Case study 1: Increase digital connectivity with audiences for a contemporary art exhibition
Team:
50+ commissioned contributors, including artists, scientists, gamers, and writers; social media and content manager, designers, editors, curators, videographer, educators, integrated media specialists
Situation:
Playtime, an exhibition exploring the role of play in contemporary art and culture, was slated to open in 12 months. We needed a strategy to improve our online presence and increase the reach of our contemporary art program.
Opportunity:
Orchestrate a digital launch 6 months in advance of the exhibition to build buzz and increase awareness of PEM’s involvement in the contemporary art scene. Create a printed “manifesto” that could be mailed and shared in public spaces. Deploy a team wearing T-shirts to create onsite videos and evangelize the project at major events.
Strategy:
Create a digital experience with multiple points of entry in which people could read, watch, or engage. Create a distributed model, meeting online visitors wherever they are. Consider how content appears outside the museum’s owned site, including through SEO, Google, and social media. Ask content contributors to promote and connect their audiences with our content. Use Google analytics to refine content strategy throughout project.
Work included: Social media campaign using Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
A detailed editorial calendar starting with a soft launch to begin to build interest, followed a month later by the full launch, at which point we began adding fresh content on a weekly basis.
Video interviews with artists, gamers, and people attending events such as the Come Out and Play festival in Brooklyn and Indiecade in Los Angeles.
Impacts:
While a printed catalog might have sold 200 copies, the digital platform had over 80,000 unique views, with people spending as long as 8–10 minutes reading. When Buzzfeed picked up a story, our website was flooded with visitors from New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles—so many that it crashed. The multimedia experience won the 2018 New England Publishing award for best collaboration.