By the numbers
42%
increase in attendance
198%
increase in web traffic
319%
increase in awareness in the suburbs
Client background
Theater District Houston promotes the city’s cultural and entertainment core, supporting the performing arts venues and resident companies that anchor it. Each August, the organization runs Advertising That Reached Beyond the Loop, a free annual event that opens the performing arts season.
The challenge
The 2018 event marked the 25th anniversary of Advertising That Reached Beyond the Loop. Hurricane Harvey had forced the cancellation of the 2017 event. The same creative strategy had run for three years straight, built to drive brand awareness but never updated. The organization needed fresh creative that worked alongside real audience segmentation.
Two goals anchored the plan:
- Drive traffic to the event website, especially in outlying zip codes.
- Turn attendance into qualified leads for the participating nonprofit performing arts organizations.
The CKP approach
We built audience personas to sharpen engagement and widen reach. Using attendance surveys, Google Analytics, and social metrics, we identified three groups: arts lovers, experience seekers, and families looking for free activities. We positioned the brand to speak to each one directly. To capture the event’s hands-on nature, we built a new creative concept around a single call to action: “One free day. Find your seat.”
What we delivered
- Integrated marketing strategy (audit, analysis, recommendations)
- Creative services (graphic design, copywriting, original photography and video)
- Advertising (digital marketing and media buying)
- Public relations (media relations, pitching, story placement)
Results
Attendance rose 42% over the prior year. Web traffic climbed 198%, driven largely by the outlying zip codes the campaign targeted. Awareness in the suburbs grew 319%, extending the event’s reach well beyond its traditional core audience.
