American Philosophical Society Museum
SERVICES:
Comprehensive marketing strategy and plan
CHALLENGE:
The American Philosophical Society Museum (APSM) has earned a reputation for developing creative, interpretive programming as one way to engage audiences and spark new thinking around its exhibitions. For its 2011 exhibition, Of Elephants and Roses: Encounters with French Natural History, 1790–1830, the APS Museum sought to reach a more diverse and younger audience through The Greenhouse Projects, a series of inventive arts and cultural endeavors.
Creating a multifaceted marketing strategy was critical to draw the target audiences to programs which included a walk-through greenhouse installation, a piece of original theater, a world-premier musical composition, a geocaching tour, and a series of podcasts on French cuisine.
APPROACH:
APSM first asked SteegeThomson to develop a comprehensive marketing plan as part of a proposal to the Pew Heritage Philadelphia Program. The plan was conceived to reach potential visitors where they congregate, online and on the ground, through efforts that focused on The Greenhouse Projects as a whole, as well as on the program’s individual components. Our strategies relied heavily on both social media and grassroots advertising, incorporating active engagement on Twitter, Facebook, and the APSM website; mobile advertising; Google AdWords advertising and analytics; print and radio advertising; postcard and brochure development and distribution; and a multi-pronged media relations campaign. The plan also recommended social media tools ranging from YouTube and Flickr to Foursquare and Meetup to post information, images, and video of the projects in development, linking them to the enhanced APSM website and Facebook pages. Planning also included the mobile-optimization of the APSM website to ensure a positive visitor experience for mobile ad and QR code users. Finally, the plan incorporated follow-up strategies to keep visitors engaged with APSM, and survey tools to measure the impact of the campaign.
RESULTS:
SteegeThomson’s plan was a strong component of APSM’s successful grant proposal, garnering the Museum more than $200,000 to mount and promote The Greenhouse Projects in the fall of 2011. We are now working with APSM as a consultant to the team, overseeing the implementation of our plan, and placing all mobile and Internet advertising.
