Turning Valentine's Day Into Mercer Labs' Highest-Revenue Day

Mercer Labs

Jul 15

Summary

Valentine's Day is one of the biggest consumer spending moments of the year, and most museums treat it like any other weekend. I didn't. In January 2026 I developed and launched a full Valentine's Day campaign for Mercer Labs, creating two tiered ticket packages designed to lift average order value and make the museum feel like the obvious choice for a date, a Galentine's outing, or a family day. I pushed the campaign out across email, paid social, influencer seeding, and press in the last two weeks of January, building enough momentum that February 14 became the highest revenue day in Mercer Labs history. 3,859 tickets redeemed. $211,814.84 in revenue. Double digit sales increases for 8 of the 11 days leading up to it.

The Challenge

Mercer Labs is an immersive art and technology museum in downtown Manhattan. On a regular weekend it draws well. But Valentine's Day is a holiday when people are actively looking for something to do together, willing to spend more than usual, and highly responsive to a good offer. The museum wasn't tapping into any of that. There were no packages, no holiday-specific reason to choose Mercer Labs over dinner or any other option. The challenge was making the museum feel relevant to the moment and giving people a clear, attractive way to buy in.

Objectives

Primary objective: Drive significantly higher ticket revenue across the Valentine's Day weekend by creating a compelling product offering and getting it in front of the right audiences with enough lead time to convert.

Key goals:

Develop tiered ticket packages that lifted AOV beyond general admission
Create a campaign that made Mercer Labs feel like a destination for Valentine's Day specifically
Launch with enough runway to build awareness and drive pre-sales before the weekend
Generate press and influencer coverage to extend organic reach

Strategy

The insight was simple. People don't just want a ticket. They want an experience that feels complete, curated, and worth the price. So instead of pushing general admission, I created packages that bundled admission with prosecco, chocolates, roses, and for families, plush toys, at price points that felt like a deal compared to building it yourself.

The couples package came in at $156 for two, including admission, two glasses of prosecco, two chocolates, and two roses. The family package was $250 for two adults and two kids, with admission, chocolates, plush monkeys, and roses. Both felt like occasions rather than transactions, which was the whole point.

I started pushing in the last two weeks of January to give people time to plan, which is when Valentine's Day shopping intent starts climbing. The channel mix was email, paid social, influencer seeding, and a press push all running together so the message was showing up in multiple places at the same time.

My Role & Execution

Ticket package development: Created and priced two tiered Valentine's Day packages from scratch — the couples bundle and the family package. Each was designed to feel complete and gift-like, not just a ticket with an add-on.

Email: Deployed to the Mercer Labs email list starting in late January, leading with the package offerings and urgency around the limited availability window of February 12 through 16.

Paid social: Ran targeted paid social campaigns across the Valentine's Day lead-up period, targeting couples and families in the New York area with creative that leaned into the date night and experience angle.

Influencer seeding: Seeded influencers ahead of the holiday to generate organic content and reach audiences who weren't already in the Mercer Labs ecosystem. Instagram Reels from the activation drove additional visibility in the run-up to the weekend.

Press push: Coordinated a press push that landed placements in Time Out New York, Broadway World, The Hype Magazine, and Downtown Alliance NY ahead of the holiday, giving the campaign third-party credibility and additional organic reach.

On-site activation: Valentine's themed scenes and elements were integrated throughout the current exhibition, Maestros and the Machines, giving visitors something specific to the holiday to discover and share.