Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
Whew – after that mouthful, today I headed into the heat to the heart of Seattle, right under the famous Space Needle to see the EMP/SFMHF.
They are actually two museums on the same site and run by the same company – started by Paul Allen of Microsoft fame (you can Bing him for his story).
The EMP was designed by Frank Gehry (you’ll remember him from the Guggenheim Bilbao) and is an imposing building of blue and metallic waves.
I first heard about the EMP because of its architecture (thanks Damien) but again heard of it when Michael Jackson died. The EMP was fast to respond to his passing with a showcase featuring his black sequined jacket and the famous one glove.
They also quickly encouraged the community to contribute with a message board and chalk messages outside the museum. Hundreds of people came and shared their thoughts, memories and emotions on his life, music and his passing. The day he died Twitter melted down and so did EMPs feeds and blogs.
It’s an interesting museum with a unique set of visitors. The EMP gets hard core music fans as well as families and the Science Fiction Museum also has hard core sci-fi fans and families.
And within this they are trying to connect and attract the local market and encourage tourists to come.
So social media has become an integrated part of their marketing strategy. They are using Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Flikr to build their online community and their public programs and events are encouraging repeat visitation as well as encouraging fans to join the social networks.
The sci-fi community have very much taken ownership of their online spaces (as you’d expect) and are quick to respond and react to invitations and feeds from EMP.
Their traditional marketing has changed somewhat over the past few years both with the introduction of social media but also with a change in management. Their print media has been reduced but this is mostly attributable to the loss of one newspaper in Seattle due to the economic crisis and also to the budget cuts to the museums.
Direct mail has played a key role with EMP/SFMHF and the latest exhibition on Jim Henson Muppet exhibition has been well received through the dm campaign.
I loved the idea that the museum is hosting an adults only event this weekend with muppets and beer – ah to bring back the nostalgia of our generation’s childhood with our current love of beer!
I also particularly liked the furry walls where visitors can touch, feel and write in the fur on the walls. So much fun for adults and children alike.
