Challenge 

The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House was opening its new Visitor Center and Administration Building in 2021, which was the first major expansion on the property in over 90 years.  In addition to allowing Ford House to expand its offerings with more exhibitions, programming, dining, and rental space, the expansion also reinforced the organization’s mission of environmental sustainability and stewardship.   

Given Ford House’s location, nestled in Grosse Pointe on the St. Clair Shores border, and structural appearance of being “walled off” from the outside world, a primary goal with the Visitor Center announcement was to attract attention beyond the Wayne County and Macomb County markets, and encourage increased engagement and attendance with a broader audience.

Strategy 

VVK team members led communications to announce The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House’s new Visitor Center. The team was charged with ensuring the storytelling in the campaign covered the many diverse attributes of the expansion, including honoring the legacy of the Ford family, the architectural design that advanced the property’s sustainability mission, the exhibition and educational programming, and The Continental restaurant and rental spaces.

VVK deployed a campaign that leveraged key moments in the construction timeline to elevate each element of the story, beginning with a groundbreaking announcement to draw awareness of the general plans and details for the expansion. Midway through the construction, a hard hat tour was held with Ford House leadership and their architect, the SmithGroup, where we focused on the architectural and sustainability elements.  

For the grand opening, we developed a multi-tiered communications strategy to bring attention to each distinct component of the Visitor Center offerings, which included a press conference and ribbon cutting with the Ford family followed by a media tour of the facility, where a range of media from the region could cover the diverse offerings the Visitor Center provided. Additionally, VVK developed a brand video that was released at the grand opening and lives on the Ford House website still today. 

Results 

In addition to coverage in key traditional news outlets, VVK attracted the attention of area influencers who attended a VVK-organized social media influencer event for The Continental restaurant, targeting top local food/restaurant influencers and top media personalities with large followings.