BLINK
The United States’ largest light, art, and projection-mapping festival: building a future city & illuminating a path forward through human connection and art
CHALLENGE
- Illuminate a path toward inclusion and possibility leveraging the great equalizer — art
- Create national awareness and global buzz for Cincinnati via the curation of the third iteration of BLINK, a city-wide art event drawing over 2.1MM people over 4 days of programming
ACTIVATION
- Position the activation as a gift to the region, (100% free public event), and the experience as a one-of-a-kind memory for all to enjoy
- Curate an impressive array of international, regional, and local artists to create original art forms; large-scale projection mapping (28), street murals (17 new in 2022), interactive light sculptures (Add 42), and music (over 100 musical acts) along both sides of the Ohio riverfront. World-renowned artists included: Tristan Eaton, Insane 51, Shantell Martin, and Max Sansing, among others.
- Employ an experiential map plan of beacons (massive, awe-inspiring attractions) and breadcrumbs (smaller, highly engaging activations) to draw attendees through the four-day program and over 30 city blocks.
- Create and implement a social media strategy to raise awareness of the festival on a global scale and encourage people to attend from near and far.
- Design, produce, and manage the first-ever BLINK retail space, LIMELIGHT Marketplace; a 1,400-square-foot brick-and-mortar retail space. The retail experience included exclusive AGAR-designed merchandise, projection mappings, art gallery and an online retail sales platform.
- The 14-day+ experiential production culminated in 4 city-wide days of programming with over 100 art installations, while also including the following additional key experiences produced and managed by AGAR:
- City-wide parade to kick-off the weekend of BLINK
- Micro-events leading up to and during BLINK weekend including Alley Jam, the Barron Krody Happy Hour, and Secret Walls Secret Walls-internationally renowned art battle event
- Free concerts by recording artists and ongoing music programming throughout BLINK
- Interactive and immersive experiences with artists
- Content and storytelling direction and capture, across mediums, photographers, videographers, and drone pilots for social media content and long-form and short-form branded sizzle reels.
RESULTS
- Local economic lift of more than $126MM (hospitality, retail, and regional government/tourism)
- Global press coverage including top-tier features in articles from Biz Bash, Colossal Magazine, Forbes, and Juxtapoz
- Global attendance from a variety of countries; 2.1MM+ people in attendance; the largest event in the history of the region
- 17 permanent murals adding to the landscape of the city
MOREExperiences
PORCH POURS
Keeping the human connection strong by collectively gathering for a social distancing happy hour
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