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AIGA San Diego's Bowhaus

Bowhaus was a San Diego art exhibit and auction featuring 101 artful dog houses created by area designers, artists, architects and sculptors. The exhibition was envisioned as a nonprofit event benefitting AIGA, the professional organization for design and select animal advocacy groups

 

Bowhaus pays tribute to the Bauhaus design movement and builds on past nationally recognized AIGA San Diego exhibits including the Urban Art Trail, Benchmark and Tweet Street.. The installation, which was sponsored by PETCO, was inspired by other noteworthy city-wide art installations like Cows on Parade and Hearts in San Francisco.

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SECTORS

  • Design / Creative

  • Advocacy, Cause

  • Art Exhibits

PRIMARY LEADERS

  • MaeLine Levine, AIGA San Diego, Visual Asylum

  • Bobby Buchanan, AIGA San Diego, Buchanan Design

ENGAGEMENT

  • Fractional CMO (Pro Bono)

  • Board Member, Multiple Terms

AREAS OF FOCUS

  • Positioning

  • Message Strategy

  • Social Content

  • E-Commerce

  • Strategic Partnerships

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS

VISION CASTING

Creation of compelling messaging to showcase a multifaceted, bi-national  exhibition that benefitted humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine.

DONOR DEVELOPMENT

Content strategy and creation of an e-commerce website to support sales of limited edition prints, apparel and other merchandise and showcase strategic partners.

EXHIBITION PLANNING

Development of a social content schedule that supported advance promotion, event coverage and showcased merchandise, strategic partners and artists.

SCOPE & WORK

Creativity Unleashed through Art + Doghouses

Nicole Knox has served multiple terms on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Chapter of AIGA, the Professional Association for Graphic Design. In this capacity she guided communications and marketing, and chaired select initiatives including Bowhaus. In this capacity, Nicknox led the event development and logistical planning, guided positioning and message strategy and partnered with Buchanan Design on brand development. Additional areas of contribution include Donor Development, Volunteer Mobilization, PR and Media Relations, Display and Merchandise Development and Promotional Events.

Brand Development

AIGA San Diego's Bowhaus team envisioned a distinctive brand for the exhibition. Buchanan Design, led by founder and AIGA Board Member Bobby Buchanan, took the lead on design for the project. The scope included development of a bold brand mark, color palette, brand guidelines and supporting graphics including a unique graphic alphabet and a family of "best in show" Bowhaus dog icons. The exhibit and brand were created in tribute to the Bauhaus Design Movement.

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Web Presence

Nicknox guided overall content strategy for the AIGA San Diego Bowhaus website, including content strategy and copywriting. The site was developed to serve multiple audiences, providing news and updates about the exhibit, showcasing sponsorship opportunities and providing submission and materials guidelines for participating artists, architects and sculptors. The site also included a storefront offering official exhibit merchandise and collectibles.

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PR & Media Relations

Advance promotion of AIGA San Diego's vision for the unique Bowhaus exhibit helped cast the vision for donors and artists. Coverage also helped raise awareness of the mission of AIGA San Diego, as well as past Art Outreach successes including Tweet Street and Benchmark. Featured coverage included select local and regional magazines, the San Diego Union Tribune and television interviews.

Display & Merchandise

Laying a foundation for AIGA San Diego's Bowhaus exhibition helped build credibility and momentum, garnering sponsorship, artist and volunteer involvement. Some of these efforts included developing message strategy and creative to support dynamic display signage, apparel and other merchandise.

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Volunteer Mobilization

An exhibition of the scope of AIGA San Diego's Bowhaus exhibit was dependent on successful recruitment and mobilization of a diverse team of volunteers. Nicknox developed materials and a presentation to cast the vision and elevate opportunities to empower volunteers to make their best contribution. There were six dog-themed volunteer teams supporting event development and production, among them were Sponsorship, Exhibit, Events, Merchandise, Communications and Finance.

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Sponsorship Strategy

Nicknox worked in partnership with the AIGA San Diego Bowhaus Sponsorship Team and Buchanan Design to develop a tiered sponsorship package supporting the exhibition. Included in the package was a Sponsorship invitation and package, a pitch deck,  and followup campaign. Nicknox was directly involved in the presentation and negotiation of the event's title sponsorship, which was awarded to PETCO.

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Promotional Events

A number of advance promotional events helped raise awareness of AIGA San Diego's Bowhaus exhibit. In addition to successful vision casting, volunteer recruitment and planningevents, BowHaus had strong promotional visibility at key community events, particularly pet-friendly ones like Pet-A-Palooza. Events featured a Bowhaus prototype dog house that visitors could register to win. Additionally, AIGA hosted a community-wide casting call in Balboa Park to find an exhibit "spokes dog," which was awarded to Dalton the French Bulldog, who was then featured in event promotional videos.

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