The Wilmington Arts and Entertainment Marketing Initiative: A Campaign by Mobius New Media to Promote Arts, Entertainment, Dining, Nightlife and Shopping in the City

An arts and entertainment revolution happening right in your backyard… Are you in?

by Bob Yearick • photos by Joe del Tufo and Matt Urban, Mobius New Media Published August 11, 2011 at 04:31 PM

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Secretary of State Jeff Bullock was instrumental in getting the initiative off the ground, and the secretary of state’s office contributed $100,000 for the campaign’s initial year funding. Local philanthropists and arts patrons Tatiana and Gerret Copeland once again showed their deep commitment to the arts in Wilmington and generously matched that figure.

Working with Mobius, the board brought on Hansen, who had worked in the Wilmington entertainment scene for several years. She’d grown tired of hearing friends and acquaintances say, “There’s nothing to do in Wilmington.”

“That simply has never been the case,” she says. “Wilmington has always been known for its high-quality artistic programming. It’s always had a ton to offer, but there was never an easy way to view the big picture. And due to the national trend in decreased arts funding, most organizations had been marketing themselves on very limited budgets to essentially the same crowd over and over again—their patrons. Very little cross-pollination of patrons among Wilmington organizations existed, and the Slover-Linett study proved that it wasn’t due to lack of interest from those patrons, it was simply due to the fact that they didn’t even know the other organizations or programming existed.”

The Results

Advisory Board members are gratified by the cooperation they’ve encountered from all involved.

“This is the most comprehensive partnership that I’ve seen,” says Kramer-Fitzgerald, who has worked in the arts community for a decade. “It’s taken a concentrated effort, but I think we’re succeeding. The campaign has really blown up in social media channels like Facebook, and it’s demonstrating that Wilmington is a safe, vibrant place. If you’re down here, you can really see it.”

The cooperation among the organizations was one of the major hurdles the campaign had to deal with. Each organization has its own mailing list, and traditionally has promoted only its own events.