How We Helped Park Avenue Armory Reach New Audiences with a Holistic Digital Strategy

Our Approach

When it comes to selling innovative and multifaceted programs, we’ve found that an unconventional approach is often the best one.

We worked with Park Avenue Armory to drive ticket sales for their immersive film installation Euphoria. Inspired by the Armory’s spirit of experimentation, we tested various channels and incorporated groundbreaking automation tools. The result was a blockbuster digital campaign that successfully introduced new audiences to the organization.

EMBRACING INNOVATION

Based in the heart of New York City, Park Avenue Armory supports unconventional works in the performing and visual arts. The organization’s nontraditional venue enables diverse artists to create epic, adventurous work that cannot be fully realized in a proscenium theater or white-wall gallery.

Our consultants partnered with the Armory to help introduce new audiences to their cutting-edge programs and boost membership sales. One of the first campaigns we ran was for Euphoria, a multi-channel film installation that closed out their 2022 season.

Acclaimed filmmaker Julian Rosefeldt took over the Armory’s 55,000-square-foot drill hall with life-size projections that brilliantly wove together artistic genres, from jazz music to acrobatics. The installation encapsulated the Armory’s commitment to experimentation and inspired our consultants to test inventive new digital tactics.

CREATING A VARIED DIGITAL STRATEGY

Just as Rosefeldt’s Euphoria completely immersed viewers in an artistic landscape, our consultants took an all-encompassing approach to the Armory’s digital strategy. Here’s how we did it:

All-Star Automation

Innovative art deserves innovative advertising solutions. From the very beginning of the campaign, our consultants took advantage of machine learning tools like Google’s Responsive Search Ads and Performance Max campaigns to increase ad relevance and keep costs low.

Diverse Channels

Our consultants served ads across Meta, Google paid search, Google Display, and YouTube. We also explored Performance Max campaigns that tapped into the full Google Ad inventory (more on that below). By diversifying channels, we could broaden the Armory’s reach and engage with audiences at every stage of the marketing funnel. 

Eyes on KPIs

We split the Euphoria campaign into two flights so that we could optimize for different key performance indicators (KPIs). The first flight ran for two weeks, focusing on top-of-funnel acquisition to bolster retargeting pools and reach those who may not be familiar with the Armory or the Euphoria installation. The second flight ran for five weeks and the duration of the installation. This final leg of the campaign focused on driving purchases.

Even though Euphoria tickets were just $18 each, we saw strong returns across the board. The campaign generated an exceptionally high number of impressions and key page views, two critical metrics for top-of-funnel audiences.

Bonus Benefit

While our primary goal was to sell tickets to Euphoria, a secondary objective was to encourage membership purchases, as members received free access to the installation. The Euphoria campaign enticed prospective members and drove a 118% increase in membership purchases compared to the seven weeks prior.

PLAYING WITH AUTOMATION

In the spirit of experimentation, our consultants tested a new campaign type that drove performance against the Armory’s goals and offered more bang for their digital advertising buck.

Google’s Performance Max (PMax) campaigns use machine learning to determine placements, audience targeting, bidding, creative assets, and more. It’s a powerful tool for the right campaign–and we felt that Euphoria was the perfect opportunity for the Armory to embrace this technology.

We reallocated funds from YouTube to PMax for the second flight, optimizing for maximum conversions. The PMax campaign ran two weeks less than the other channels in the flight but still yielded impressive results. PMax drove the second-highest ROI of all channels (after paid search), with a 151% ROI. It also had the second-lowest average cost per page view of all channels (again, after paid search) at just $0.15 per page view.

Compared to standalone Google channels, PMax generated the lowest cost per click, highest number of impressions, and second highest number of key page views. It proved to be a strong choice for top-of-funnel audience growth. In fact, the Armory’s first PMax campaign was so successful that we’ve started incorporating these automated campaigns into their digital strategy moving forward.