Arizona Highways 

Arizona Highways is the premiere Arizona travel magazine. For more than 95 years, Arizona Highways has delighted readers with award-winning journalism and photography, reflecting Arizona's stature as one of the top vacation destinations around the globe. Every issue showcases the most amazing photography and valuable information readers need to enjoy the unique and diverse travel destinations in and around the state.

Why did they come to Off Madison Ave?

Arizona Highways and the newly formed Barry & Peggy Goldwater Foundation joined forces to preserve a slice of Arizona history by protecting, curating and showcasing a rare collection of never-seen-before photographs taken throughout the state by Senator Barry Goldwater. 

The December 2018 issue of the magazine was a special double issue that exclusively debuted the first look at some of the stunning black and white photography from the Barry Goldwater collection. Off Madison Ave’s primary task was to support Arizona Highways’ partnership, engage in proactive public relations to secure media opportunities, spur consumer interest and drive sales for this end-of-year special edition.

Following publication of the December issue, Off Madison Ave focused on generating early momentum for a specially curated and extended launch exhibition of Goldwater’s photography. This took place at Scottsdale’s Museum of the West in January of 2019 before the exhibition went on to travel nationally. 

How did Off Madison Ave tackle their challenge?

Following a strategy session with the editor of Arizona Highways and the founder of the Barry & Peggy Goldwater Foundation, we began developing a three-month roadmap of intricate storylines derived from the history and background of the photographs. We examined the motivations of a variety of audiences and adjusted our roadmap to optimize each audience’s ability to engage with this special edition.

This was designed to reposition Goldwater not just for his infamous political career, but for his passion for photography, family and life-long love affair with his native Arizona. As a humanist, conservationist and environmentalist, Goldwater’s stunning imagery captured a diverse collection of tribal communities and unique places across the state only he had access to. 

By strategically announcing the launch of the foundation and partnership with Arizona Highways, we identified several high-profile national and state-wide media targets to tell the story of the man behind the photographs. Engaging Goldwater’s grand-daughter Allison as well as editor Robert Stieve as primary spokespeople helped bring to life the human-interest side of Goldwater.

There were several media relations challenges we had to overcome, including navigating the news agenda’s heavy interest in politician John McCain’s passing earlier in the year. As Arizona’s Senator, he and Goldwater were irrevocably linked by their careers, however the focus was to remain on Goldwater’s photographic collection and steer away from politics. The current divisive political climate also played a hand in identifying which media outlets would respond positively to a man better known for his Republican legacy.

The partnership was heavily sponsored by a number of parties, including utility company Salt River Project (SRP) that had generously helped fund the preservation of the collection. To strengthen relationships with investors for a true celebration of Arizona, Off Madison Ave arranged for filming of a Fox 10 Phoenix TV segment to take place at SRP’s Cultural Center and ensured inclusion in main talking points.

What were the results?

The public relations strategy, which included the initial announcement of the foundation and partnership launch, generated 129 news segments and articles nationally, including a full-page lead in the Los Angeles Times. This scored a cumulative reach of over 9 million.

Following a first-run broadcast exclusive with Fox 10 Phoenix, Off Madison Ave secured additional interviews with every broadcaster across Arizona including KTAR, KJZZ, ABC15, 12News, KOLD and AZ Family. Allison was also interviewed by The Associated Press, which was distributed over the newswire, creating more than 30 additional national articles. 

A feature interview with Allison Goldwater and Robert Stieve was secured in the Arizona Republic and syndicated across the USA Today Gannet network. The article made the front page of the best-selling Sunday edition and was published online generating over 1.2 million media impressions. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey tweeted his support for the December issue of Arizona Highways on social media to his 110,000 followers. 

In total, earned media coverage generated 160+ articles, over 10.5 million media impressions and a Neilson broadcast reach in excess of 310,000 viewers. 

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