OUTFRONT and Optimism Were Everywhere at Art Basel Miami

December 17, 2024

Another Art Basel is in the books, and now that Miami has had a chance to sleep it off, it’s time to look back on the highlights of the annual event.

For starters, attendance was up – 91k this year compared to 82k last (SOURCE: Artsy). But it wasn’t just the crowds that showed up big for Basel. Our advertisers made their messages loud, proud, and larger than life, with brands like Montblanc, Stanley, Jaguar, and SKIMS boldly claiming some of our most coveted assets, the OUTFRONT PRIME collection.


These hard-to-miss, impossible-to-forget canvases place advertisers prominently in Miami’s most spectacular spots – the very same kind of iconic location that The Harris Poll just found boosted engagement for out of home campaigns.

Also trending upwards at this year’s Basel: the vibes.

“After a dark and nervous season, it feels like the clouds have broken and the perfect blue sky weather here in Miami is reflecting the art world’s mood,” said Marc Pavot, partner at Hauser & Wirth, the gallery that reported the week’s largest sale ($4.75 million for David Hammonds’ Untitled (2014)).


OUTFRONT contributed to the festive mood by hosting a series of events that brought our clients up close and personal with some of Miami’s most important artists.

We kicked things off with an event for our local advertisers at Britto Palace, the private gallery in North Miami showcasing the work of Romero Britto. Along with our clients we toured the gallery, learned about some signature pieces, and even met the artist!

Once Basel kicked into high gear and our national advertisers arrived, we visited the studio of neo-pop artist Peter Tunney, who last year created an original work that hangs on the wall at OUTFRONT HQ.



Peter took us on a behind-the-scenes tour and walked us through the process of how he brings pieces like ours to life. We also visited the Wynwood Walls, where street artists elevate graffiti, as well as hosting networking events including a happy hour, dinner, and brunch.




It’s important to note that Art Basel isn’t confined to the Miami Beach Convention Center where the main event takes place. It’s more of a citywide celebration of creativity that includes satellite events, art installations, and copious amounts of nightlife all across the region. That 91k attendance figure doesn’t even include everyone who came for all the extracurriculars


Why is Art Basel so important for culture-centric brands, especially on the luxury end of the spectrum?

It’s all about the audience.


Art Basel and UBS’ annual Survey of Global Collecting reported that the median high-net-worth individual art collector spends $50k a year, purchasing an average of twelve works. Wealthy collectors spend plenty of money elsewhere too. Last year, the median spend of the high-net-worth American art collector included $25k worth of jewelry, $22k in luxury handbags, and $20k in wine, whiskey, and spirits (SOURCE: Art Basel/UBS).

“Certainly a younger audience is attracted to Art Basel Miami,” explained collector Ryan Zurrer. “That’s great because it can onboard new people into both art and emerging technologies like crypto.”


Miami’s emergence as a finance and technology hub makes it a better fit than ever for Basel.

“That was kind of the primordial soup of this Miami tech ecosystem, and suddenly you have all these incredible founders and VCs that decided to move here,” Cameo CEO and co-founder Steven Galanis told Vanity Fair. “I tried to draw the parallel to Chicago after the fire, when all these great minds from around the world just had this opportunity to build the next thing. And in that era of Miami, really that’s what it felt like.”

Are you among those looking to build the next big thing in the Magic City? OUTFRONT can help you bring it to life. Contact us today.


Author: Jay Fenster, Marketing Manager @ OUTFRONT

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