Researching Museums

I’ve been researching how various London museums market themselves these past few days. I have to say that I do love these museums, mostly because I like the concept of learning for its own sake. Very rarely do I go to one of these places because I need to research a specific subject anymore, it’s normally because I want to see the assorted pretty and cool objects or art on display. My tastes are pretty eclectic too, I’m just as interested in the fashion display at The V&A as I am in the dinosaur skeletons at The Natural History Museum or the combination of art and medicine at The Wellcome Collection.

However, not everyone has the time or the inclination to see every London museum so it’s important for these places to provide information to potential visitors on what they offer. This is what made me think that the marketing produced by museums would be interesting to explore. Each one has a different feel and theme to it which might appeal to different age groups, genders, nationalities and other variables. The need to attract both tourists and local visitors was one that I found particularly interesting. Not to mention that when you consider the different campaigns for different exhibitions within the same museum there’s a lot of information available from even a small selection of museums.

Incidentally The Science Museum and Natural History Museums are my favourites. I love the interactive displays and their subject matter. Not to mention the Natural History Museum has a gorgeous building. Then again most of the old places do. The British Museum is very impressive. Since they all have posters on them they’re part of the marketing as well!