Museums and cultural organizations

In today’s very busy world, museums and cultural organizations aren’t just competing against other similar organizations. They’re competing against the local megaplex, sports teams, cable television, Netflix, and, perhaps, doing nothing.

Beyond competing for attendees, museums and cultural organizations compete with both similar and dissimilar organizations for media attention, corporate sponsors, board members, and individual donors. To attract attendees, sponsors, and support—and to extend the depth and reach of their mission—many cultural organizations have significantly expanded programming and increased the ways in which someone can connect and interact.

These wider options increase communication challenges; it’s harder to describe what an organization is, and does—and why—when you can connect by attending an exhibit or gala, tuning in via the Internet, or participating in an educational program. Constituents whose interest, commitment, and support are important often have a hard time understanding all the pieces and how they come together to add value to the whole.

Programs that are marketed with clever names (especially when there is an attempt to “brand” these programs) often increase confusion: a parent may be unaware that the after-school arts education program they send their kids to is run by the local arts center, because naming and inappropriate brand relationships obscure the connection. The result: the arts center doesn’t get credit for its efforts and a possible source of support is not engaged.

Branding and communications can help connect the pieces, earn you the credit you’ve worked hard for and deserve, and support the all-important mix of earned and unearned income. And both the process of brand-building and the system of thinking and communicating that results, can help everyone who communicates on behalf of your organization—formally and informally—to be better-informed, more effective ambassadors. Even staff whose business cards don’t say either “marketing” or “development” can advance both.

From the Fuller Craft Museum to the Harvard Museum of Natural History, from the Boston Center for the Arts to the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, from WBUR to WGBH, we work with museums and cultural organizations to build brands that elevate relationships from the program level to the institutional one, increase earned income and philanthropic support, engage both internal and external audiences, and build the awareness, comprehension, participation, and loyalty necessary to achieve and sustain success in a highly competitive and challenging landscape.