The judges said:
The jury was captivated by these brief, humorous, and informative advertisements. The quality of the animations was high; the message was clear and made you laugh.
The commercial successfully appealed to both children and parents, seamlessly providing the type of information that both audiences seek. The humor made all of us
think it would be an enjoyable family experience; not just an exhibit of facts and figures about dinosaurs. The high quality of the graphics led us to assume that
the exhibit would be high-quality too. Kudos to the production team for identifying their main message, communicating it clearly, and calling it a day. Great job!
The producers said:
Museum Victoria's campaign of 3 television commercials utilized the outstanding dinosaur animations we had commissioned for the 'Dinosaurs in Time' exhibition in the
Evolution Gallery at Melbourne Museum. The dinosaurs were animated by an external company —Act3Animation Pty Ltd—according to strict instructions of
Museum Victoria palaeontologists Dr. Tom Rich and Dr. John Long. The television commercials were then produced in-house by Museum Victoria's own staff including
Tim Rolfe (writer/producer) and Cameron Crowley (editor) and run as a promotional campaign in September 2006 on a major metropolitan network and regional TV
stations to promote Melbourne Museum during a set of School Holidays.
Melbourne Museum Marketing Manager Fay Valcanis reports that the commercials were an enormous success with visitor numbers increasing significantly in the period
during and after the campaign, with numerous visitors mentioning they had seen them on television and it had prompted them to visit. There was also a great deal of
positive feedback about the quality of the animations and the fun approach we had taken to their use.
The judges said:
The jury really liked the strategy behind this program. The idea that visitors to the website would have fun, possibly learn something, and support the museum's
marketing campaign through the viral quality of this program is very clever. It also brings recipients of the digital postcards in contact with the website of the
Frist Center for the Visual Arts. It appeals to a wide-ranging audience in both functionality and interest. The message translation in the hieroglyphs was a valuable
aspect of the activity. The quality of the digital images and clarity of the screen design make this a very good web-based interactive. The viral marketing concept
pushed it onto the podium.
The producers said:
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts hosted The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt exhibition in 2006. We knew this exhibition had broad appeal
beyond the typical museum attendee, and we wanted to make sure and introduce and promote this experience to as many people as possible and relay the quality (and
fun) of such an experience.
As part of the marketing efforts, we created a micro website specifically for this exhibition (www.egyptatthefrist.org). We wanted to give added incentive for people
to visit the microsite and return more than once. With that in mind, we created a section on the site that allowed visitors to create and send an email in
hieroglyphics to their friends and family.
Not only did this prove to be a fun activity for visitors to the site, but it also was educational and served as a viral marketing tool to promote the Egypt
exhibition. This also proved to be a popular activity among a younger audience (teens and 20s) which has typically been a harder market for us to
reach.
campaign video
The judges said:
The jury liked the visual (and non-verbal audio) approach of this piece. We watched it in near silence the first time through, and that fact had an impact on our
deliberations. The images were captivating. The Carnegie Museums appear beautiful and majestic and their role in the community was established and reinforced. The
music was thoroughly integrated, and there were no talking heads telling us how important the Carnegie Museums are to the community—it's understood. There
is also a wonderful continuity between past, present and future, despite the predictable path the piece follows. The future looks dynamic—filled with energy
and enthusiasm—something you'd like to be part of.
The producers said:
In November 2006, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh publicly launched its $150-million "Building the Future" campaign at a kick-off meeting of close
friends, donors, and volunteer leaders of the institution. Because the specific projects of the campaign were already public—including the creation of the
much-anticipated Dinosaurs in Their World exhibit at Carnegie Museum of Natural History—the purpose of the meeting was to announce an overall
campaign goal and, most importantly, create some excitement for the campaign as a whole. Through a short, inspirational, opening video, we had three objectives:
to wow our audience, make them proud of their museums, and impress them with just how broad Carnegie Museums' reach is and how many exciting things
we have going on over the next few years. The video was a great success, and we've since been using it to set the mood in smaller meetings with potential
donors.
The judges said:
The creation of individualized newsletters engages the public more effectively than a single muilti-topic offering. The E-mail Newsletter Project demonstrates
distinctive design, appropriate subject differentiation and the potential to engage target audiences.
The producers said:
Having successfully piloted two e-mail newsletters (one dedicated to Teacher Resources, the other monthly Family Days), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts broadened
is approach to the medium in 2006. In addition to the pilot projects, subscribers can now choose from any combination of regular e-mail subscriptions. There's a
General newsletter emphasizing exhibitions and events, a Members-only newsletter called Prism, e-mail updates on the MIA's unique Minnesota Artists Exhibition
Program, and various e-mail pieces related to the Circle — a new Membership group of young arts enthusiasts. Designed as a family of communiqués, the
individual pieces have common design themes while embodying qualities unique to their intents and purposes. While the general newsletter has the broadest potential
audience, the other pieces — catering to more specialized interests and/or audience segments — fill in the details. All of the newsletters have strong
connections with the website, in-museum Interactive Directories, and animated signage — rounding out the channels of electronic communication through which
the MIA presents cohesive information about its exhibitions, collections, and programs.
