Kaptivate developed a comprehensive business plan and communications strategy, in collaboration with an artist community, that could substantiate the Torpedo Factory Artists Association's (TFAA) ability to manage the iconic Torpedo Factory.
The business planning and communications effort was an extraordinarily complex initiative undertaken in the midst of institutional crisis. The array of stakeholders, including the center ‘s 600,000 visitors, involved in this historic art center made for a challenging exercise in an extremely limited time span. The end-to-end business planning and communications process included the following activity:
Kaptivate launched a study assessing the art center's economic impact on the City of Alexandria, Virginia. Kaptivate successfully made the case for the Torpedo Factory's unique economic contribution. In a two month data collection exercise, Kaptivate conducted interviews with hundreds of Torpedo Factory visitors to assess whether they represented "new money"--money derived from non-City residents; what attracted them to the City; and where their money was spent outside the Torpedo Factory. The study bolstered the art center 's case as a major economic engine for the City and a peerless catalyst of economic activity. With a direct contribution of $35.2 million, and a multiplier effect of $47 million (using U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis RIMS II model), the TFAA now had a compelling argument for stakeholder support of the art center. After coverage of the research findings by the Washington Post and local Alexandria newspapers, the dynamic of the city-wide debate changed and public opinion momentum shifted.