Driving footfall to leisure destinations through effective multi-channel marketing
In 2008 we were tasked by The British Museum to promote The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army . Our task was to create a dynamic media campaign promoting advance ticket sales, build awareness & drive footfall and market the biggest exhibition at the British Museum in the past 30 years in terms of profile and expected attendance.
Previous research informed us that our most financially attractive audience – the London & South East commuter, was notoriously hard to convert to sale not because of their lack of interest, but simply through their lack of attention caused by hectic lifestyles and punishing travel routines. We knew they would love the exhibition, once they knew about it, so we needed to create enough ‘surround sound’ and longevity to the campaign to ensure the message got through.
The activity consisted of PR, third party associations and multimedia advertising, all working together to drive footfall to the exhibition starting earlier and continuing for a longer period than previous campaigns, in order to drive advance ticket sales and enhance the extensive PR that the British Museum secured. To maximise the positive association, future BM exhibitions were promoted alongside the First Emperor.
Record breaking advanced ticket sales -150k before opening vs. 10k target. Chinese New Year saw the largest attendance for one day in the Museum's history – over 30,000 people. High walk up demand meant the exhibition was full to capacity. Opening hours extended to accommodate the extraordinary demand.
Awarded Best Marketing campaign of the year 2008 by VisitBritain.
