London Shh… is a wonderful project that we have been working on at Sumo over the past six months, it brings together six small historic houses to promote their offer together.
Each house was once the home of a fascinating historical figure from Freud to Franklin, but as small venues in a big city they have to shout to be heard. By working together to form a new organisation each individual historic house can hit above it’s weight (or at least it’s marketing budget).
The partners in London Shh… are not alone in looking at how they can work together to promote museums and culture. Here are a few other who have caught my attention:
- Museum Mile brings together 13 museums and galleries in central London.
- Creative Tourist is a cultural guide to Manchester, created by the cities Museums and Galleries.
- i like museums… brings together over 80 museums in North East England.
- Explore Culture a guide to cultural Essex created by a diverse mix of arts organisations.
Are marketing partnerships part of your plan for 2010?
Complementary partnerships make absolute sense. Starting to see this with other visitor attractions too – and not just the ones owned by the same company. Geographical proximity or related themes are compelling for helping attract more visitors, and of course there are potential benefits for joint marketing, events, research etc too.
The Chicago Cultural Alliance is based on a similar model; we work with 26 of Chicago’s small ethnic museums and cultural centers to build their capacity, create cross-cultural programs, and build partnerships with some of the city’s larger cultural institutions.
Thanks for the link Cara! I’d be interested in any other joint marketing initiatives anyone has heard of. With marketing budgets looking like they will be tighter in 2010 we all need to look at how we can work together to get more for our money.