Peter Max's "Colors of a Better World" Exhibition

In the Spring of 2008, International pop art icon Peter Max brought his latest exhibition, “Colors of a Better World,” to the Light Street Pavilion at Harborplace in downtown Baltimore. Max’s retrospective featured more than 100 pieces of his art for acquisition including original paintings ranging from his well known "Cosmic" images, to his famous iconic paintings such as the “Statue of Liberty,” and "Flag with Heart." Adding to the excitement, Max made special appearances at the exhibition on May 3 and 4.

Since the late 1960s, Peter Max’s work has been an artistic symbol of American pop culture. His images form a scrapbook illustrating 40 years of Americana. Max’s imagination and vision can be found in over 100 museums and galleries throughout the world and on a variety of canvases, including the Berlin Wall and a Boeing 777 jumbo jet, currently in use by Continental Airlines. Max has painted portraits of numerous world leaders, including the last six U.S. Presidents, the Dalai Lama, and Mikhail Gorbachev. He has also been designated Official Artist of numerous international events, including six Grammy Award broadcasts, three World Fairs, and six Super Bowls.

To ensure a highly successful, well-attended exhibition, Profiles’ was retained to provide its signature media relations services and aid in promotional efforts.

Promotional efforts
In an effort supplement marketing tactics employed by the Peter Max Studio, Profiles worked with local organizations to take advantage of numerous promotional opportunities. Specifically, Profiles’ efforts resulted in:

• A feature in the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association’s (BACVA) May e-newsletter to 90,000 subscribers, an event highlight on BACVA’s homepage in the Hot Happenings section and a feature in its calendar of events. Additionally, BACVA promoted the exhibit during its BaltiMORE for Less weekend, providing the winner of its Baltimore-themed contest with a personalized Peter Max poster.

• Coordination of on-air personalized Peter Max poster giveaways on WTMD-FM, WWMX-FM, WYPR-FM, WLIF-FM, WIYY-FM, and WVIE-AM. Additionally, posters were given away on BaltimoreAtHome.com and through Downtown Diane’s e-newsletter.

• A posting about the exhibit in several appropriate online events calendars.

• Coordination with The Baltimore Sun for a custom Peter Max design for the cover of the Live! Section, the publication’s weekly entertainment guide.

• Evite distribution to the following groups: the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Art’s extensive database of arts and cultural enthusiasts and leadership at local and regional arts and cultural institutions.

• Postcard distribution to the following groups: 15 largest Downtown office buildings through Charm City Concierge; Baltimore Visitor’s Center, over 25 marinas in Baltimore and Annapolis, appropriate retail locations, and head concierges at over 20 of Baltimore’s downtown hotels.

Media Outreach
Profiles’ aggressive media relations efforts including developing, packaging and pitching the exhibit, Peter and his career to target media outlets, resulted in a good deal of positive feature coverage. Additionally, every effort was made to blanket media with calendar listings and press releases to create awareness and encourage attendance.

Results: As a result of Profiles’ efforts, positive coverage of the exhibit was secured in the following publications: Style magazine, The Carroll County Times, The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore magazine, The Baltimore Examiner, Baltimore Jewish Times, City Paper, B, The Daily Record, Baltimore Messenger, Owings Mills Times, and Towson Times. Interviews and poster giveaways aired on WTMD-FM, WWMX-FM, WYPR-FM, WLIF-FM, WIYY-FM, WVIE-AM, WJZ-TV.

Peter Max was a client of Profiles, Inc. from March 2008 to May 2008.