New branding strategy for the State Russian Museum
The Russian Museum in St. Petersburg is one of Russia's four principal museums
For the past few months, a six-person consulting team from Russia has been working on a pro bono project to strengthen the State Russian Museum's ailing brand.
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. So 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.
The team identified three main audiences – two of them in the classical segment (art lovers and lovers of history) and one contemporary. Interestingly enough, the Russian museum actually has works of art that appeal to "emotional audiences": modern and contemporary art. So the question remained whether it was possible to expand the current brand to embrace all three audiences. The recommendation was to establish a sub-brand for each of those audiences. These three sub-brands have to be clear-cut enough to realize the maximum appeal to each audience.
On January 25, the consultants presented the project findings and suggestions for the marketing mix for each brand to the museum's management and members of its International Advisory Board in London. The new branding strategy was finally accepted by the advisory board and the Russian Museum will implement it in the next months.
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. So 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.
The team identified three main audiences – two of them in the classical segment (art lovers and lovers of history) and one contemporary. Interestingly enough, the Russian museum actually has works of art that appeal to "emotional audiences": modern and contemporary art. So the question remained whether it was possible to expand the current brand to embrace all three audiences. The recommendation was to establish a sub-brand for each of those audiences. These three sub-brands have to be clear-cut enough to realize the maximum appeal to each audience.
On January 25, the consultants presented the project findings and suggestions for the marketing mix for each brand to the museum's management and members of its International Advisory Board in London. The new branding strategy was finally accepted by the advisory board and the Russian Museum will implement it in the next months.
