State Russian Museum - Russia

The Russian Museum in St. Petersburg is one of Russia's four principal museums. Despite the fact that over the past decade the number of visitors increased substantially, the museum and its brand are relatively unknown, especially beyond Russian borders.

Thus, a six-person consulting team from Russia has been working on a pro bono project to strengthen the State Russian Museum's ailing brand. Our marketing and branding experts reflected on the question what to do to boost the image, the brand and the positioning of the Russian Museum.

First of all, it was important to understand the museum's core audience and its visitors' needs. By surveying 1,200 participants from 22 countries and using a "Art Profiler" - a tool exclusively developed for the State Russian Museum -, the Roland Berger consultants managed to shed new light on what audiences expect from the museum. Based on these results a new branding strategy was elaborated subsequently.

Finally, the consultants presented the project findings and suggestions for the marketing mix for the new branding to the museum's management and members of its International Advisory Board in London. After having been accepted by the advisory board, the new branding strategy is now being implemented by the State Russian Museum.