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Case Study
MUSEUM OF GLASS /
INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Direct Mail Campaign Proposal
Summer 2004
BACKGROUND: The Museum of Glass / International Center for Contemporary Art is an internationally-acclaimed art museum in Tacoma, Washington. The museum had a rocky first few years after opening in 2002 trying to get the public to understand and accept their stated mission – to present and interpret contemporary art through a sustained concentration on the medium of glass. The public seemed to want a museum focused primarily on the art glass renaissance then underway in the glass world. This conflict between the museum’s mission and public expectation was well-covered in the local media.
PRIMARY CHALLENGE: Because of public confusion about the museum’s purpose, and no small measure of dissatisfaction with the exhibition schedule, membership growth was sluggish. The museum wanted some kind of communication vehicle to boost membership. I felt any public communication effort at that point in the museum’s growth had to double as a PR campaign to be truly effective and set the tone for other communication efforts. It had to address the issue of the museum’s focus in a positive way, instead of continuing to ignore it.
STRATEGY/SOLUTION: I created a postcard campaign that would promote upcoming exhibitions at regular intervals, while at the same time, try to educate the public and provoke more dialogue about the museum’s mission with regard to contemporary art. Not meant to be a silver bullet for the museum’s membership woes, I hoped the quality and focus of the campaign would begin to make inroads with the public and set the tone for future efforts. Bold taglines on the face of the cards described how contemporary art affects us all very personally. The back of the postcard contained brief copy on contemporary art’s role in society. The postcards would also serve as redeemable “coupons” for things like admission fee discounts and would allow for response tracking to develop a targeted database of names for soliciting museum membership. Along with this campaign, I suggested a continual review of membership program mechanics to be sure that the museum was offering real value to potential members.
RESULT: The museum never adopted this campaign, preferring to continue on their present course. It’s interesting to note that sometime in late 2006 or early 2007, the museum dropped mention of “international center for contemporary art” from their formal name.
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