Just When You Thought You’d Seen It All

In 2015, the Whitney moved into their new Meatpacking District location. Visitor numbers soared in the months after the opening. However, by mid-2016 the novelty factor had worn off and visitor numbers had slumped. The Whitney Biennial has always been one of the most important surveys of contemporary American art, so we had to use this blockbuster show to drive renewed interest in the museum. We developed ‘Just When You Thought You’d Seen It All’ as a provocative way of positioning the Biennial as a place to see art which shows novel and probing perspectives of a nation going through turbulent times. Traditional media was complemented by short videos showcasing the surprised reactions of real New Yorkers as they walked through the exhibition.

The campaign helped increase visitor numbers by 15% during the exhibition period, putting the Whitney back on the visitors’ and New Yorkers’ ‘must-see-attractions’ lists.