Attracting 20-somethings through the doors of a museum may seem like an impossible mission. Nikki Bruce explains how a collaborative project in the North East set about achieving it.
‘I Like Museums’ was born out of a unique partnership between MLA North East, the North East Regional Museums Hub, Tyne & Wear Museums, and 80 registered museums across the North East. This ground-breaking marketing campaign aims to change public perceptions about museums and galleries, raise awareness about the number of museums in the region and encourage people to visit more than one museum. The campaign, which was launched to coincide with the school summer holidays, targets three main audiences: families, traditional museum goers, and those the museum group called ‘Lazy Socials’, the hard to reach audiences aged between 25 and 34, who like the idea of culture but never quite get around to visiting a museum.
Describing the purpose of the campaign, Alec Coles, Director of Tyne & Wear Museums, leaders of the North East Regional Museums Hub, said, “We want more people to realise what museums have to offer. We are not only addressing a brand-new audience group of Lazy Socials, we are hoping to obliterate it by making them Lazy no more – at least in terms of cultural consumption! It’s the first time we’ve been able to develop such a large regional campaign but what is more exciting is the collaboration that has been the focus of this project… The creativity and enthusiasm of all the partners has been boundless.”
Alison O’Hara, Chief Executive of Audiences North East, which delivered a series of marketing training sessions linked to the campaign, specifically highlighted the “valuable opportunity for a cross-museum sector group to research, plan, implement and evaluate an audience development project”. She has been particularly impressed at seeing the group members grow in confidence and expertise during the course of the project, and working effectively as a team, respecting individual contributions yet forming a group consensus: “Friendships were formed and no doubt the seeds were sown for future collaborations.”
I Like Museums focuses on the experience of visiting a museum and on the interests and aspirations of the individual rather than those of the museum. Museums were gathered into themes or trails that appealed to a wide variety of audiences. For example, themes that appeal to families include:
• I like… doing things as a family
• I like… big stuff
• I like… having fun.
The Lazy Socials group may be more attracted to the themes:
• I like… a place to think
• I like… doing something with my weekend
• I like… to be inspired.
People can access the themes through trail leaflets, which give suggestions as to museums where that experience can be enjoyed. There are also more detailed lists on the campaign website and the opportunity for people to create and share their own themed museum trails. Some of the most popular user-generated trails include ‘I Like Beer’, ‘I Like Cool Exhibitions’ and ‘I Like Things to do with a Hangover’. The campaign has been promoted through a new regional museums guide, advertising at cinemas, leisure centres, bus stops and on the Metro system, a radio campaign, newspaper adverts and news releases. Its message was ‘Whatever you like… North East Museums have it’, and North East museums are doing all they can to get the public to agree
Nikki Bruce is Communications Officer for Tyne and Wear Museums.
e: nikki.bruce@twmuseums.org.uk;
w: http://www.ilikemuseums.com