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How did Public Relations, Marketing and Advertising work for Tate Modern?
The case of Tate Modern poses unique questions for students of media, advertising and public relations. On the one hand, the name, location, public funding and prestige of the world renowned art gallery makes the issue of marketing and advertising more straightforward, constituting a significant head start to rival organisations that have to construct a brand name from relative obscurity. On the other hand, however, the level of success achieved by the Tate Modern in pure business terms has been so astounding that it deserves attention outside of the bounds of its pre‑conceived world status.
The following analysis into the convergence of public relations, marketing and advertising in relation to the burgeoning success story of the Tate Modern must take a chronological approach to see how the institution grew from quasi‑private London art museum into internationally acclaimed modern art gallery. The study must likewise look at the public relations assault launched by Tate Modern before attempting to draw a conclusion which suggests that the Tate Modern is a blueprint for marketing success within a specifically creative, artistic business environment.
The first incarnation of the Tate Art Gallery was opened in 1897, exhibiting works collected by Sir Henry Tate. The aim of the gallery was to expose the work of British artists born after 1790. It is a significant point; the Tate, from its conception, has always been a champion of creative innovation. This avant‑garde heritage is a key feature of the success of the public relations campaign of the Tate Modern as the image of being an ‘outsider’ within the broader British art community was fostered by the press, media and marketing departments in order to make the museum stand out from its many competitors both in the capital and on the continent.
The Tate Modern was not opened until 2000. The fact that, in just six years, the Tate Modern has become a centralised feature of London life is in itself testimony to the remarkable marketing job the board members of the gallery (in particular Director, Nicholas Serota) have undertaken. By the start of 2005, over twenty million visitors had passed through its doors, over double the number projected at the time of opening and the revenue generated from the gallery has exceeded £100 million per year. However, it should be noted that the Tate Modern was by no means a guaranteed success story from the outset. After the decision to equip London with a modern art gallery was made in 1992, fears abounded as to the ‘Disney effect’ - the 1990’s Parisian theme park equivalent of a public relations Hindenburg.
The Tate Modern has also had to combat the dominant cultural notion that ‘art is dead’; that much of what the gallery shows is frivolous, contemptuous art not worthy of the name (David Hopkins, 2001). The PR policy of the Tate Modern has overcome this sizeable obstacle by forging long‑lasting relationships with key members of the British art press, those individuals that formulate opinion on an exhibition and consequently influence the number of visitors to the gallery. By making the press feel part of the dynamic fusion of art and architecture that characterises the Tate Modern, the PR machine has been free to concentrate on attracting visitors to the site as opposed to fending off criticism from the tabloid press and contemporary mass media.
Marketing of the museum has concentrated on invoking memories of the old incarnation of the Tate Britain Museum and the aforementioned tradition of championing young, relevant creative talent. This has been achieved through a greater level of audience and visitor participation than has hitherto been witnessed in the generally formal theatre of art and tremendous emphasis on creating ties with the younger generations. The concept of using the museum as, for instance, a centre of education was immediately deployed, and there is little doubt that the interactive education programmes, new group forum facilities and revolutionary interpretive techniques were fundamental in the huge number of school parties that have visited the Tate Modern since its inception. Furthermore, a series of live shows over the past six years have attracted thousands of visitors to the gallery, none more so than the Kids’ Company exhibitions on the lawn outside of the Tate Modern in 2005. As broadcaster Jon Snow (Tate Modern Website; first accessed 20.02.06) details, the epicentre of the PR, marketing and advertising structure of the museum is located in the bonds it has managed to forge with the public.
“For the community of art lovers, and the wider public beyond, Tate Modern stands as a testament to the reality of that museums are no longer just repositories for artefacts; they are sites of experience, education and enjoyment, where the mind is engaged as much as the eye.”
Moreover, Tate Modern utilises the full range of multimedia marketing options, including new media, publishing, educational films and interactive courses, to cement the notion of ‘modernism’ with the gallery. Whereas National Museums appear anachronistic and formal, the Tate Modern has emitted an image of dynamism and innovation, using new technology as the vehicle through which to transport this idea. The use of the wide range of multimedia techniques in Tate Modern’s PR policy is not in itself necessarily a new concept. As Baines, Egan and Jefkins (2003) detail, such strategies have been developed by a myriad of western organisations, including the New Labour Government that indeed attempted to ally itself to the Tate Modern amid the manufacturing of ‘cool Britannia’ at the dawn of the twenty first century. Yet PR solutions alone cannot account for the unparalleled success of the museum.
Ultimately, the marketing success of the Tate Modern could not have been achieved without sound structural planning into how to attract visitors that would not normally wish to attend an art gallery. In doing so the organisers at Tate Modern have created a marketing monolith that relies as much upon word‑of‑mouth as it does high‑end marketing solutions due to the undeniably vibrant experience that the museum offers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baines, P., Egan, J., and Jefkins, F. (2003), Public Relations: Contemporary Issues and Techniques London: Butterworth‑Heinemann
Hopkins, D. (2001), After Modern Art: 1945‑2000 Oxford: Oxford University Press
Murray, A. (2001), Public Relations London: Hodder & Stoughton
Theaker, A. (2004), The Public Relations Handbook: Second Edition London & New York: Routledge
S. West (Ed.) (1996), A Guide to Art London: Bloomsbury
Websites
Snow, J. (2005) Reaching Out, quoted in, Tate Modern Website; http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/tm_5yearspublication.pdf
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