Marketing and Communications

The Communications, Marketing, and Digital Outreach Department seeks to strengthen and broaden the visibility of the Association.

HONORINGHONORING PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDYPRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY

HONORING PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY

HONORING HONORING HONORING PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY

On February 17, 2020, the Official White House Ornament honoring President John F. Kennedy was unveiled at the Kennedy Library in Boston and streamed online via Facebook. With nearly all shopping happening online this holiday season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Association focused its advertising efforts on digital, including digital banner ads re-targeted to whitehousehistory.org and shop.whitehousehistory.org, and social media partnerships with Instagram influencers.

This year, the Association’s Holiday Catalog and ornament sale flyer reached more than 1.3 million homes and resulted in the strongest performance of purchases through direct mail to date. The holiday catalog brought in a record number of sales in October and November as more people shopped from home online and by phone. Each product featured in the catalog realized strong sales including a golden tree topper, new books, children’s items, and WHHA exclusive products such as luxury ware from Halcyon Days and apparel from Brooks Brothers. The digital catalog released in mid-October has been read more than 1,800 times online.

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In 2020 the Association secured a large number of press hits in top-tier outlets, such as the New York Times, Associated Press, and the TODAY Show. Colleen Shogan authored two op-eds for The Hill and Stewart McLaurin authored op-eds for History News Network and ARTNews. The Association was also featured in a number of lifestyle pieces focused on the history of holiday traditions at the White House and the Official White House Christmas Ornament was featured in outlets like VOGUE, Parade, Town and Country, People, CBS National Radio, Nebraska TV, and Fox 5 DC, further establishing the Association as the go-to resource on White House history.

1600 Sessions Podcast

The 1600 Sessions Podcast hosted by Stewart McLaurin continued with the steady growth in listenership that began with its 2017 launch. Episodes focus on illuminating the history of the Executive Mansion through personal anecdotes and stories of experts, historians, and those who have worked within the White House walls. Since 2017, the podcast has been downloaded more than 189,000 times. In 2020, topics included: White House transitions, Suffrage, St. John’s Church, and the history of wine and the White House. In September Stewart McLaurin recorded an episode with Michael Smith on his book, Designing History: The Extraordinary Art & Style of the Obama White House.

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28 • THE WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Throughout the course of the 2020 global pandemic, the Association’s robust social media presence ensured that our messages continued to reach a broad audience. New strategies for audience development included targeted paid campaigns throughout the year and new live-streaming events including White House History Live. The Association’s Facebook account has grown to nearly 300,000 followers, while its Twitter account has reached more than 165,000 followers. The Association’s Instagram has seen steady growth due to focus on Instagram First content and our push to publish Stories at least twice a week.

The Digital Outreach team worked closely with the Rubenstein Center to produce website resources that fulfilled the mission of the Association and provided a number of curated resources for the general public, teachers, parents, and students. Twelve new collections were added to the website in 2020, and designed to be more streamlined and easier to find within the website. Included in these projects with the Rubenstein Center was the launch of the Slavery in the President’s Neighborhood website that featured new design and technology. The website has an optimized timeline feature that scrolls vertically for a user journey through the content and calls out not only the new information, but also puts the timeline in context of key events in history.

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