Art may be everything, except being boring - Case study

“Art may be everything, except being boring”- St. Moritz Art Masters 2010/ Engadin St. Moritz, Switzerland

This case study is written by our guest authour Irina Trofimovskaya.

From the 27th of August until the 5th of September the third addition of the St. Moritz Art Masters took place in St. Moritz and in other villages in the Upper Engadin. National and international painters, photographers and sculptors exhibited their works in churches, hotels, banks, galleries, museums, lakes and other public places easily accessible to the visitors and free of charge. This was a great collaboration between the organization committee and the local partners.

From the event visitor point of view, what type of marketing will attract you to visit this event? Is an advertisement in the national and international newspapers and in train stations will attract your attention with advertisement slogans like – “St. Moritz Art Masters- the leading Art event in the world”? Probably not. Important to mention that this event is open for everyone who is interested in fine arts, good atmosphere, socialization, mobility, education and all that in a wonderful destination called the Engadin St. Moritz.

During the marketing campaign, the brand St. Moritz Art Masters was mentioned just in small letters on the left side of the advertisement posters. The advertisement posters carried amusing, provoking and clever statements which attracted the viewer attention. Every person could identify himself with at least one of them or relate it to someone they know. For example, when speaking about art, which person wouldn’t identify him with the statement “the best is yet to come” or “in few years no one will remember the bad critics”? And to whom you can relate the statement “I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying”?

Another attraction was the Angels and Demons sculptures by Alain de Lille (2008) posted in St. Moritz village several weeks before the exhibition. The statements and the sculptures were so attractive that people made photos and published them on the social media platforms. This type of publicity gains easily the buzz effect or the WOM- word of mouth, when people start to discuss the topic and exchange experiences.

The question now is, if the camping fulfilled the visitor’s expectations? It definitely did! When arriving to St. Moritz, the visitor was in a totally transformed village. There were directing signs to visiting the venues where works of art were presented. A detailed brochure with the description and location of the exhibiting artists was produced in English and German and allowed the visitor to move independently on his own pace through the venues. In most of the venues additional written information and interpretation was provided about the arts.

There was art for every taste, age, mood and interest. This event was once again one of the highlights of Top of the World destination Engadin St. Moritz and brought many visitors just before the end of the summer season. I highly recommend visiting this fascinating event next year. For forward information visit the St. Moritz Art Masters official web site http://www.stmoritzartmasters.com.

Irina Trofimovskaya

Project Partner
Manfred Ritschard & Partner LLC
Corporate training & Marketing
http://www.manfredritschard.ch