Sotheby’s is one of the largest auction houses in the world dealing in art, antiques, jewellery and high end property. Well known in many countries, the Sotheby’s brand had limited awareness in India. Sotheby’s did not have an India office and Pressman needed to work with their London and New York offices.

Over the years, Indian art has been gaining in prominence in global markets, and Sotheby’s needed to increase their profile in India to facilitate sourcing of Indian art. Also, the economic boom in India had thrown up a new category of ‘super rich’ Indian people, potential customers for Sotheby’s.

Since Sotheby’s did not conduct auctions in India, the strategy focused on auctions in other international cities where works by Indian artists were on sale. To raise awareness of the Sotheby’s brand among the right audiences, Pressman targeted the top tier national print and broadcast media and the specialist lifestyle media.

The media relations programme involved distribution of global press releases on major art and jewellery auctions conducted by Sotheby’s. These press releases were suitably repurposed keeping the interest of the Indian media in mind.

A press office function was established to react to media enquiries and brief journalists covering art, investment, jewellery and feature writers. Media relations programme also included interviews and comment opportunities. To overcome the disadvantage of India not being an auction venue for Sotheby’s, the idea of traveling exhibition was used to display select works from upcoming auctions to the Indian collectors and investors.

The media relations programme produced stunning results. The media were bowled over by the interesting stories pitched to them, the well researched background material and brilliant high resolution images.Top tier national dailies published large sized photographs alongside coverage; in a short period of the few months, Sotheby’s became a much talked about name in the elite circles.

The huge increase in visibility for the auctions had the desired impact. Sotheby’s reported a sharp increase in Indian artists and collectors approaching them to place their works on auction. Simultaneously, there was an upsurge in Indian interest a the Sotheby’s auctions. In a cost effective manner, the campaign had achieved its objectives… and much more.