Experiential marketing and design how to keep it up …network.icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/minisites/icee/...2 Experiential marketing and design: how to keep it up with touring

Experiential marketing and design: how to keep it up with touring exhibitions?

By Agnès Ruiz * Universcience & Kinga Grege * MNHN - Paris

ICEE 2016 // Innovating with style

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Introduction

Museums and exhibitions are following the trend of experiential marketing.

The “wow effect” is great when presenting those beautiful exhibitions in their native museum.

But how to deal with it when the exhibition is a touring one?

The marketing has to deal with various challenges: > promoting the initial exhibition > meeting the expectations of the client showing it in its own premises > helping recreating, with the exhibition designer, the same experience for the final audience.



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What are the challenging issues and how they succeeded (or not really) in delivering a great museum experience to the touring version visitors?

Why those wonderings about the relationship between immersive exhibitions and marketing?

> The perception of the product and its promise: there is sometime a gap between the original exhibition showed on sight and the result for a touring version >> a big issue for the marketing

What is an immersive exhibition?

> An exhibition with surprise and emotion also which create the cognitive process throught the scenographic atmosphere.



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For example: The exhibition Jurassic world * Imagine Exhibitions



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For example: The exhibition Lascaux * International Exhibitions



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For example: The exhibition Titanic Exhibition * Iceberg Cold



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What is experiential marketing?

> a holistic vision of an experience with an important role of the perceived “value“, not only economical one

How to adapt then the exhibitions in a way to create the expected experience?

Adapted from SANDER, D. and VARONE, C. (2011), « L’émotion a sa place dans l’exposition », Lettre de l’OCIM, n°134, 22-28.



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Moving the exhibition: the moved one, identical to the original one, the “turnkey solution“

The “turnkey solution“ is totally possible for big halls of the science centers, but much more difficult for museums, especially the small ones.

The “finished“ product is easy to be installed, but the previous adaptation work is very important for the design team.

The transport and the storage costs are also pretty expensive, and the ecological impact is also an issue.

Sometimes it doesn’t worth to move the walls as it can be rebuilt easily on site.

There is also an important cultural adaptation, to make the experience sensitive. How could we achieve it?



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For example: The exhibition Leonardo * Universcience (in Brazil)



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For example: Traveling exhibitions in Universcience and MNHN



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Necessary adjustmentsIt may be difficult to recreate the scenographic atmosphere.But there are some ways to deal with it, without huge difficulties.

For example: The exhibition Night/The Sleep (human beings) * MNHN



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Necessary adjustmentsIt may be also a solution to travel only a “solid corpus“ of displays or mounted specimens, which are difficult or very expensive to be reproduced/remounted.

For example: The exhibition Night/The Sleep (animals) * MNHN



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For example: The exhibition Amazing cetaceans! * MNHN



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Necessary adjustmentsThe exhibition designer may adapt the exhibition to the venue, and make it immersive for this new place.

For example: The exhibition Night * MNHN



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Necessary adjustmentsThe aim is to tell the client and his audience its/their own story and not just our, and to build a common narrative.

For example: The exhibition When the mammoths roamed * MNHN



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Necessary adjustmentsFor a marketing point of view, it may represent an interesting product for sale: not anymore “marketing to masses“ but “marketing one to one“, adapted to everybody’s needs.

> What is the limit of that model?

> Is the satisfaction better than in the turnkey solution?

> Is it possible to make some corrections also?

> Could it let some flexibility for the adaptation? Yes, if we believe in common intelligence!



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For example: The exhibition Bon Appétit * Universcience (in Kuwait)



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The know-how: value & digitisationThe trend drives today to “crowd-...“, crafting, DIY, back to the handicraft.But the knowledge is everywhere.

> The traveling exhibitions: mass-produced or limited series?

> The importance of the brand of the institution: what’s the value for the experience?

> The co-branding: just saling the concept and fab files. Better than co-production?

> The know-how can also be sold for the content, the design, the decor.

> Solution selling approach: design expertise through model “exhibition + service“



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Digitisation >> The exhibition Dogs & Cats * Universcience

Paris Québec



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Digitisation >> The exhibition Dogs & Cats * Universcience

Paris Québec



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Exhibition + service >> The exhibition Night * MNHN



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Conclusion > There is an evolution of the professions, but also of the clients’ needs.

> Our products need to be reconsidered: what is really expected?

> Our relationships with our clients change into much more collaborative ones.

Documents

Experiential marketing and design how to keep it up …network.icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/minisites/icee/...2 Experiential marketing and design: how to keep it up with touring