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The Burning of Columbia

  • Print Magazine Regional Design Annual
  • AIGA InShow 20
  • AAF of the Midlands Gold
  • AAF of the Midlands People's Choice

Built as a hub for the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Sherman’s Burning of Columbia, historians, artists & event planners used this campaign to promote a unified message for numerous events.

burningofcolumbia.com

Results

More than 8,500 people attended 61 different Burning of Columbia events throughout the Midlands of South Carolina. Facebook fans grew to 1,993 and Twitter gained 417 followers. In four months, the site had 56,735 page views and maintained a two-minute average session duration.

Objective

Build awareness of this major event and defining moment in local history. Announce the 150th anniversary hosted by Columbia Commemorates, a multi-disciplinary coalition of 17 partner organizations that formed to plan and implement a citywide commemoration.

Strategy

Create a website to aggregate various community events, including lectures, tours, film, visual, literary and performing arts, exhibits, public discussion and large public gatherings. Today, the site serves as a gallery where the community can reflect on the events that took place.

Tactics

In addition to the site, a brochure, t-shirts and lamp post signage were created for promotion, an outdoor board was displayed for increased visibility and a social campaign was launched. The hashtag #BOC150 was created to track social engagement.

The Mark Itself

Inspired by the Confederate money that was printed here, the typography nods to one building that Sherman admittedly burned to the ground. Hand drawn flourish elements were crafted after the hammered brass appointments found on period uniforms.

Accolades

The work won three local Addy Awards: as a full campaign, the website and the people’s choice award. Most recently, the web work was nominated by awwwards.com for site of the day.

Columbia is Famously Hot

We tied in the city’s tag line in our marketing efforts. It just seemed appropriate.

Put our thinking to work

If you're looking to combine creativity with business know-how and are interested in results-driven, integrated communications solutions for your company, then we'd like to talk.

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