When the Museum of Sex opened, they spent a ton of money on really great advertising. When the prestigious Leopold Museum in Vienna had a show of nudes during a heat wave, they just said “come naked or in a bathing suit and get in free.” Guess who got more press coverage for less money?
see pictures here.
There is no doubt that sex sells, but, museums have had pictures of naked people since, well, we’ve had museums. Some one at the Leopold museum understands guerrilla marketing- and I place a bet, that not only will they get international press, they’ll have record turnout of gawkers just looking at the nude guests.
Museums often struggle with their marketing and work really hard to get people to come to their facilities. I’ve been a member of the Dayton Art Institute for years and think it’s one of the best venues for art I’ve ever been in (and I’ve been to museums all over the planet)- yet their marketing effort is always stuffy- totally failing to interest Joe Six Pack in visiting the museum. Even their single nights felt snobbish.
Of course, this campaign wouldn’t work for Dayton since admission is already free, but, I doubt anyone visiting the Leopold right now is worried about the price of admission- this campaign is priceless.
What do you think?
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