Experiments with smartphone apps at the Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton & Hove. Talk given at Museums Association's 'All in Hand' event, 28 November 2013. Features the BrightonMuseums and Story Drop smartphone apps.

1. The Download Conundrum
A Tale of Two Apps
Kevin Bacon
Digital Development Officer

2. Why mobile?
• Website: 20% mobile
users; 14% tablets
• Ofcom: 51% adults
own smartphone
• Eyeball evidence

3. It’s not just about apps!
• Multimedia guide in
Royal Pavilion
• Roll out of wifi in our
museums
• Moving to mobile first
web presence
• Experiments with QR
codes in galleries

4. ‘If an app is the answer, what’s
the question?’
BrightonMuseums
How do we put information about
our museums in people’s
pockets?
Story Drop
How do we put stories
about our collections out
in the city?

5. BrightonMuseums
• Launched Oct 2011
• Free download for iOS and Android
• Simple ‘brochure’ app that replicates content
that can be found on web…
• … but it’s not an alternative to a mobile website
• Uses map and camera functions of phone
• Downloads incentivised through minor
reduction in admission fee to the Royal Pavilion
Target audiences
• Regular visitors (handy means of keeping
up to date)
• Visitors coming to Brighton (bypass poor 3G
coverage, cross-promote other sites)

8. Success?
• 5228 downloads in 2012-13
• 30% conversion rate into paying entrance
to Royal Pavilion
• 8% of surveyed Pavilion visitors have seen
app

9. But…
• Unclear how many visitors have been
drawn to other sites
• Does it cannibalise admission fees?
• Trials of gallery specific content have only
shown low usage

10. Story Drop
• Soft launched Sep 2013
•Free download for iOS and Android
• Scavenger hunt
• Driven by flexible CMS to enable regular
content updates
• Playful approach
• Intended as platform for community generated
content
Target audiences
• Heritage tourists
• Exhibition visitors (augmenting experience)
• Urban explorers
• Communities of Place

11. Pick a tour

12. Getting there

13. Unlocking content

14. Playful / Gamish
• Cryptic clues
• Leisurely orienteering
• Reward systems
• Point systems

15. • Recontextualising
collections
• Lightweight extension
for exhibition
programme
• Platform for
partnership working
• Pervasive heritage
Why take it outside?

16. www.mapthemuseum.org.uk/

17. Museum Content
• Heritage at Hand
• Pavilion Estate
• Mystery Tour
• Brighton As Might Have
Been (Jan 2014)

18. Partner Content
Turner in Brighton
(early December 2013)
Crime & Punishment
(late December 2014)

19. Success so far?
• Initial interest from families
and non-users
• Keen external contributors
• Media interest
• Likely level of use still
unknown

20. What we’ve learned
1. Go cross-platform
• 56% iOS vs 44% Android
• It’s not just about market
share…
• ... it’s about inclusion

21. What we’ve learned
2. Hook it into core business
• Apps are expensive and difficult to scale
• Maintain regular or evolving motivations
for visitors to download
• Flexible CMS keeps app fresh and allows
for more experimentation with content

22. Android ‘clicks’
iPhone ‘clicks’

23. What we’ve learned
3. Apps are a headache…
Expensive to develop
Platform specific
Costly to maintain
Only available to
smartphone users
Google Play and App
Store poor distribution
systems
User needs to commit
time to download
Often unstable

24. What we’ve learned
3... but people like them

25. What we’ve learned
3. Reaching non-users?
What would make you visit [venue] today?
Smartphone apps:
52% Brighton Museum
66% Brighton Dome
More than joint ticket offers, guided tours and
signage with historical information
Sep 2013 internal survey

26. Thank you!
kevin.bacon@brighton-hove.gov.uk
@fauxtoegrafik
http://bit.ly/1cLAmU1
http://bit.ly/1i9oO4g