Introduction
The NSMM (National Science & Media Museum) is a museum in Bradford that focuses on showing the evolution of technology and, some cool aspects of science.
The last time I went to the museum, I immediately picked up on some of the interesting galleries that showcase the sciences that happened in daily life, that many may not pay much attention to. They demonstrated some unique effects with mirrors and lights, which is all apart of the “Wonderlab” floor within their building.
NSMM’s Strategy – Overview
We were introduced to how NSMM goes about their marketing strategy in simple terms. A huge part of their marketing focus is audience, this is especially important when most of their audience will need to make their way to their museum in person, thus communication is required to be as efficient as possible.
With the materials in question, they need to utilize these materials to communicate with certain parts of their potential audience. Establishing effective communication which is clear and respectful through the necessary mediums in and outside of the museum in hopes to bring a memorable experience.
Marketing isn’t just about attracting an audience, it’s how do you retain an audience. Retaining an audience is what makes an audience valuable, without retention, it shows there is no real interest in the product.
An exaggeration of this could be that a visitor is enticed by external marketing, they end up booking a time to come to the museum – only to leave in a matter of minutes with no interest in sharing their experience. This is made worse when you remember that visiting NSMM doesn’t cost money, a visitor’s visit isn’t directly funding the museum. With this, it is very important that NSMM can retain it’s audience, which is easier said than done.
NSMM’s Strategy – Analysis
An analysis of the museum’s marketing report from 2022.
Upon reading the report from the National Science & Media Museum regarding their 2022 marketing performance, one of the biggest points that stood out to me was that according to the report 61% / 6 in 10 of all visitors recalled seeing marketing material before their visit to the museum. This is very important as it provides a very broad perspective on the overall performance of their marketing.
This is even more important when we factor in that 40% of all visitors were age 15 or younger, this means 40% of that 60% claimed that they had seen marketing material, emphasizing the museum’s reach and appeal towards a trend-aware audience. We can also assume a lot of the 40% here was also accumulated from the 11% of educational related visits.
59% / Six out of ten visitors said that they had visited the shop. This is interesting as we can assume people who genuinely enjoyed their experience at the museum would want to take home a souvenir to remember their experience. Even if the 59% of people didn’t buy anything, it tells us that they were appealed by the museum to the extent that they felt like they had to visit the shop.
30% bought an item from the shop, apart from the previous paragraph, this also tells us that the shop stocks items of interest, however this number isn’t very high. Making sure the shop has items for everyone is key as families were most likely to buy something from the shop.
Families spent more time dwelling compared to individuals which makes sense as a family is a group of people, said people may have different interests so it would be common to see them dwelling over a broad range of exhibits. We can assume family groups have children too, those children may seek engagement within the exhibits which once again increases dwell time. With this information, it is clear to see that families will have a very noticeable positive increase in dwell time compared to individuals.
Six out of ten / 60% of all visitors said that they would definitely recommend the museum which is obviously above average. This statistic is incredible for the museum, it’s a huge green light to the marketing team. Above average positive feedback tells us that the museum is giving a more than average experience to a more than average amount of people that visit.
Out of all the museums alongside NSMM, the National Science & Media Museum has been and is the slowest to recover from Covid. This is most likely caused by the definite closure of the museum since it’s current renovation.
NSMM’s Strategy – Trend-Awares
A large portion of the NSMM’s audience is built of a sector named “Trend-Awares”, specifically 15% of all visitors. Trend awares are described as being active and engaged, they like to discover new experiences. Often encouraging their friends to join certain activities. They’re attracted to new ideas that may have a big influence on their day to day lives. From my own assumptions, trend-aware people must be very “up-to-date” people, they have the means of following trends as soon as they are relevant or impactful. These people are more likely to use social media or quick forms of content such as short form videos.
Trend-awares tend to have a higher capital of science which could be contributed by the educational percentage, people with a higher science capital are much more likely to rate the museum to a higher degree. Trend-awares with a higher capital of science is helpful as they will most likely have the context needed to understand a lot of the exhibits at the museum, thus appealing to them even more.
The games lounge and switched on exhibits were more likely to appeal towards the trend-aware audience segment, offering plenty of engagement. The appeal could be a result from nostalgia of history or comfort of familiarity as it is common to see gaming (which is what the exhibit heavily relates to) as a hobby to many of the people that fall into the trend-aware category.
The busiest months are August, October & February with November being the busiest individual month. These months were typically peak holiday months, they gave people the extra time needed to plan a visit to the museum. For children going to school or teenagers going to college, the holidays helped clear people’s calendars to make way for a visit. It was clear that this was going to be a direct surge in trend-aware visits.
“Influencers and content creators always have their fingers on the pulse of what’s viral and what has the potential to go viral. When it’s on brand with their niche, TikTok creators respond with the speed of light to meet the demand for similar content.” (Agency, T.I, 2023)
Everything on the internet spreads quickly, so it’s only natural that the biggest platform for online interaction in the current age, TikTok is responsible for a lot of shifts in marketing trends. It is common to see a lot of rise and falls in certain brands as they will use TikTok to promote their brand, as they’re easily consumed and shared.
An example of a business using TikTok as apart of their marketing towards an audience similar to NSMM’s “Trend-aware” is HiSmile. They’ve recently spread like a wildfire due to the usage of influencers. They emphasize simplicity through their branding and limited line of products, whilst showing their effectiveness.
“HiSmile’s marketing approach primarily relied on leveraging the power of social media influencers. Early on, the founders recognized the value of influencer marketing and sought collaborations with popular personalities across platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Influencers demonstrated the product’s usage and shared their positive experiences, creating a buzz that rapidly spread to millions of followers.” (Olly, 2023)
My Trend-Aware Solution
Based on what the definition of the Trend-Aware audience, they seem to be interested in newer “trendy” things, especially when it comes to technology. It makes sense to include exhibits that offer engagement whilst on the topic of something NEW. Based on the less than average statistics for how many young people saw marketing prior to their visit, my solution will include more online marketing, making strategic implementation.
An idea spawned from my knowledge of photogrammetry, a process that turns photos into 3D models. The idea put simply is a room that can 3D scan people, those people can then choose if they want the file for their 3D model and/or a 3D print of their model. Photogrammetry involves multiple cameras aimed a subject from all the necessary angles to create a 360 degree map of the subject, running this through specialised software in order to turn the photos into a 3D model.
Cameras may be expensive but I believe the museum will have the funds to cover this and much more than my exhibition idea entails. If not, then my idea can be nothing more of a concept to fulfill my project.
I believe this exhibition will appeal to the trend-aware audience because it offers personal engagement, choice and a “reward”. Person enegement allows the user to do whatever pose they’d like within the process (aslong as this pose is not provocative) and choice is given when they are presented with the 3D model file and/or a paid-for 3D print (the reward). The 3D print can also be a souvenir for them to take home, remembering the museum and my exhibit.
Photogrammetry is also quite a new thing in the modern world, it has many technical and funny use cases, ranging from in-game asset production, film and CGI asset production.. since all the textures are also captured, this allows 3D designers to skip the process of tediously creating photo-realistic textures.
Bibliography
- Agency, T.I. (2023). How Trends Start on TikTok. [online] Medium. Available at: https://nfluenceagency.medium.com/how-trends-start-on-tiktok-cea54ddfa45e [Accessed 30 Sep. 2024].
- Olly (2023). HiSmile: Revolutionizing Whitening Their Marketing Approach. [online] 303. Available at: https://303.london/blog/hismile-revolutionizing-teeth-whitening-and-their-innovative-marketing-approach/ [Accessed 30 Sep. 2024].
- Wikipedia (2021). Wall plug. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_plug [Accessed 30 Sep. 2024].