Advertising Overhaul at Art Institute
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Last summer the Art Institute hired LaPlaca Cohen Advertising, a small New York City ad agency whose clients include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Pierpont Morgan Library, and the Boston Ballet. La Placa Cohen’s experience working for museums and other cultural organizations was apparently what drew the Art Institute to the agency. For the three years prior to choosing LaPlaca Cohen, the museum had retained Chicago-based Thomas & James Advertising.
By describing the museum as a place “where you and your mind can just wander,” the campaign hopes to make adults between 20 and 34 think of the Art Institute as an entertainment option. But Harakal admits it won’t be easy to capture this demographic group: “We are vying with any and everything, even the Sony store on Michigan Avenue.”
The new entity would be known as Chicago Joffrey Ballet. Joffrey artistic director Gerald Arpino would be in charge, and Ballet Chicago artistic director Daniel Duell would hold down the number-two spot in the artistic hierarchy. While the merger would certainly raise Ballet Chicago’s profile, sources within the Joffrey ranks question the wisdom of the plan, especially since Duell and Arpino have such different aesthetic sensibilities. A former New York City Ballet dancer, Duell is a disciple of the cerebral Balanchine school of dance while Arpino’s choreography is more entertainment-oriented.
