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Case Histories

CRABS! Exhibit Claws its way to the top

Challenge

The ultimate success of the CRABS! exhibit and the challenges it presented are best viewed through the prism of Sea Star Quest, Shedd’s temporary exhibit in 2004. Sea Star Quest helped drive large attendance numbers for the aquarium, in large part because of its interactivity and kid-focused theme. The communications team was expected to generate similar success with CRABS!, although the exhibit lacked the interactive elements that made Sea Star Quest so popular.

Unlike Sea Star Quest, which was focused on four- to seven-year-olds, CRABS! targeted a more general audience. This presented an interesting challenge for the communications team to make the exhibit appeal to adults, small children, pre-teens and teenagers. Especially with competition coming from blockbuster exhibits, including the “BodyWorlds” exhibit opening at the Museum of Science and Industry, an exhibit highlighting Jackie Onassis Kennedy at the Field Museum and a new waterpark, Hurricane Harbor, at Six Flags in Gurnee, Ill.

Action

Before the CRABS! exhibit opening, the communications team developed a competitive summary highlighting core competition from area cultural institutions. This provided information on dramatic attendance increases at particular institutions, tentative dates on big exhibit openings and trends in travel and tourism over the previous years.

To combat competition from area cultural institutions and capitalize on the success of Sea Star Quest, the team’s strategies were to create a fun media kit that emphasized the “Amazing animals!  Amazing machines!” theme of the exhibit and target specific media to generate a wide spectrum of CRABS! coverage.

The communications team needed to develop an eye-catching media kit that would intrigue and engage reporters. The team decided the media materials of record would be a CD-ROM media kit. This medium was chosen because of its ability to supply large amounts of information in an approachable format, its ease of use for reporters and its ability to contain publication-quality photos. Most importantly, the inherently interactive nature of a CD-ROM, with its ability to deliver sound and animation, could help reporters get enthusiastic about CRABS!

To capitalize on the theme, the kit was designed with colorful packaging featuring a crab in front of an industrial background with the “Amazing animals!  Amazing machines!” messaging.

As the CRABS! electronic media kit was developed, the communications team, along with Change Design Group, focused heavily on capturing the “machine-like” components of crabs, but without taking away from the fact that nobody builds them better than Mother Nature.

The elements of the CD-ROM itself carried on the “machine” theme using an introduction where a crab is “built” on an assembly line. With just a click of the mouse, media could tour the CRABS! exhibit, familiarize themselves with some of the animals featured in CRABS!, learn about Shedd’s conservation efforts and obtain access to the news releases, photos and other media materials. The communications team believed the CD-ROM kits directly related to the number of placements for the CRABS! exhibit, after noticing that dozens of publications printed the photographs included on the CD-ROM.

Results

  1. Recapture the title of most attended aquarium in the nation to date. From January through November 30, 2005, more than 1,776,279 guests visited Shedd, making the aquarium the most attended aquarium in the nation.
  2. Maintain Shedd’s status as the most visited cultural attraction in Chicago to date. From January through October 31, 2005 more than 1,665,650 guests visited Shedd, making the aquarium Chicago’s most attended cultural institution for the fourth year in a row.

Media relations secured 300 placements from May 2005 through December 2005, reaching an estimated audience of more than 88,875,000!