Peter Mayer Public Relations was honored at the Press Club of New Orleans’ 53rd Annual Awards Ceremony recently with one first place and one second place award. Public Relations Account Supervisor Larry Lovell and Public Relations Senior Account Executive Andrew Nelson received first place for “Best PR Campaign (Agency/Staff More than 5 Employees)” and second place for “Best Press Kit (Agency/Staff More than 5 Employees)” for their work promoting the grand opening of “Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond,” a $7.5 million exhibit that opened in October at the Louisiana State Museum in the French Quarter.

Judges remarked that the work was a “well orchestrated campaign [that made] good use of all the New Media and Social Media platforms.” They added that the press kit represented a “thorough collection of reports and information. Good work.”

Since opening, the hurricane exhibit has drawn huge crowds and generated big increases in visitation and revenue. From November 2010 – May 2011, the Museum experienced visitation growth of 212 percent (PDF) and a 394 percent increase in ticket revenues (PDF), compared to that period one year prior when a major Mardi Gras history exhibit occupied the same space at the Presbytere.