OVERVIEW

Historically, the California Museum's holiday season was a low period for attendance despite the institution's location in the Sacramento market, where approximately 60% of households are families.

To counter this attendance trend, I led the initiative to host a short-term traveling exhibition from the Charles M. Schulz Museum, timed to coincide with the iconic comic strip’s 65th anniversary and the release of its first feature film, “The Peanuts Movie,” during Q4 in 2015.

ROLE + SCOPE

• Brand Strategy & Positioning: Concept origin, seasonal timing, audience and revenue strategy, exhibition and campaign architecture, and messaging frameworks connecting the strip’s 65th anniversary with the 2015 feature film and Q4 holidays.

• IP Governance & Systems Design: Four-tier brand authority framework for Peanuts Worldwide, the Schulz Museum, the California Museum, and sponsors/partners; numeric visual-weight rules; centralized production rights; approval workflows; and compliance across all collateral and media.

• Creative Direction & Copywriting: Exhibit identity and narrative, collateral systems, sponsorship deck, radio PSAs and public-affairs talking points, event and camp promotions, digital content, and onsite interpretive materials including the IKEA Inspiration Station and community comic gallery.

• Integrated Marketing & Event Activations: Multi-channel campaign design and execution across print, digital, outdoor, transit, radio, TV, and in-theater ads; design and leadership of seven event activations over 90 days; seasonal programming and promotional calendar.

• Sponsors & Partnership Development: Identification, negotiation, and activation of cross-promotional relationships with film, retail, food, sports, nonprofit, hotel, and media partners, including offer structures, co-branded materials, and value measurement.

STRATEGY

As of 2015, "Peanuts" licensing was driving around $1.3 billion in U.S. retail sales and an estimated $13 billion worldwide. Given Peanuts Worldwide's litigious reputation for fiercely guarding its intellectual property, operating within that zero-tolerance environment meant every image, credit line, and typographic choice carried immense legal and brand risk.

Since the exhibition materials lacked guidance on incorporating partners and sponsors, I collaborated with the Charles M. Schulz Museum (CMSM) and Peanuts Worldwide to develop a strict governance framework and decision tree. 

Production rights were centralized with the museum’s brand function, establishing a four-tier visual hierarchy:

1. Charles M. Schulz Museum: credited with the exhibition logo as the primary brand entity.

2. Peanuts Worldwide: credited as the "Peanuts" IP copyright holder.

3. California Museum: credited as host under the exhibition logo.

4. Presenting sponsors: recognized in smaller logos under the California Museum to reflect local support.

This governance was embedded directly into the sponsorship deck, transforming a major legal vulnerability into a controlled, highly profitable asset that offered local businesses a rare opportunity to associate with the "Peanuts" brand while avoiding rights infringement.

SYSTEM

The unified system was executed consistently across gallery graphics, print collateral, OOH, transit media, digital, social, and broadcast. Seven major activations over 90 days engaged families through preview receptions, grand openings, holiday camps, and a "Charlie Brown Christmas Party" following Snoopy headlining the Sacramento "Santa Parade" as the event's Grand Marshal.

Education and outreach programs further extended the experience via two sessions of a kids' winter holiday camp and an "Inspiration Station" installation in the exhibition featuring a community gallery where visitors could enter a four-panel comic strip contest or enjoy a custom coloring sheet activity.

The project generated roughly $300K in value on a $20k marketing budget and a 1400% ROI, proving that a tightly governed brand architecture could deliver holiday attendance turnaround with measurable results to the bottom line.