FIGARODIGITAL.CO.UK
ESSAYS
Given the huge amount of material at the gallery’s disposal, how does Tate map out the journeys they want users to take? “For a lot of people digital activity can
almost be an afterthought,” says Pavlou. “It’s often siloed away from the main campaign. For us, it’s fundamental. Our audience is global. Of our online audience, a lot of people are never going to come to London or Liverpool or St Ives. If they can’t engage with us physically, we want them to be able to do that online. Our website isn’t just about gallery information and opening hours. It’s much bigger than that. A lot of our archive is online. Fifty per cent of users are coming to us for research purposes. We want to create that offline experience online, which a lot of retailers are starting to do now. An online visit is just as valuable to us as a physical visit to the gallery. I would never see that as second best.”
Digital has also proved a
fertile testing ground for new ideas. One of these has been #TateWeather: regular Tweets tied to the daily forecast accompanied by an appropriately atmospheric—in every sense— picture from the collection. The idea, explains Pavlou, was dreamt up one Friday afternoon with no real sense of how it might evolve. “It was just a fun, slightly whimsical idea which we thought we’d have a go at, but it generated such a good reaction. There were so many Retweets and comments that we’ve made it part of our outdoor campaign. Every Thursday and Saturday we take over the digital screens on the Tube with the forecast. It’s been great because it engages the audience, people follow us on social media and it warms people to the Tate brand in way that’s not a hard marketing push. It’s a fun bit of content but it gets seen by
millions of people on the Underground. The point is that starting that on social media involved very little risk for us. We didn’t have to put any money behind it but it’s developed into something people really associate with Tate.”
EVERY INSTALLATION TELLS A STORY In March this year Tate hosted Tracey Emin’s iconic 1998 installation My Bed.
We were very lucky in that we had access to Tracey as well. We filmed her installing the bed and talking through her feelings about it. We told the whole story.” Three films of different lengths were
a part in the bigger picture Every digital element plays
This, you’ll recall, was a portrait of the artist in objects: dirty sheets, discarded clothes and empty bottles arranged around an unmade bed. It was a confrontational piece of work, but the real significance was in the backstory, which involved the breakdown of a relationship.
“This was one of the first displays
where what we did was really a hundred per cent digital,” says Pavlou. “It’s a very emotional and moving piece. We thought we can’t possibly translate all that into a static image. Video was both the natural and the most accessible medium to use.
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created for different platforms and contexts. These ranged from a 30-second slot for Facebook to a six minute version. “It worked really well. Partly because we had an iconic artist and an iconic work. But I don’t think that campaign would have received the traction it did if we’d just gone with a digital MPU ad. We made sure everything was tied into Tracey herself.” For Tate’s 2015 installation, Emin added two oil paintings by Francis Bacon. “We met Tracey and discussed the bed and the fact that she’d hung the room with Francis Bacon works. That became the hook for a Twitter tour: Tracey Tweeted her way round the room and talked about the pictures and her own work. It was very personal; to get that sense of a live, one-on- one with an artist is very rare. She herself was fundamental to the campaign. It was what she said that made the films so great.”
Tate, of course, are in the fortunate position of hosting a world class collection of artwork, which is helpful when it comes to creating and curating content. But the strategic principles are applicable to brands in any sector. Content is grounded in stories, community, interactivity and giving audiences a reason to explore further. G allery and strategy are inseparably entwined, which means every digital element plays a part in the bigger picture.
tate.org.uk
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