Aké Arts and Book Festival
750M
global audience reached
The Brief
Aké Arts and Book Festival brings together artists, musicians, dancers, poets, writers and thinkers in Abeokuta and Lagos State, Nigeria, to celebrate creativity across the African continent. Aké hired Midas to build international awareness of the festival and its sponsor, and to boost attendance through high-profile global publicity.
The Work
Working closely with founder Lola Shoneyin and the festival’s artists, filmmakers and writers, Midas placed interviews and features in national and international press. We pitched themes with strong news hooks, including Black History Month and a participating writer’s recent Man Booker win. We targeted newswires for global reach, as well as arts, culture and lifestyle magazines with international audiences.
The Results
The campaign reached a global audience of 750 million. Coverage included:
Newswires: Reuters, BBC Africa, Euronews and CNN
Newspapers: Le Monde, the New York Times, the Irish Times, the Guardian and Mail Online
Broadcast: BBC World Service: News and Arts Hour
Arts, culture and lifestyle: Vogue Italia, Time, Spear’s, Dazed, Yahoo and Gal-Dem
Further leads included travel sections in the Times, Telegraph and Guardian, and interest from British Vogue’s director in attending the festival the following year.