By Greg Hazley
The Atlanta-based tour operator behind high-profile exhibitions like "Bodies" and an exhibit of Titanic artifacts has issued an open RFP as it consolidates its account with one national agency.
Premier Exhibitions, which is publicly traded, wants a firm to manage national media relations, provide strategic PR counseling, and assist in developing a strategy to engage ticket buyers. Monthly retainer is set at $20K plus expenses.
PR manager Alison Sawyer said the company currently hires local PR agencies in its markets, but is moving its account to a single firm with the search.
Premier’s current touring exhibits are “Bodies… The Exhibition,” “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition,” and “Dialog in the Dark,” a “sensory exhibition” slated to open on permanent display in New York this summer.
The company notes in the RFP that the competition for the “attention and entertainment dollar of today’s families is fierce” while noting its high-profile exhibits often reach consumers first through media coverage.
Premiere’s Bodies exhibit has drawn controversy as it includes preserved human bodies presented in cross sections and various forms of dissection. The company has paid millions for Chinese cadavers from a medical school in that country. The 2008 resignation of its CEO coincided with the airing of a 20/20 report on black market bodies in China that led to investigations of the exhibit in the U.S.
The “Bodies” exhibit has entered its sixth year.
Katherine Seymour, VP of comms. for Premier (kseymour [at] prxi [dot] com), is overseeing the search.
Intent to submit a proposal must by conveyed by March 25. Proposals are due April 4.
Download the RFP (PDF).
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