Family program leaders: Knowledgeable and engaging Art Educators, relating to
kids on their level and keeping the whole family involved in activities. Interns

3. Pierre-Louis, 2
and grad students of Tisch school of arts. Focused on art history and educational
degrees.
 Communications and Marketing Staff:
 ‘No media kits for Family program offerings. Most promotion and
communication is done through small personalized mailings when they
have something to promote.’ ~Sara Ruebenson, Communications at The Whitney
 Division between communications, marketing and family programs
departments, made accessing information difficult
o Social media scanning: Twitter / Facebook / Instagram (as measure over a 3-month
period across all platforms)
 High volume followers: 869,169 twitter, 325,424 Facebook followers, 518,000
Instagram followers
 High engagement on Visual based platform like Instagram, comparatively
Medium to mild engagement on Facebook and Twitter engagement averaging
out the lowest.
 Instagram (518k followers): post gaining between 1k- 25k likes
 Facebook (325k+ followers): gaining between 100 and 1000 likes /
reactions and 15-65 content re-shares per post
 Twitter averaging less than 100 likes and 10-50 re-shares per post
 Little to no mention of Whitney Family programs, Whitney Kids or Whitney
Teens, with the exception of a same day promotional mention of a special
events for that particular segment on a platform like Twitter or Instagram

4. Pierre-Louis, 3
 Researching the Stakeholders: Media, Influencer, NYC Residents, Tourist, Educators and
potential partners for concierge program, audience demographics.
o Media: Press, Influencers (family lifestyle, arts and culture bloggers and popular
Youtubers)
 NY Times writers and editorial staff
 Writers who cover the arts and culture section and have written
favorably on the Whitney: Roberta Smith, Robin Pogrebin, David Wallis,
Brett Sokol, Karen Rosenberg
 Sections to target: NYC > events / events guide, Arts, Art & Design
 Timeout New York, writers and bloggers for the online site - “The best exhibits
at children's museums in NYC”, “The best museum exhibitions in NYC”, “15
fantastic things to do in NYC this weekend” etc.
 Writing staff that covers NYC Events and cultural activities and
museums: Allie Early, Hannah Doolin and Rebecca Jennings, Tazi
Phillips, Jennifer Picht and more
 NYCgo.com – organized by “NYC and Company”, The official destination
marketing organization for NYC. Representing close to 2000 organization whose
interest lie in promoting NYC for tourism. Website is a major resource for
traveler around the world.
 Targeting for write up on things to do, attractions, museum coverage
etc.
 Potential for partnership to be featured consistently
 NYC-Arts.com – Arts and culture website organized by PBS and its affiliates. Vast
partnerships and resource for tourist and fans of the arts
 Already listed as an attraction
 Relationship allows for leveraging into feature coverage for new events, like
the re-launching of “Whitney Family Program”

5. Pierre-Louis, 4
o Top Influencers to target: examples of some of the top in their category
 Parenting / lifestyle / travel bloggers:
 www.Pbs.org/parents ,
 www.lifeofdad.com,
 www.owtk.com (out with the kids)
 Social Media Influencers: Family & lifestyle bloggers with large followings:
 Love Taza / Naomi Davis
 A Cup of Jo / Joanna Goddard
 Highsnobiety (popular arts and culture blog 1.3mill Instagram followers)
 Influencer marketing incentives to encourage collaborative participation:
 Social media collaboration offers to ‘takeover’ Whitney social media
account of their choice, on the day of their visit to leave honest
feedback and promote their own brand.
 Event invites (Especially Family Fun program launch)
 Free passes
 Media kit shares
o Educator interviews: Insights gained
 Irene Sawyer – early childhood education (Pre-K teacher)
 Safety concern for travelling with children that age. Big group trips with
long distance travel are difficult and rare
 Better to target nearby pre-k programs for trips or to just take the
museum to the kids with workshops that showcase the art and
installations
 Jacquelyn Rivas – Elementary school teacher
 Value of the Whitney museum’s focus on American contemporary art
for arts and American history perspective
 Idea of some sort of rewards program for Students interested in arts,
excelling in school (i.e. Dean’s list student or graduation award with free
access to museum for their family)

6. Pierre-Louis, 5
 Angela Moore – Middle school dean and administrator
 Administrator concerns about cost make free days at the Zoo more
appealing for school trips than museum group rates. Especially for
schools in low income areas
 Incentives like free access to school’s trips are key incentives.
 Workshops that focus on some key historical American art figures their
work and engages the students to create their own works of art have a
higher chance of getting into schools, than a presentation on the
benefits of the Whitney family offerings.
o Demographics: Estimates and averages
 Population stats: according to www.factfinder.census.gov
 8.4 Mill New Yorkers
 1.78 mill under 18yrs total,
 556k under 5yrs, 480K 5-9yrs, 463K 10-14yrs, 488k 15-19yrs
 Schools: according to www.schools.nyc.gov
 1,800 total serving universal pre-k through High school
 1.2 mill enrolled students
 Tourism: according to www.NYCgo.com (as relayed directly from Mayor
DeBlasio and his office)
 60 million tourists closing out 2016 (record high)
 Annual spending: 61 Billion economic impact
 41 billion direct spending (as of 2014)
 11% of that spending is done in Arts and culture sectors (totaling more
than 4 billion in the arts alone)

7. Pierre-Louis, 6
 Analysis:
o Environmental scanning
 Competitive museums: Direct and Indirect
 Direct – (Feature same/similar styles of American/contemporary art):
MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), MoMA PS1 (MoMA affiliate), The MET
Breuer (MET affiliate), M.A.D (Museum of art and design), New Museum of
Contemporary Art
 Indirect – (Popular NYC museum that feature art other than contemporary
American art): Guggenheim, The Met, The Cloisters (Met Affiliate), The Frick
Collection, The Brooklyn Museum
 Cultural activities for kids and family: Zoo’s, Performing arts centers, Historical sites
and other locations
**Insights: Of these top competitive museums for The Whitney, most do not offer fully comprehensive
family program offerings with the exception of the Guggenheim. All others offer highly limited special
events or group discount offering for families of certain sizes.
 S.W.O.T.
o Strengths:
 Long standing historic Name value that establishes and differentiates it from
many direct competitors.
 One of a few modern and design museums that offer family friendly/kids
activities,
 ‘The focus on American arts and culture makes the museum more
appealing from an educational stand point of American History, and the
arts’ ~Jacquelyn Rivas, 2nd grade teacher, interview. Sentiments Echoed by ~ Angela
Moore, Middle school dean interview in the Bronx
 Collaborative partnerships with Tish school providing art experts and educators
for children.

8. Pierre-Louis, 7
 Aspect that can be leverage to promote within school systems.
o Weakness:
 Family/kid offering have limited to no visibility, on social media and within press
 Confused messaging on family offerings by museum staff
 Chaotic website presence buried under and separate tabs and in disjointed
areas
 Lack of media kit and information to share with press and influencers
 Disorganization with internal communications process makes for frustrating
external experience
 Missing out on the benefits of mobile promotion and direct engagement
through use of apps and other mobile technology.
o Opportunity:
 Trendy hipster artsy location
 Appealing to Kids, Teens and tourist with local attractions and nearby
things to do
 Great for positioning the Whitney as an ‘IT place’ for dates etc.
 Great foot traffic, located directly at the end/beginning of the Highline.
 Great for leveraging the local population and exposing through them.
 Huge awareness by local businesses and hotels for mutual concierge program
benefits
 4 of some popular hotels near the Whitney surveyed (as listed by Yelp!
ratings): to gauge options for being listed as a nearby or popular
attraction and possibility for concierge referral partnerships. Featuring
small discounts off of stay or museum membership/entry, in exchange
for promoted referral of each other’s offerings (Family program
offerings particularly).

9. Pierre-Louis, 8
1. Liberty Inn: does not have concierge service but already makes
personal recommendations for the Whitney as a nearby
attraction (No point of contact person)
2. Chelsea Pines Inn: has concierge service already listing the
Whitney as nearby attraction. Very interested in a referral
concierge partnership the offers small percentage discount for
stay (Sean – manager: Sweathers@chelseapinesinn.com)
3. The Standard hotel: Has concierge and list the Whitney. Must
coordinate with marketing depart about establishing more
collaborative partnership, but it’s a possibility (Caitlin
McConnell-Marketing: cmcconnell@standardhotels.com)
4. The Maritime hotel: Concierge services also recommends The
Whitney. General manager would be open to discussing more
collaborative efforts. (Patricia the general manager:
Patricia@themaritimehotel.com)
** Insights gained from direct calling various nearby concierge services: The Whitney Museum name
carries a lot of weight and value particularly for the immediate population. Most hotels and concierge
services have them listed or make personal recommendations. Many of the businesses in the area
would be more than happy to collaborate in some sort of partnership efforts with the organization.
Possibly to the extent of offering discounts to museum patrons just for being referred from The Whitney
museum. Making the possibility of some sort of concierge service very realistic with minimal effort.
 Contemporary American arts museum great angle for promoting as an
educational resource
 Interns and art educators can lead monthly workshops at various
school’s/ arts programs/afterschool programs throughout the city and
provide take home materials for the kids that will provide incentives for
family trips to the museum.

10. Pierre-Louis, 9
o Threats:
 NYC dense population of museums, historical and cultural sites, Zoos and other
art & cultural program running throughout the city. Fierce competition for
families to attend events and locations.
 Benchmark Baselines for evaluation: review and breakdown 3months prior to new
communications campaign
o Overall ticket sales
o Family program attendee numbers
o Community management gauging social media mentions (i.e. #AtTheWhit)

11. Pierre-Louis, 10
O. Objectives: Overall goals to be achieved with this campaign
 Re-organize and further develop Whitney family offerings into a comprehensive and cohesive
program
o Setting dedicated day per week for educational group tours at ideal times for families
and educational organizations (i.e schools).
o Develop schedule to host special one time or rare events and activites (i.e. 3rd
Sat. of the
month guest artists)
o Offer weekday educational tours during set hours for more organization and ease of
planning for school trips (10am -2p)
o Offer free access for pre-registered school tours on a set day (i.e Tuesday schools can
coordinate guided tour through the museum)
 Clarify internal and external messaging and communication efforts around the Family fun
programs.
o Training all ticketing and customer service staff on all family offering logistics. Days,
times, age ranges, pricing (group pricing, family pricing) and special events
o Re-design or develop new Whitney Family program web presence that highlights the
Family and kid’s offerings as opposed to hide or bury that info. (Could be as simple as a
new tab on the websites main page specifically for family program offerings that houses
days, times, age groups pricing and special events)
 Expand and capitalize on Whitney’s Social and digital presence to build exposure
o Cultivate engaging social media campaign that encourages visitors and participants to
share and engage
 Identify and differentiate Family program offerings from other Whitney offerings and other NYC
kids themed offerings.
o Competitive advantage: Developing a focus on providing comprehensive arts and
culture program for family, kids and educators in a safe and organized facility and
structure.

12. Pierre-Louis, 11
 Increase and promote the Whitney museums Kids and family programs, to generate increased
patronage and participation.
o Developing media kit for family program, organizing special launch event, targeting
press and influencer like mommy bloggers.
o Concierge service for near-by family friendly attractions, kids themed restaurants, parks
in the city, recommended hotels.
 Local site and transportation map possible
 Partnership referral network between The Whitney and local business to
collaborate on rewards for using partner services (i.e. Discounts of one night
stay as ‘partner hotel’ when registering for a Whitney museum membership)

13. Pierre-Louis, 12
P. Program/Plan: Specific actions to be taken towards objectives (Strategies and tactics)
 Re-organize and clarify internal communications effort around Family program offerings
o Redesign website to organize and unify all program offering in one easy to find place
o Showcase with a dedicated easy to see tab on the home page
o Train customer service, general information and ticket staff on all of the offering, pricing
and policies of the family programs
o Assign Family program assistant to be liaison between the family programs, marketing
and communications department. Providing weekly update on what each is doing in
regard to the family program offerings.
 This will help clarify all internal messaging struggles with regard to the family
program offerings.
 Media Placement:
o Reframing the Whitney Museums family offerings as ‘A shift in focus to providing art
and culture to families and children, in new dynamic ways’!
o Overhaulling the ‘Family program’, to the new ‘Family Fun Programs’ at the Whitney!
 Re-presenting the offering as new and valuable.
o Create media/press kits for the New Family Fun programs at The Whitney museum
o Initial media target audience listed in the stakeholder research section on page 3
o Create a Re-Launch event of the new and improved Family Fun program
o Send personalized media kits and invites to attend re-launch event.
 Targeting the tourist sector:
o Generating earned placement with Arts & Culture / Travel sites and influencers (as listed
under stakeholder research on page 3-4)
o 1% percent growth of the annual 4 billion dollars NYC tourism generates in the arts,
would equal to a $40 million dollar gain annually.
o Can leverage the new concierge service toward tourism promotion and marketing.
 Build awareness throughout local schools in both lower Manhattan and the 5 boroughs.
Leveraging Tisch education partners.

14. Pierre-Louis, 13
o Target schools with arts programs among the age ranges to do school day trips at group
discounts.
o Develop workshop curriculum based off the Family program offerings available at The
Whitney.
o Using Tisch teaching fellows with Whitney museum reps to present workshops at
elementary schools, arts programs and afterschool (month to month)
o Promote directly to families through the distribution of the Family program marketing
materials to student workshop participants
 Materials should include Dates, ages groups, activities, discounts and other
promotional material
 Clear concise format with minimal pages
 Develop social media and digital campaign promoting Whitney family fun activities and more:
(as described in the objectives section on page 9)
o Promoting easily measurable hashtag campaign via social media platforms, to followers
(i.e. #AtTheWhit) (#WhitneyFamilyFun), with incentives for those whose content are
most like or re-shared
 Engaging social media contest potential (i.e. whomever has the best post of the
day get #DateNight #AtTheWhit passes. Entry for 2, Saturday evening)
o Promoting and developing collaborative partnerships with social media influencers: (As
described in stakeholder research on pg. 4)
o Distributing media kits and re-launch event invites to valuable blog sites and Influencers
 Launch family focused concierge program for Whitney attendees: (As discussed in the
opportunity section page 8-9)
o Creating partnership referral network with rewards and incentives for patrons
participating with our partners and vice versa
o Providing a listing of nearby attractions, restaurants, parks and hotels great for kids and
families.
o Transportation maps for patrons wanting to get around
o Concierge services available via phone calls for Whitney members

15. Pierre-Louis, 14
E. Evaluation: Means by which we measure our progress toward fulfilling set objectives
 Registering all 1st
time families and participants within Family program activities through sign in
sheet
o Promotional incentives for future discount and access to upcoming events etc.
o Add to mailing list (email preferred)
o Following up participation/satisfaction surveys.
 Establishing baseline of museum visits/sales for Whitney Family Programs during particular time
period and monitoring for growth though out campaign
o Reviewing sales for at least 3 months prior to campaign launch
o Differentiating between general sales/visit and Family Fun program visits (prices vary,
should be simple to identify)
o Comparing every quarter (3 months) for a period of at least 1 year
o Adjusting as needed based on periodic measurements. (adjusting such as additional
promotions, creating press releases for additional media placement, surveying past
participants and/or targeting specific influencers with free access to visit/participate in
‘family fun programming’, to continue generating buzz and awareness)
 Monitoring website analytics to measure users accessing Whitney Family programs page directly
o Can view how many, how often and how long the page is accessed
o Link the correlation between that and Family fun program sales and participation
 Community management of Social media campaign & monitoring.
o Gauging the rise in likes and follows
o Monitoring for use and rise of #campaign mentions (#AtTheWhit) (#WhitneyFamilyFun)
o Monitoring for Whitney Museum mentions among users of social media platforms.
o Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

16. Pierre-Louis, 15
**Additional program/plan option: Launch Whitney Mobile App!
“Mobile apps increase engagement with customers. They boost repeat visits, and permit a wide variety
of online transactions, including the deployment of loyalty cards, push promotions, and ecommerce
transactions. Apps deliver coupons and send announcements that build your sales with customers.
Apps also accelerate contact with your company, which enhances relationships with customers in a
world where speedy responses are prized by buyers.” ~Scott Shane, Entrepreneur, Jan. 26 2016
App summary:
 Well Developed Mobile app, that Highlights Whitney Family programs while promoting other
Whitney Museum offerings like:
o Memberships
o New installation and special event and promotional notifications
o Sneak peaks and advance looks at current art installations
o Merchandising, advance ticket sales and art replication sales
o Accessibility features like audio and video guided tours (as ported directly from
website for mobile usage
o Social media plugin
 Can connect to user’s social media profiles to
 Can upload images, videos etc. for content creation during Visit
 Can have preloaded hashtags as determined by the campaign, that
users can choose from to represent their activity at The Whitney
o Concierge service baked into the app
 Local eateries
 Attraction nearby and throughout the cite
 Maps that include parks and MTA system (can be simply ported over
directly from google and/or MTA)
 Local hotels
 Feature partners and recommended services
 Rewards/incentives program (like discount offering with partnered
organizations)
 Will also feature Family section with games and select guided tours specifically curated for
families by Art educators and staff
 Topical app development research
o Professionally polished fully developed version 1 apps range up to $150,000
o Initial app developers estimate $67,000
o App can be leveraged to sell memberships, merchandise & products, promote events
(family fun and more), cull contacts, create social engagement, cull and provide
analytics and data on attendees while providing accessibility value to users from
children to the disabled.