Bonhams Modern Decorative Art + Design

Attracting collectors + buyers for interior design and unique collectibles

Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house. Founded in 1793, it is one of the world’s largest and most renowned auctioneers of fine art and antiques, motor cars and jewelry.

Challenge

New division heads at Bonhams Modern Decorative Art + Design were hired to reestablish Bonhams as a leader in this specific area of collecting. After realizing that standard ads and calendar listings were not driving the quantity and quality of interest attendees, they turned to Red Fan Communications for strategic guidance in attracting high profile buyers and sellers to their New York and Los Angeles auctions.

Solution

Red Fan established a three pronged approach to each of the auctions including customized sneak peek events for top tier interior designers and collectors, media interviewing and viewing of the rare auction items in the collection with key areas of interest, and a press release strategy to build the brand, SEO, and leadership visibility in connection with Modern Decorate Art + Design. The result included establishing new relationships for Bonhams with top-tier interior designers and influencers in select markets, as well as prestigious art trade publications with awareness of upcoming sales in Los Angeles and New York, establishing a following with top buyers and sellers. With a limited budget we focused on editorial photography to garner a steady cadence of top-of-the-list calendar listings and repeat listings leading up to the event. Plus that our efforts helped attract well-known collectors domestically and internationally who were previously not engaging with Bonhams.

Results

Red Fan’s efforts garnered prominent press coverage leading up to the company’s events both domestically and internationally, including in person interviews and feature placements in Architectural Digest. By working closely with the Bonhams team, Red Fan was able to secure 6 million aggregate readers from press coverage for 2017 and 2018 for Los Angeles and New York Auctions.