SITUATION:

As a new Museum, The National D-Day Museum needed to establish its brand nationally and, at the same time, draw guests of all ages to visit the Museum. The importance of the Museum, its purpose and its appeal as a visitor attraction had to be explained to every conceivable audience. The rationale for a location in New Orleans had to be explained. A brand had to be created where nothing similar existed.

The Grand Opening was set to coincide with the anniversary of the Normandy D-Day Invasion, June 6, leaving no room to adjust the marketing calendar. Grand Opening events, such as a USO Dance, a veterans convocation featuring entertainment and celebrity speakers at the 18,000-seat New Orleans Arena, a military reenactment and Navy vessel port visit all had to be promoted in order to reach aggressive attendance goals.

STRATEGIES:

The Ehrhardt Group designed a comprehensive marketing campaign, including a logo, and a brand identity. Collateral materials for the grand opening, all invitations, souvenir brochures, ID badges, programs, and all advertising images followed the same motif and an identity began to emerge. The marketing strategies for The National D-Day Museum focused on attracting visitors from "drive-in" markets such as Houston, Atlanta, the Gulf Coast and Memphis. In addition to advertising, The Ehrhardt Group launched an aggressive public relations campaign that yielded a deluge of media coverage, both prior to and during the event.

The Ehrhardt Group also devised an outreach program using World War II veterans and veterans organizations to promote the Grand Opening events and the Museum to each of the important regional population centers.

RESULTS:

All Grand Opening events were filled to capacity. The event generated an impressive spike in tourism during a natural slow time in New Orleans' hospitality cycle. In its first year of operation, the Museum attracted more than 350,000 visitors and has attracted more than 1 million to date. Most impressively, the public relations campaign reached an audience of approximately 500 million people or 1 out of every 12 persons worldwide, coverage by every major TV network and participation by major celebrities and elected officials.

The Ehrhardt Group duplicated the accomplishments in December 2001 when The Museum opened its Pacific Exhibit on the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

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