Communicating with the community

In 2014–15, the Museum continued to raise its profile and brand visibility in local, national and international markets. The Museum placed a greater emphasis on developing partnerships, securing external distribution networks and transitioning from traditional media into the digital media environment. The Museum developed and implemented a Road Map for Communications and Marketing Strategy and the Communications Plan focused on developing the Museum’s digital platforms, partnerships and distribution channels.

A highlight of the year was the development and implementation of a new Museum brand campaign ‘Where our stories come alive’, which included television, print, digital and social media. Successful strategies and creative campaigns were developed for the exhibitions Spirited: Australia’s Horse Story, The Home Front: Australia during the First World War, Warlpiri Drawings: Remembering the Future, Australian of the Year Awards 2015, and the Australia Day Your Way Twitter campaign.

A key achievement in 2014–15 was the development and implementation of the Museum’s social media strategy and the appointment of a dedicated social media coordinator.

The Museum again partnered with Twitter and the National Australia Day Council for the Australia Day Your Way campaign, which was curated over 26–27 January 2015. The event was promoted to global audiences via the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Tourism Australia through their international offices and online social media channels. This approach to promoting the Australia Day Your Way event resulted in doubling the number of tweets to 140,000 and engaging an international audience for the first time.

The Museum developed key partnerships with organisations including AccorHotel, QT Canberra, Qantas and Virgin members lounges, Twitter, Google Australia, Prime7, the Canberra Times, 666 ABC Canberra and Foxtel.

Wholesale distribution of tickets to the exhibition, Spirited: Australia’s Horse Story provided the Museum with further promotional opportunities to market the Museum outside Canberra.

The Museum maintained its close links with the Canberra tourism industry with Museum representatives attending trade shows in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne and participating in Tourism Australia’s events, Australian Tourism Exchange and Corroboree UK/Europe. The Museum provided industry support through committee representation on the Australian Tourism Export Council and the Tourism Industry Advisory Council (ACT committees). These events and partnerships provide the Museum with access to international distribution networks and the opportunity to raise the profile of the Museum and build relationships with suppliers, agents and wholesalers working in international tourism markets.

Advertising and market research

In accordance with reporting requirements contained in Section 311A of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, the Museum annually reports expenditure on advertising and market research. Expenditure by the Museum in 2014–15 is summarised in the following chart:

Note: In accordance with s 311A(2) of the Act, only payments over $12,166 are reported.

Australia Day Your Way

The Australia Day partnership between the National Museum, Twitter and the National Australia Day Council involved a call for Australians to tweet images of how they spent Australia Day to the hashtag #AustraliaDay.

In 2015, the partnership attracted more than 140,000 tweets during the live curation on 26–27 January. The digital exhibition, Australia Day Your Way, displayed 1,643 images online, on the large screen in the Main Hall, and in the Visions theatre.

The exhibition Spirited: Australia’s Horse Story was launched in September 2014 with a multimedia press release that combined video, audio, images and text, giving it broad appeal across broadcast, print and online media.

The most popular media stories arising from Museum activities, as measured by broadcast numbers, print and online circulation figures, included:

• the discovery of Phar Lap’s heart specimens as part of the Spirited exhibition
• the launches of the joint National Museum of Australia — British Museum Encounters project, the Museum’s Encounters: Revealing Stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Objects from the British Museumexhibition and its sister show at the British Museum, Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation
• the acquisition of Michael Chamberlain’s V8 Torana hatchback
• Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s launch of the Defining Moments in Australian History project
• the joint National Museum of Australia — National Australia Day Council Australian of the Year Awards 2015 exhibition
• the launch of the Warlpiri Drawings: Remembering the Future exhibition.

Overall in 2014–15 the Museum reached a combined broadcast, print and online media audience of 175,357,487. This included a radio and television audience of 17,843,500, a print circulation of 40,977,890 and an online reach of 116,536,097.

National Museum of Australia Press was established in 2004 and publishes scholarly, special interest and corporate titles, as well as books for general readers and exhibition catalogues.

In 2014–15, the press published three exhibition-related publications, Spirited: Australia’s Horse Story, The Home Front: Australia during the First World War and Behind the Lines: The Year’s Best Political Cartoons 2014.

Two issues of the Museum’s scholarly journal, reCollections: A Journal of Museums and Collections, a number of corporate publications and two issues of The Museum magazine were also published. The magazine is distributed nationally and presents information on a diverse range of exhibitions, programs and activities.