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Executive Summary
Prepared for the Bozeman Tourism Business Improvement District and Bozeman CVB
December 31, 2015
Leisure and Luxury in the Age of Nero: The Villas of Oplontis near Pompeii is a unique exhibit
appearing at Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, from June 18, 2016, to December 31,
2016. The artifacts in the exhibit have never left Italy before, and MOR will be one of only three
museums in the country to host The Villas of Oplontis. Museum of the Rockies will also be the only
venue west of the Mississippi River.
More than 2,000 years ago, extremely wealthy Romans lived and played on the sunny shores of
the Bay of Naples at Pompeii and in luxury villas nearby, unconcerned about Mount Vesuvius in
the distance. One of the most luxurious of these retreats, Oplontis, set on a cliff 40 feet above the
Mediterranean shoreline, was rumored to be the summer villa of Emperor Nero's second wife,
Poppaea.
For whatever reason, the villa itself had been abandoned by the time of Vesuvius' catastrophic
eruption in 79 AD, but a commercial wine distribution center next door was thriving. Falling ash
and pyroclastic flows buried dining rooms that had seated more than a hundred people, an 80-
meter swimming pool, private rooms adorned with spectacular frescos, wine and oil- filled
amphorae, a strong-box with coins, and people hiding in the storage rooms at the water's edge,
waiting for a rescue that never came.
Dr. Regina Gee, Associate Professor of Art History at Montana State University and Adjunct
Curator of Art History at the Museum of the Rockies, is one of three researchers working on the
villas and is an expert on frescos found there. Not long ago, she and her research colleagues
petitioned and received permission from the Soprintendenza to organize an exhibit of artifacts
from the site to travel to the United States for the first time.
Exhibit Cost
The cost to bring the exhibit to Museum of the Rockies and the community is more then $450,000
and its significance to the people Montana and to all of the Western United States is immeasurable.
Exhibit Marketing
A tentative marketing budget- contingent on MOR's ability to raise the full $450,000 via corporate
and individual sponsors and other contributors - has been set at $100,000. After reaching out to
the vast majority of MOR's long-time supporters, as well as new patrons, over the past six months,
the shortfall in funding is currently$44,000.
Media for The Villas of Oplontis is scheduled to begin in June of 2016 and will reach tens-of-
thousands of US Travelers, most importantly those who are flying into Bozeman on the three
major airlines to visit the Gallatin Valley and/or Yellowstone National Park. Media will include, but
will not be limited to, the following:
Delta Sky Magazine
• Half-page, 4-color ad in July & September at a non-profit discount rate of$10,000 each/2x
= $20,000
United Hemispheres Magazine
• Half-page, 4-color ad in September & October at a non-profit discount rate of $12,993
each/2x = $25,986
Alaska Airlines Horizons Magazine
• 1/2-page, 4-color ad in June, July&August at a non-profit discount rate of$2,800 each/3x =
$8,400
Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport
• Oplontis-dedicated banners, onsite collateral and MOR video monitor ads targeting visitors
to the area and specifically Yellowstone National Park
Newspaper Advertising
• Half- and Quarter-page ads in Sunday newspapers in Bozeman, Helena, Butte, Great Falls,
and Missoula
• Half-page ads in the Bozeman Chronicle's Get Out section will run monthly June through
December
Regional/State Magazines
• Half-Page ads in Montana Quarterly, Mountain Outlaw, Distinctly Montana, Big Sky Journal
&Western Art&Architecture
• Full-Page ad in The Montana Historian
Online Presence
• Archeology Magazine Online
• KBZK Online
• Bozeman Chronicle Online
• National Online Presence TBD
Summation and Request for Financial Support
MOR is projecting a 12% to 15% increase in visitation to the museum, and approximately 92,000
visitors in total for this exhibit alone. Historically, tracked visitation to MOR comes from one-third
local market, one-third statewide and one-third regional/national,which means fully two-thirds of
our visitors deliver the potential for overnight stays in and around the district.
As stated above, MOR is the only museum west of the Mississippi to host this exhibit. Because of
the exhibit's unique stature and never-before-presented artifacts, along with robust marketing
efforts to attract regional and national visitors, overnight stays will increase substantially within
our immediate area, positively adding to the current $48 million economic impact MOR already
provides to Gallatin Valley.
Museum of the Rockies respectfully asks the TBID and Bozeman CVB to participate in this remarkable
exhibit through underwriting $25,000 of the museum's marketing budget for the economic benefit of
business throughout the Gallatin Valley.
Prepared by Museum of the Rockies
Please contact:
Mark Robinson
Director of Marketing and Engagement
mark.robinsonO( montana.edu
406-994-2652