Establishing a national profile to drive buyers and sellers to auctions
When JBP were chosen to represent Dominic Winter Auctioneers in August 2009, the auction house had established a reputation as one of the region’s leading book auctioneers.
However, the brief for JBP was to build on this reputation and help the auction house raise its brand profile from an authority on books to a leading auction house covering a number of specialist areas – from military memorabilia to fine art – which in turn would introduce new sellers and buyers and ultimately increase sale prices.
Activity
Central to the PR strategy was working closely with the auctioneers to identify the quirkiest or rarest lots from each auction that would create the ‘newshooks’ for pre-auction publicity to raise awareness and drive enquiries from potential buyers.
Some of the lots identified by JBP included a pair of gloves belonging to the wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, a letter written by Princess Diana at the time of her separation from Prince Charles, a collection of rare photographs of Fidel Castro, a set of sensational papers relating to the founder of the global Scout Movement, Baden-Powell and a set of precious possessions belonging to Spitfire designer Reginald J Mitchell.
JBP developed a targeted media plan for each auction, identifying specialist media outlets and enthusiast groups to tap into to drive online and telephone bids as well as targeting national and South West regional media.
Since September 2009, JBP has generated over 150 pieces of coverage for Dominic Winter with an audience reach of over 370 million, with highlights including a half page exclusive in The Sunday Times for the Baden Powell papers and a double page follow up feature in the Daily Mail, coverage on DailyTelegraph.co.uk for the Diana letter, inclusion on CNN for the Castro photographs, a three minute feature on BBC Points West and British Forces Radio for the Spitfire story and reaching BBC online and the Conservative Party’s blog for a rare collection of prime ministers signatures.
The effectiveness of PR has been demonstrated not only by the increasing number of bidders (both UK and international) but also by the direct impact media coverage has had on resulting sale prices.
For example, the Spitfire designer’s possessions fetched a staggering £77,500 – more than five times their estimate, the Cuba photographs fetched over £30,000, well over their expected fetch price and the Baden Powell papers went for almost double the estimate.
Results
- Reaching an audience of over 370 million
- Establishing a profile for Dominic Winter auctioneers in the national press
- Demonstrating a direct impact on sale prices
- Driving an increasing number of international bidders at auctions