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OUTCOMES
Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees Annual Report 2013–14 17
VSOs used iPads to locate specific artworks in response to
requests from visitors, provide instant information on current
and upcoming exhibition and events, and assist with wayfinding
around the Cultural Precinct and the Brisbane area.
Marketing
The Gallery communicated to diverse audiences through
websites, social media, public relations and direct marketing
campaigns, as well as via print, digital and outdoor advertising.
Third party promotions through media partners Southern
Cross Austereo, Adshel, Seven Network, ABC Radio National
and Clemenger BBDO were also actively employed.
The Gallery’s campaign to increase visitation by Chinese
audience members has been very successful. In addition
to a national and international public relations and media
campaign, the Gallery undertook advertising with Australian
Chinese press and radio, as well as promotional activity
and out-of-home advertising aimed at the Brisbane Chinese
community. New relationships with Chinese inbound
operators were established to drive visitation to the Gallery,
predominantly focused on ‘Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling Back to
Earth’. A higher-than-usual four per cent of visitors to the
exhibition, or 9173 people, identified as being of Chinese
ethnicity.
Media coverage generated for ‘Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling Back
to Earth’ was valued by Media Measures at more than
$10 million, with significant profile achieved in international
outlets such as
The New York Times
,
TIME
magazine,
South
China Morning Post
and
Wall Street Journal
and
Asia.com
.
Develop targeted programming, marketing and
commercial services to attract new audiences
and encourage philanthropy.
Programming
By exploring the themes of each exhibition, public programs
brought new audiences to the Gallery on a regular basis.
• ‘Quilts 1700–1945’: Sunday Stitch-Ups featured suitcase
rummages and stitching workshops with The Stitchery
Collective, together with presentations by emerging
practitioners discussing sustainable local business ideas.
• ‘California Design 1930–1965: Living in a Modern Way’:
Endless Summer Sunday events drew on the exhibition’s
themes with swing dancing classes and retro glamour
styling demonstrations. California Design Up Late
attracted music fans and design aficionados to live music
performances and contemporary talks.
• ‘Trace: Performance and its Documents’: Trace Live was
a full day of events devoted to performance. Performance
artists and local dancers, as well as tertiary and emerging
contemporary artists, were targeted through a networking
event involving exhibiting artists and QAGOMA curators.
QAGOMA Members reached new audiences and enjoyed
steady growth throughout the year. Major achievements
included:
• Over 240 lapsed members renewed their memberships
as part of on-site membership drives during the opening
weekends of major exhibitions.
• A new Premium Membership category was introduced,
which achieved double its target of new memberships.
• A membership renewal rate of 60 per cent — up seven
per cent from the previous year.
• A four per cent growth in the overall Membership base.
Nine QAGOMA Foundation events were held during the year,
and Foundation membership increased with 19 new members.
The Foundation 2014 Annual Appeal to acquire Ben Quilty’s
Sergeant P, after Afghanistan
2012 attracted donations from
82 first-time Gallery donors.
Marketing
The Gallery’s online and social networking channels
increased levels of engagement, discussion and attendance
involving a diverse audience base. Digital assets were vital
to the marketing and outreach success of major exhibitions,
particularly ‘Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling Back to Earth’.
The Gallery undertook a new online audience development
initiative involving video seeding. A short video introducing
Cai Guo-Qiang to Australian audiences received over 147 000
views on YouTube, with 24 per cent of views achieved in the
first week. The video also generated 2980 social media shares,
‘likes’ and mentions.
Social media growth:
• Twitter followers
38% increase
• Facebook fans
41% increase
• YouTube views
124% increase
• Instagram followers
1158% increase
(NB: Instagram was a new platform for the Gallery from April 2013)
Audiovisual interpretive material such as artist and curator
interviews, performances and lectures were distributed via
digital channels to accompany ‘Quilts 1700–1945’, ‘My Country,
I Still Call Australia Home’, ‘California Design 1930–1965: Living
in a Modern Way’ and ‘Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling Back to Earth’.