Where do these people work?

Here are some examples of the kind of studios and agencies in the area we are looking at: we've got a sound design place, a creative agency and a Film post production house.
These are the places with our target market inside! hmmm.

Where do these people lunch?

On our walks around the area we have recorded the small independent sandwich shops etc that these creative places would frequent. Alongside PRET and the like. We might use these in the idea, maybe with the food packaging?

PROBLEM

The problem we saw with this particular location (right opposite the NPG) was people were leaving this creative agency (on the right) and walking literally 4 metres and into the 'PRET' (on the left). This gives us very little opportunity to talk to them at that point. Then they would just go right back to work! How can we solve this?

Lunch hour at the NPG

This video shows the people entering the NPG over the course of the lunch period, we also made a note of the type of people; clothes, age, ethnicity and gender. What we did realise is there seemed to be no creative types that would fall into our target audience, it seemed to be mostly older people, school trips and tourists.

NPG

Great branding on the side of a gutter of all places. Love the traditional feel of this branding, and the way they have already abbreviated the gallery to NPG.

Why they are famous

This sign from upstairs in the National Portrait Gallery shows what sort of people from the 20th century are on exhibition. This sign is a great example of how things have changed in british sociaty. It points out that the people on show were famous and celebrated for acclaimed positions such as: painters, scientists, politicians, poets, writers, composers and dramatists. This in some ways is a stark contrast as to what people in society nowadays are celebrated for. This may be an area to look into.

Third visit to the NPG

On our third visit to the NPG we took particular notice to what they do to make themselves seen in the Trafalger Square area. From these photos you can tell that the NPG is rather hidden in this little community, and doesn't stand out anywhere near as much as the National Gallery that it tags on to. This is definitely an area that we wish to address and would be good to explore different mediums.

How often do people leave the office at lunch?

This article on the hugely entertaining scamp blog, shows (by way of poll) how often people leave the office at lunchtime in advertising.
The facts speak for themselves. I think people are willing to leave the office at lunch, and those who aren't could be persuaded. There is a poll now on that talks about stress in advertising, the creative professions are often high pressure, maybe we should pitch the NPG as a stress reliever?

10 minute talks at the National.

At the national gallery you can drop in for a scheduled 10 minute talk on different paintings (to learn about the back story, about the artist etc), there are 25min versions if you want a little more detail.
Also if you want there are lunchtime lectures (45 mins) on different subjects.
Maybe some drop in features like this could be worked into an idea, they are mega accessible and i think they may appeal to people, especially in the creative industries. What if we were to organize 20 min talks at lunchtimes, a different paining each day?

Look on there wiki under 'Free events'

The questionnaire.

We are currently trying to compile at least 50 or more of these, to really try and get a good picture of our target.
The questions are designed to expose what people really think of the NPG and if they would visit it in there lunch hour.
At the moment (we've only done a few) it seems people think its too 'museumish' and needs a better atmosphere.
The full results will follow, maybe in the form of pie charts :)

Awareness

Different and interesting way to get more people into the TATE. 'Flash Mobbing'. Executions like this may be the way forward?

It wouldn't be possible without history!

This is a poster for 'Chu Chi' museum where their strategy is 'it wouldn't have been possible without generous donations form america'. Very clever! One, it gives a little up yours to the americans and two it both promotes the gallery and tells us what the gallery is all about in the same line. Would be interesting to see if we could use a similar strategy for the NPG. Or just use a strategy as the main basis to our big idea rather than using gimmicks and different techniques to encourage pop in visits.

Using your surroundings

Here is a quick example of how a Museum in America has used its surroundings and local area to create a clever ambient. In this case The Museum were promoting an exhibition themed on the Titanic.

More examples for from the TATE gallery.

Again this campaign was created by Fallon London for the TATE gallery. This time they have gone about promoting the gallery using a copy piece. Its a brave move using this much copy in a print ad, but in this case it works wonderfully. The copy is written in such a personnel manner that makes it a pleasure to read instead of being a chore. Here are three examples that write in a similar style but use a different topic in all. Split up, Hung over and Meeting. Great example of how you can use just engaging copy to entice the viewer to visit the gallery. We could use these ad's as inspiration and instead of writing an ad for Split up, Hung over or Meeting we could create on for 'Lunch'?

The biggest portrait in the world

Graphic Design student Erik Nordenankar took it upon himself to create the worlds largest portrait. Using a GPS tracker and with a little help form DHL, the tracker made its way through 62 countries to create the portrait. Interesting medium and experiment. This is of particular relevance to us as we are researching the local area using maps. This experiment shows how you could combine maps and portrait.


This tracker acted as the artists 'pencil'


'the making of'

How long does it take to walk to the NPG?

Joe and I set out to find out this very thing yesterday, and here are the findings.
Our methodology was to walk north for 5, 10 and 15 mins, then repeat for south, west and east.
Then using our cunning, we manages to figure out what kind of catchment area you end up with!
(Red=5mins or less, Orange = 10 or less and Yellow = 15 or less. Dah!)


We can use this data now to better understand who is in this space, what kind of distance away we should think about putting whatever it is we come up with etc. Well all kinds of things really.

Brand Presence.

I found a post on the Johnson Banks 'thought of the week' blog about the BFI re-brand.
It feels like the NPG has no presence in the area. For example, the only real signage is immediately outside the door of the NPG, and the council ones on the lamp post aren't even pointing the right way! (i'm not joking)
Maybe the NPG needs a solid brand statement (like how the BFI's has been overhauled) to bring it up to date?

How far can you get from the NPG in 5 mins?

Well, Today we found out how far you could get from the NPG in 5 mins (also 10/15/20). We thought we would make a video to show just how we did it.
Now we have maps to show just how far you can get in those allocated amounts of time, now we can work out what (and who) falls into that catchment area, and how best to communicate with them.
Maps to follow!

Big marketing for small businesses

Okay i know its not strictly the same, but there are some really interesting insights on this blog about got to get a big bang for your buck. I know the NPG isn't 'small', but i think the ideas translate.
It describes itself as: 'Common and uncommon marketing ideas that help small businesses connect BIG with their customers'.

Check it out! LINK

Swedish Royal Opera

Look how you can take something thats currently thought of as 'stuffy' & 'boring' (opera) and create a ambient piece of advertising for it that changes peoples view. I love its simplicity.
The NPG problem is a local one, maybe the answers lie in how we set the tone of voice in the local area, and how we create a presence that will change the preconceptions of the public.

Clever ambient.

The UMFA Fine Arts Gallery in America have used a clever technique playing with textures to create an interesting and interactive ambient, the ambient piece highlights different styles of art, and artists they have on display.

The Grand tour.

Here are more images for the Grand Tour campaign created for the National Gallery. Great example, it shows the paintings in local areas for public to enjoy, with a kind of 'check this out, now come in for more' tone of voice, its quite a pertinent reference.

Art Gallery/Museum examples.

Here are a couple of examples of how other galleries have gone about finding an interesting strategy and exploited it through commercials.

This first spot is for the Getty Museum America.



This is a short spot for the Philadelphia Museum of Art and its exhibition 'Earth from above'.



The reason for me posting these isn't just because they are commercials for art galleries, it is to see how they have found a USP (unique selling point) and exploited it. For example in the second spot they have focussed on the 'Earth from Above' exhibition. With the strategy and line 'discover our planet'. The Alien coming along to steal valuable photography to do their very own research and 'discover' more about our planet is a nice touch. I feel after all this research this is what we need to come up with. A solid strategy - like 'discover our planet', could be 'discover england' and Osama Bin Laden is stealing the paintings? Incredibly stupid first thought i know but its an example.

'Tate Tracks'

The Tate modern recently created a campaign similar to what the NPG are asking for. The campaign by Fallon was aimed at 16 - 24 year olds, to encorouge pop in visits.
Their 'big idea' was to use music as a way of encouraging pop in visits. They commissioned popular musicians to choose a favorite piece from the gallery, and then and make a song using the art work as their inspiration. The track would be played on headphones beside the art work in the gallery. The campaign went from strength to strength and communicated with the target audience through a range of mediums.


Examples of posters that were distributed.





Great use of different mediums that relate to the target audience, such as : Fly posters,


stencils,


and an interactive microsite.

Here is a video explanation of the campaign.

Pop Art Portraits at the NPG

This open competition the NPG ran earlier in the year, it was open to everyone as a competition and was expanded to first exhibition to examine the role and significance of portraiture within Pop Art, one of the major art movements of the late twentieth century.

Interestingly it had its own microsite in from witch you could download MP3's of artists commentary etc to listen to either whilst going round or whenever. Good example of how you can use audio to embellish your idea.

The Museum Marketing Blog

I just found a relevant blog called the Museum Marketing Blog, quite an apt name really.

Jim Richardson of SUMO (the creator) says:
"I have been working with Museums for nine years, helping them to develop brand strategy, brand identity, marketing and websites.

There is loads of great insights on this blog about the stresses and strains of marketing and advertising museums (might as well be galleries).

The Grand Tour

The national gallery embarked on a hugely successful local (relevant) campaign last year, they simply made replica paintings (thanks to HP) and put them up around London. This idea coupled with a nice little website to contextualize them to people who have found them and weren't sure what they were, makes it a solid and popular campaign. The idea was to 'set free' the paintings into the local area and leave the public to enjoy, with a kind of 'check this out, now come in for more' tone of voice, its quite a pertinent reference.

Check the site

It was so successful in fact it was done in york for one of the NPG's satellite sites. Check it.

National Portrait Gallery.

The portrait below of Sir Paul Nurse by Jason Brooks was our pick of the day.




We have just received a new brief for the National Portrait Gallery, so today we took a trip to the gallery in Trafalgar Square. It was an interesting couple of hours and saw some incredible portraits ranging from William Shakespeare to David Beckham. Although the main reason was for primary research we found it an inspirational place that included sofas and lounges, ideal for chilling out with your sketchbook and get 'all creative and that'. Not sure how relevant the trip was as we haven't received the full brief yet, but you can never have too much research eh? Will keep you updated on any progress.