Frieze 91

An innovative approach to positioning, content, targeting and lead-gen to grow a global cultural community 

Frieze 91 is a premium, paid membership product from contemporary art platform Frieze,  designed to build a global community of culturally curious members through unparalleled access to artists, events, and exclusive experiences around the Frieze art fairs.

In late 2023, Frieze’s membership team set a clear commercial goal: to grow Frieze 91 by generating more inbound leads - with a specific focus on two segments; A B2C segment of people starting their journey into contemporary art and a B2B segment of corporates.

Our Approach

Phase one: Audience insight

We started by building a clearer understanding of what motivates - and deters - prospective members from joining.

  • Designed and deployed a short survey to non-members in target segments

  • Conducted qualitative interviews to capture deeper behavioural insight
    Explored existing drop-off points and blockers in the membership journey

This enabled us to validate Frieze 91’s current value proposition and surface opportunities for change - particularly in how the proposition could be articulated and promoted in innovative and creative ways to reach, engage and convert new and non-traditional audiences. 

Phase two: Competitive and category review

We were brought in to bring clarity to Frieze 91’s positioning and performance strategy - ensuring the team could market the programme effectively, efficiently and with full alignment across content, brand and lead-generation.

We explored a wide range of adjacent products - from philanthropic networks to luxury membership programmes - to better understand how Frieze 91 compared on benefits, motivations and messaging.

This created a clear landscape view of how different organisations are currently marketing exclusivity, access, and identity - and where Frieze could cut through.

Phase three: Strategic workshops

We led a series of focused workshops with Frieze’s core membership, content and partnership teams - working through our research and insight to align on:

  • Optimised messaging for the key audience segments

Frieze 91’s differentiated role in the broader Frieze ecosystem
Clear priorities for growth across product, brand and lead-gen

Phase four: Go-to-market playbook

We built a practical, strategic playbook - giving the team a clear roadmap for marketing and lead generation in 2024 and beyond.

The playbook included:

  • Audience-specific messaging frameworks

  • Content formats and comms themes

  • A strategy for engaging and activating micro-influencers

  • Introduction of AI-supported member identification, targeting and lead generation

  • Key campaign and partnership ideas to test and scale

  • Guidance on internal workflows and KPIs

“At a key strategic time for our business, Volume helped us to shape our brand relaunch plans & created a new approach for our social activity, to raise awareness & deepen engagement, which we’re now implementing. They’ve been great to work with.”

Lindsey Baldwin, Head of Marketing, Defaqto

The Outcome

The team at Frieze is now applying the playbook to take Frieze 91 forward -  with a validated value proposition, targeted messaging, and a clear plan to target and convert future high-value members.

We will continue to support with check-ins, helping the team iterate and optimise the approach as the programme grows.

Key Outputs

Workshop facilitation and internal alignment

  • New audience insights

  • Updated competitor and category landscape mapping

  • Revised messaging and proposition frameworks

  • Incorporating innovative  AI tools to identify, profile  and target potential new members

  • Strategic playbook for implementation (content, targeting, activation)