Gallery Ho! Expoships launches SeaFair on a high tide of positive press

January 2008

by Cathy Chatfield-Taylor

Press clips collected in the 100-page brochure published by Expoships LLLP fairly sings the praises of David and Lee Ann Lester, who founded the Bonita Springs, FL-based company in 2004 to launch SeaFair, the Fine Art Yacht (www.expoships.com). From luxury lifestyle’s The Robb Report pronouncement that they’ll "revolutionize the art market" to The New York Times endorsement as "a new stop on the art circuit", Expoships has made a splash among art aficionados.

"Media coverage is critical," says Lester, who co-created the Palm Beach International Fine Art & Antiques Fair with his wife in 1997, then sold that and other art fairs in their portfolio for $18 million in 2001. "We’ve maintained good relationships with top members of the press for 10-15 years. We have credibility."

Lester floated his credibility with a fleet of press contacts that started from the time he and his wife conceived the SeaFair concept – it came to them during a leisurely 15-month cruise on their 94-foot yacht – to when SeaFair 228-foot megayacht docked in Greenwich Harbor, September 25-30, 2007.

SeaFair is the world’s first luxury art exposition held aboard a purpose-built ship, the Grand Luxe. Instead of staterooms, the ship has 28 galleries occupying 12,185 square feet with fine art, antiques and jewelry valued at $400 million. Galleries signed on for four-week tours during the ship’s 44-week cruise, which docks five days per week at each of 38 affluent ports from Maine to Miami. In addition to the individual galleries, SeaFair offers two gourmet restaurants, and a champagne and caviar sky lounge. Each five-day port of call opens with a galal benefiting a prominent local charity. In Greenwich, it was the Bruce Museum, where about 100 benefactors paid $1,000 to $5,000 per person for a five-course dinner and exhibition preview.

"We thought we could establish a mobile, marine venue that could go places without permanent facilities," Lester says. The high-risk venture, representing a $40-million investment, is so unique, the initial media flurry begat even more media. "We created good materials and sent them to people we knew," he says. "As we got more stories, we sent those out. People like to write about things that are well publicized."

An in-house agency staffed by eight public relations and marketing juggernauts continues to cast for coverage throughout the ship’s voyage. Granting dozens of interviews before, during and after each tour is just one of Lester’s many duties as he captains the vessel through what he expects to be a profitable first year. The resulting coverage not only drives attendance – anyone can apply online to board the ship and visit the galleries – but also reassures gallery owners that their investment is wise. At a cost of $10,000 to $30,000 per week for a showroom of 200 to 600 square feet, some owners pay upward of $100,000 for one tour.

"They are genuinely impressed with the level of press, and that gives them confidence in the level of the venture," Lester says.

After SeaFair’s first four-week tour, Lester is tweaking Expoships’ business model. Although gallery space on some segments of the cruise is sold out, reducing the commitment from four weeks to two will make tours more palatable to small, family-owned galleries that can’t be away for a month. And attendance now will be open to the public, with tickets selling for $25-50, in an attempt to hit the 1,000-visitors per day target at every port.

"Starting with invitation-only and prearranged boarding passes was a very bad idea," Lester says. "Very wealthy people don’t want a time frame for boarding. Now we make boarding available to them at their leisure." Of course, press are always welcome.