Team effort generates significant media coverage for Echelman sculpture

Rhino Public Relations, a specialty public relations and marketing agency, and Arup, a design and consulting firm for the built environment, are pleased to announce that the media relations campaign for the Echelman art sculpture installed over the Rose Kennedy Greenway last year has received a first place award from the Boston chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS Boston). Rhino PR and Arup accepted the award at the annual marketing communications awards gala on June 9th at the State Room in Boston.

In May 2015, the City of Boston was awed by a half-acre, LED-light illuminated, fiber net sculpture, installed 365 feet above Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway and spanning up to 600 feet between three high-rise buildings. Internationally-acclaimed local artist Janet Echelman was commissioned by the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy to create a monumental, aerial sculpture to soar over the Greenway as a signature installation in its public art program. Entitled As If It Were Already Here, Echelman’s sculpture for Boston was an original design inspired by the transformation of the City’s waterfront following the Big Dig and the creation of the mile-and-a-half long Greenway. To bring Echelman’s sculpture to Boston, the Conservancy assembled and managed a multi-disciplinary project team and coordinated installation logistics with the City of Boston.

Rhino PR’s client Arup served as the lead engineering designer providing structural engineering, lighting design, and custom software design and application for the sculpture installation. A true team effort, Arup worked closely with Studio Echelman, Autodesk, Shawmut Design & Construction, and the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy to realize the artist’s vision of reconnecting the city over the Greenway. The same collaborative effort was applied to the massive PR and marketing program that presented this breathtaking art display to the public.

This media relations campaign delivered stellar results and exceeded program goals, receiving significant coverage in Fast Company, TIME Magazine, The Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal, Banker & Tradesman, and the Boston Herald as well as broadcast and radio media WCVB-TV (ABC Boston), WBZ-TV (CBS Boston), WBUR 90.9FM, and WBZ Newsradio 1030AM. The SMPS Boston awards jury found Rhino PR and Arup’s media relations campaign to be “very different, and a nice way to connect the space and bring attention to the project.” Jurors also noted that the “appetite for this kind of event/installation is big.”

The close coordination of this marketing campaign is most notable for the fact that it was launched by five different entities coming together for a six-month project with an installation launch date. In addition to in-house marketing staff at the five companies involved in the design, construction and installation of the net sculpture, the PR and marketing team included D&S PR|Communications for the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy; 451 Marketing for Shawmut Design & Construction; FleishmanHillard for Autodesk, and Rhino PR for Arup.

About Rhino Public Relations

Rhino PR is a full-service public relations and integrated marketing communications practice focused on meeting the unique needs of professional services firms. The agency’s customized, personal approach has delivered success for some of the most well-known and respected professional services firms in the Greater Boston area, which the firm is honored to count as longstanding and trusted clients. For more information, please visit www.rhinopr.com and follow @RhinoPRBoston.

About Arup

Arup provides planning, engineering, design, and consulting services for the most prominent projects and sites in the built environment. Since its founding in 1946, the firm has consistently delivered technical excellence, innovation, and value to its clients, while maintaining its core mission of shaping a better world. Arup opened its first US office more than 30 years ago and now employs 1,300 people in the Americas. The firm’s employee-ownership structure promotes ongoing investment in joint research to yield better outcomes that benefit its clients and partners. Visit Arup’s website, www.arup.com, and the online magazine of Arup in the Americas, doggerel.arup.com, for more information.