The Art Institute of Chicago
The Ask
Make the Art Institute a recurring Chicago ritual.
By turning its everyday experiences into fresh reasons to come back.
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The Research
Cultural tension
Locals take the city for granted. They have taken the "extra" out of the "ordinary" cityscape.
Brand tension
The Art Institute is a proud symbol of the city, but it is not something Chicagoans reach for regularly.
However, these roadblocks do not stop Chicagoans' curiosity and interest in learning something new.
Social listening
Social listening on the Art Institute already captures a high volume of art-centric conversation, and community-highlight content performs well across every platform it runs on.
The Frick leans on a resident influencer and a tone of voice with real slang. The New York Times gamifies its grid with visual typography. MCA Chicago pairs paid amplification with a seasonal organic campaign.
Diverse leisure habits, a social-first lifestyle, and a high cultural curiosity that has not yet translated into museum attendance. Source: MRI-Simmons, 100,000 rows of data.
Our audiences are interested in art, yet aren't motivated enough to leave their homes.
How can social media motivate them to make repeat visits to the Art Institute?
The Audience
Across Chicago, 286,000 young locals are curious about art yet rarely make the trip to the museum.
The Armchair Art Lover
She is in her mid to late twenties, career minded, and lives as much through her phone as through her city. Her cultural life is fast, shareable, and screen first, assembled from whatever scrolls past her feed. She is genuinely curious about art, but the museum competes with that feed, not the gallery wall. Reaching her means showing up where she already looks.
The Quiet Curator
He is affluent, settled, and content at home with a book, a garden, or a quiet night in. He values what lasts over what trends, so social media sits at the edge of his life rather than the center. He admires the Art Institute, yet a repeat trip downtown rarely earns a place on the weekend. Winning him back is less about noise and more about a reason worth the journey.
Where their leisure time goes
Weekly habit plotted against how many Chicagoans do it at all. Museums and art galleries sit alone in the corner.
% who do it weekly or more
% of Chicago adults who did this in the past year
The Strategy
Unmet human need
Chicagoans want to explore beyond their routine, without becoming someone different just to try something new.
Untold brand story
"Institute" makes the Art Institute sound like a place for experts, but no expertise is required. Its greatest value comes from a visitor's own curiosity.
Our strategic platform
The Art Institute opens its doors and says
Find your ownway in
And social media will prop those doors open.
The Idea
When trying to find your way anywhere in the city, one thing becomes clear.
Chicago is defined by its neighborhoods.
Every road through Chicago tells a story.
Follow those roads to the heart of Chicago.
And you'll find the one place every neighborhood has in common.
A place that built a road to the world, and put it on Chicago's doorstep.
A place where you don't need to know art to discover something new.
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The big idea
The Tone
Midwestern honest.
Chicagoans say what we mean and mean what we say, with charm. We'll bust your chops out of love and respect. We'd rather be genuine than polished. In Chicago, your character defines you.
Bob Odenkirk
"There's a level of humility and self-deprecation you apply to yourself and to the world."
Shermann "Dilla" Thomas
"Everything dope in America comes from Chicago, the greatest city on Earth."
Hannibal Buress
"In my hometown of Chicago, I'm kind of a medium deal."
Jennifer Hudson
"We gotta accentuate the positive."
Common
"I wear Chicago on my chest, very proudly."
The Design
Social design.
for 9:16
The Pillars
Our content pillars.
Chicago
The Moments
Highlighting the people and experiences that bring you back for repeat visits.
The Place
Showing up in unexpected places, centering Chicago, and igniting curiosity.
The Perspective
Staying culturally relevant, making art feel welcome beyond the museum doors.
The Platform
Our platform strategy.
Chicagoans already treat Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok as high-exploratory ground, the platforms they turn to when they want to discover, not just check in.
That is where the campaign lives. Facebook, LinkedIn, Spotify, and YouTube stay high-engagement channels for depth, not discovery.
The Exhibition
The executions.
Launch
KPIs
- Word of mouth
- Engagement
- Saves and shares
- Follower growth
- Social mentions
- % Chicago followers
- SEO / AEO
- Profile traffic
- Social mentions
- Site traffic
Capture real conversations between friends as they explore the galleries together.
A stop-motion series that maps the real route to the museum from a different neighborhood each episode.
Art means something different to everyone. We ask Chicagoans for their personal interpretation on the art pieces.
A series that turns staff career journeys into social stories that reveal the many paths to the Art Institute.
Threads reply chains connect iconic artworks to unexpected discoveries across the museum.
Share the places and moments that make Chicago feel like home, and we'll pair them with art that feels the same.
Turn every save, share, and comment into a more enriching, inspiring, and creative feed.
Turn iconic artworks into Pinterest puzzles that audiences solve, share, and win tickets.
Create different lines inspired by different interests, moods, and ways of seeing the world. This execution is paired with a feature in the mobile app to customize the route in the museum.
Chicagoans compete to find the fastest route to the Art Institute at the center for a chance to win free Art Institute tickets during that day.
We turn every neighborhood's journey to the Art Institute into a travel-time playlist powered by Chicago artists.
Previously unutilized, we will add Instagram Highlights to the Art Institute profile
The Art Institute transforms its collection into a series of sharable art boards giving audience a preview of what they can discover inside the museums collection of 300,000 pieces.
The Voices
@lucymcorban
270K followers
@iamsamkirk
10.6K followers
@chicago.by.ren
308K followers
@drewfromladue
1.1M followers
@chicago_forfree
135K followers
Art related
Art education, story-driven content. Both work to make art history engaging and accessible, making it feel less intimidating.
Chicagoan locals
All are authentic, trusted, lifestyle creators. Audiences look to them for local recommendations and share in their Chicago experiences and favorites.
Source: Audiense Demand, 08/03/2026.
The Budget
Budget one
Designed to change behavior, not just drive impressions. Half of the investment is dedicated to real-world experience and partnerships that give Chicagoans a reason to engage.
- Strava + Taste of the Art$15K30%
- Content production$12K24%
- Paid amplification$8K16%
- Agency fees$7.5K15%
- Platform revamp$4K8%
- Measurement + reporting$3.5K7%
Budget two
Designed to maximize engagement through content, conversation, and discoverability. Focused on a steady stream of social-first content that reaches the right audiences.
- Content production$14K28%
- Social activations + UGC$11K22%
- Paid amplification$10K20%
- Agency fees$7.5K15%
- Platform revamp$4K8%
- Measurement + reporting$3.5K7%
The Manifesto
My Role
Creative Technologist.
Interactive builds
Prototyped the route logic behind Choose Your Line and Chicago to Art, then built the scrollytelling.
Generative pipeline
Stood up an AI image and video workflow so seven people could ship a full show in five weeks.
Audience and data
Turned social listening and segmentation research into the two portraits and the strategy.
Platform strategy
Brought emerging tech platform strategy to inform disruptive innovation execution.
Meet the team — OCEANS7
Emma Graves
Business leader
Dean Schwager
Project manager
Caroline Aldridge
Business leader
Oli Na
Content creator
Saahith Jayaraman
Strategist
Nicholas Beccar
Art director
Alva Nguyen
Creative technologist
Powered by
Figma
Design system, mood synthesis, and persona cards.
Adobe Creative Cloud
Key art, photo compositing, and production polish.
Runway · Higgsfield
Motion pieces and generative video for the film work.
Publicis AI · Marcel · GenCanvas
In-house and agency AI tooling for ideation and rapid iteration.
Claude · ChatGPT · Copilot
Code assistance, research, and fast prototyping across the builds.
MRI-Simmons
Audience sizing and segmentation for the Chicago gap.
Pulsar · Audiense
Social listening and influence mapping behind the portraits.
CapCut
Fast-turn social cuts and captions for the always-on content.
The Ask
Make the Art Institute a recurring Chicago ritual.
By turning its everyday experiences into fresh reasons to come back.
The Research
Cultural tension
Locals take the city for granted. They have taken the "extra" out of the "ordinary" cityscape.
Brand tension
The Art Institute is a proud symbol of the city, but it is not something Chicagoans reach for regularly.
However, these roadblocks do not stop Chicagoans' curiosity and interest in learning something new.
Social listening
Social listening on the Art Institute already captures a high volume of art-centric conversation, and community-highlight content performs well across every platform it runs on.
The Audience
Across Chicago, 286,000 young locals are curious about art yet rarely make the trip to the museum.
The Armchair Art Lover
Mid to late twenties, career minded, living as much through her phone as her city. Genuinely curious about art, but the museum competes with her feed, not the gallery wall.
The Quiet Curator
Affluent and settled, content at home with a book or a quiet night in. He admires the Art Institute, yet a repeat trip downtown rarely earns a weekend spot.
The Idea
When trying to find your way anywhere in the city, one thing becomes clear.
Chicago is defined by its neighborhoods.
Every road through Chicago tells a story.
Follow those roads to the heart of Chicago.
And you'll find the one place every neighborhood has in common.
A place that built a road to the world, and put it on Chicago's doorstep.
A place where you don't need to know art to discover something new.
The big idea
The Tone
Midwestern honest.
Chicagoans say what we mean and mean what we say, with charm. We'll bust your chops out of love and respect. We'd rather be genuine than polished. In Chicago, your character defines you.
Bob Odenkirk
"There's a level of humility and self-deprecation you apply to yourself and to the world."
Shermann "Dilla" Thomas
"Everything dope in America comes from Chicago, the greatest city on Earth."
Hannibal Buress
"In my hometown of Chicago, I'm kind of a medium deal."
Jennifer Hudson
"We gotta accentuate the positive."
Common
"I wear Chicago on my chest, very proudly."
The Exhibition
The executions.
Launch
KPIs
- Word of mouth
- Engagement
- Saves and shares
- Follower growth
- Social mentions
- % Chicago followers
- SEO / AEO
- Profile traffic
- Social mentions
- Site traffic
Capture real conversations between friends as they explore the galleries together.
A stop-motion series that maps the real route to the museum from a different neighborhood each episode.
Art means something different to everyone. We ask Chicagoans for their personal interpretation on the art pieces.
A series that turns staff career journeys into social stories that reveal the many paths to the Art Institute.
Threads reply chains connect iconic artworks to unexpected discoveries across the museum.
Share the places and moments that make Chicago feel like home, and we'll pair them with art that feels the same.
Turn every save, share, and comment into a more enriching, inspiring, and creative feed.
Turn iconic artworks into Pinterest puzzles that audiences solve, share, and win tickets.
Create different lines inspired by different interests, moods, and ways of seeing the world. This execution is paired with a feature in the mobile app to customize the route in the museum.
Chicagoans compete to find the fastest route to the Art Institute at the center for a chance to win free Art Institute tickets during that day.
We turn every neighborhood's journey to the Art Institute into a travel-time playlist powered by Chicago artists.
Previously unutilized, we will add Instagram Highlights to the Art Institute profile
The Art Institute transforms its collection into a series of sharable art boards giving audience a preview of what they can discover inside the museums collection of 300,000 pieces.
Snow upon its back
The deer stands still, reading air
Movement follows knowing
No small steps exist
The frog knows only the leap
Water waits below.
Darkness holds no fear
Send a sound and wait for truth
Silence speaks the most.
Wings above the field
The whole is seen before touched
Then the landing comes.
The caterpillar
Does not grow, it disappears
Then the sky opens
Autumn asks for nothing
Bury more than what you need
Spring will find it all.
Snow upon its back
The deer stands still, reading air
Movement follows knowing
No small steps exist
The frog knows only the leap
Water waits below.
Darkness holds no fear
Send a sound and wait for truth
Silence speaks the most.
Wings above the field
The whole is seen before touched
Then the landing comes.
The caterpillar
Does not grow, it disappears
Then the sky opens
Autumn asks for nothing
Bury more than what you need
Spring will find it all.
Social Strategist & Technologist: Alva Nguyen • Brand Strategist: Adam Goodreau • Account Leadership: Helena Murphy
Design: Eleanor Yang • Art Director: Natalie Bazydlo • Copywriter: Kelly Combs
Client Pitch Work
Digital Strategist: Alva Nguyen
Brand Strategist: Adam Goodreau
Account Leadership: Helena Murphy
Design: Eleanor Yang
Art Director: Natalie Bazydlo
Copywriter: Kelly Combs
the insights
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THE IDEA
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STATIC
experientials
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Commercial
AD TESTING
THE AAF MSU CREW
the insights
THE IDEA
STATIC
experientials
Commercial
AD TESTING
THE AAF MSU CREW
the insights
THE IDEA
BRAND DESIGN
STATICS
BRANDING MERCH
OUT-OF-HOME
SOCIAL
EXPERIENTIAL
the insights
STATICS
ACTIVATIONS
Branding
inspiration
TYPOGRAPHY
Color palette
Logo Process
MOBILE APP
KEY VISUALS
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BOOKMARK ORIGAMI
AR EXPERIENCE
print ad
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