Grayling received Certificate of Excellence for the Inspiring successful brands and the arts collaborations thought leadership campaign in 2019 IN2SABRE Award EMEA.

About the campaign

More and more often, brands are turning to art collaborations to engage their target audiences better and to create memorable experiences. However, information about best practice and success factors in creative partnerships is scarce, both in Russia and globally. Driven by our passion for the arts, Grayling led the way on this topic in Russia by launching a thought leadership campaign aimed at bringing value to both the business and art communities, inspiring better links between the two and creating a unique expert niche for the agency.

As part of the campaign, the Grayling Russia team published an international white paper on brands and arts collaborations (including 40+ case studies and interviews with representatives of brands actively engaged in art projects globally), conducted events and a lecture series in cooperation with museums and universities (Moscow Multimedia Art Museum, the British Higher School of Art and Design), and gave presentations on best practice in creative partnerships at leading PR and sponsorship conferences.

As a result, we engaged more than 1,000 people in person at our events, generated media coverage in top level business, marketing, and lifestyle publications, encouraged conversations on social media, and got more than 15 requests for communications counsel. Following the lecture series, we have regularly received inquiries from the PR and marketing professionals who attended to conduct special workshops for their colleagues to ensure that they understand the principles of successful collaboration.