1. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission1
TOWERS OF TOMORROW
WITH LEGO®
BRICKS
BEST TEMPORARY EXHIBITION
COMMUNICATIONS
2. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission2
Q U E S T I O N 1 : B R I E F
Towers of Tomorrow with LEGO®
Bricks
represented Sydney Living Museums’
(SLM) first major family focused exhibition.
It was the key attraction at Museum of
Sydney (MOS) over the 2014/15 summer.
Expectations for this campaign
were high and included achieving:
1. High-level public awareness
2. High unpaid media value
3. High visitation targets
4. Attracting a new family audience
to MOS and engaging with the
next generation of museum goers
CHARACTER COUNT:496
3. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission3
Q U E S T I O N 2 : S T R AT E G Y
We achieved this by capitalising on the
audiences’ existing love of all things LEGO,
with a campaign that referenced key elements
of the LEGO brand, while working within
their strict copyright restrictions, using:
• bright colours
• a ‘block shapes’ title treatment
• free ‘Lego Movie’ screenings
• key messages around creativity
The limited paid advertising budget was
maximised with strong publicity and social
media including user-led promotions
To gain the audiences’ immediate
engagement by leveraging the strong
goodwill of the LEGO®
brand to promote
a fun hands-on family experience
CHARACTER COUNT:497
4. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission4
Q U E S T I O N 3 : C H A L L E N G E S
First ever exhibition at MOS
with an additional entry fee
First ever timed-entry exhibition at
MOS (pre-booking recommended)
Exhibition capacity of only 90 visitors
per session (7-8 sessions daily)
Our first exhibition targeting a
‘children and family’ audience (no
existing databases and limited
brand recognition in this space)
Strict LEGO®
copyright restrictions
- Not allowed to use the LEGO
logo or minifigure depictions
and strict guidelines around
the use of word LEGO
Budget of only €55,000
This exhibition presented numerous
communication challenges:
CHARACTER COUNT:490
5. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission5
Q U E S T I O N 4 : T O O L S
Publicity: interviews, photo
shoots, sneak-peeks etc.
Social media: sneak-peeks,
giveaways, time-lapse videos etc.
Paid online advertising
Shopping centre out-of-home
signage (digital signs)
Cinema door out-of-home signage
Print ads in School Holiday
and Family inserts (metro newspapers)
Print flyer and postcards
Outdoor museum signage
User-generated social
media promotion (‘Snap
Share’ competition)
We applied a diverse suite of colourful
materials across print, digital and outdoor
to carefully target family audiences:
CHARACTER COUNT:499
6. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission6
Q U E S T I O N 5 : O U T C O M E S
1. High level public awareness:
• 90% of visitors were aware of the
exhibition before attending*
• 700+ user-led Instagram posts
2. High unpaid media value:
• Over €2.2m†
in independently
verified PR/Media Value
3. Visitation that broke
20yr MOS records
• More than double the visitation vs
same period previous year (up 114%)
• Most museum visits in one day
• Most museum visits over one weekend
4. Attracting new family audiences:
• 78% of visitors attended with children*
• 63% of visitors attended
MOS for the first time*
This campaign delivered the most
successful exhibition ever held at MOS.
†
*
CHARACTER COUNT:487
VIEW ONLINE PDF: Visitor Valuation Report
VIEW ONLINE PDF: Media / PR value report by Haystac Australia
9. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission9
S C E N O G R A P H Y
10. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission10
S C E N O G R A P H Y
Right
The iconic towers from Asia and
Australia featured in the exhibition
were built by Ryan McNaught
(pictured), one of only 12 LEGO®
certified professionals in the
world, and the only one based
in the Southern Hemisphere.
The communications campaign
made great use of Ryan’s existing
profile, using him extensively
as a media spokesperson and
through print and video interviews
shared on social media.
FAR Right
A photo shoot was held prior to the
exhibition opening to ensure a suite
of media images were available
to assist in the promotion of the
exhibition and to guarantee media
interest. This photo shows the size of
the buildings, that were recreated
in amazing detail from LEGO
bricks. Some of the buildings in the
exhibition stood over 3m in height.
11. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission11
S C E N O G R A P H Y
ABOVE
Special lighting and a vibrant LEGO
themed colour palate were used
throughout the exhibition to bring the
joy and fun of the communications
campaign into the exhibition itself.
Right BELOW
As well as standing in awe
of the 18 amazing LEGO®
skyscrapers featured throughout
the exhibition, visitors were
also inspired to create their
own ‘towers of tomorrow’
with over 200,000 loose LEGO
bricks available in hands-
on construction areas.
12. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission12
S C E N O G R A P H Y
A highlight for many was the
steadily rising LEGO®
metropolis at
the centre of the exhibition, where
visitors were encouraged to add
their LEGO creations at the end of
each session. This area grew so
quickly that staff were required
to dismantle it at the end of each
day, with the best buildings kept
and displayed in a special ‘Staff
Picks’ section of the exhibition.
The exhibition featured a special
DUPLO®
play area so that visitors
aged 0-3 years of age could still
enjoy hands-on fun at the exhibition.
13. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission13
S C E N O G R A P H Y V I D E O S
EXHIBITION VISITOR
TIME LAPSE
EXHIBITION BUILD
TIME LAPSE
EXHIBITION
BEHIND THE SCENES
14. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission14
C O M M U N I C AT I O N
E L E M E N T S : B R A N D I N G
PRIMARY TITLE TREATMENT
Referencing LEGO®
colours
and block shapes
KEY MESSAGES
Referencing LEGO brand values
of imagination creativity
TITLE TREATMENT
Secondary colour schemes
15. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission15
EXHIBITION
ONNOW
slm.is/towers
SLM WEBSITE SOCIAL MEDIA
C O M M U N I C AT I O N
E L E M E N T S : D I G I TA L
Towers of Tomorrow
Website Homepage:
• 103,267 unique visits (13 Dec
2014 – 28 June 2015)
• Avg. 3 minutes per page view
(higher than website average)
• 57% of visitors only visited this page (an
indication of the effective targeting of the
social media and digital campaigns)
Facebook advertising:
• 3,750 customer referrals
Google Adwords:
• 5,212 customer referrals
Outbrain:
• 564 customer referrals
Other paid digital
advertising including:
• Daily Telegraph (Sydney Metro news)
• ArtsHub Christmas Gift Guide
• Mums Grapevine (Children-activities
orientated blog and e-news)
16. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission16
A ‘Snap Share’ competition
with LEGO®
prizes was promoted
within the exhibition space.
The competition prompted visitors to
take photos of themselves with their
LEGO creations and to share them
to their own social networks through
Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
More than 700 visitor-generated
images were shared on Instagram
alone; giving the exhibition
fantastic unpaid word-of-
mouth promotion and exposure
to the friendship networks of
exhibition visitors themselves.
C O M M U N I C AT I O N
E L E M E N T S : S N A P S H A R E C O M P E T I T I O N
17. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission17
NSW, DigiLite
NSW, DigiLite
Landscape Digital
C O M M U N I C AT I O N
E L E M E N T S : O U T- O F - H O M E
Shopping Centre Digital
17 Digital Screens across 7 Shopping
Centres for 2-8 week campaigns
Cinema Doors
2 Cinemas x 8 week campaigns
18. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission18
C O M M U N I C AT I O N
E L E M E N T S : O U T- O F - H O M E
SHOPPING CENTRE
Digital screen treatments
19. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission19
C O M M U N I C AT I O N
E L E M E N T S : O U T- O F - H O M E
Billboard and Triffid
Museum of Sydney forecourt,
high foot traffic visibility
POSTCARD CAMPAIGN
20,000 postcards x 4 week campaign
Distributed via Avant Card postcard racks
at 200 locations (from cafes to other arts
cultural institutions) across Sydney
Flyer campaign
10,000 DL flyers distributed
via Informed Tourist brochure
racks at 300 venues (5 star to
backpacker) across Sydney
MUSEUM
OF SYDNEY
13 DEC 2014 – 19 APR 2015
LEGO AND THE LEGO LOGO ARE TRADEMARKS OF THE LEGO GROUP
SYDNEY
MUSEUMS
PASS holders
pay only $5
Exhibition
supporting
partnErs
slm.is/towers
tickets: $15
(includes museum entry)
#SLMtowers
21. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission21
C O M M U N I C AT I O N E L E M E N T S :
P R I N T A D V E R T I S I N G
Saturday Herald
(Sydney Metro Newspaper)
• Good Weekend pullout: Full-page
ad, Circulation 221k, readership 613k
Sunday Herald
(Sydney Metro NEWSPAPER)
• Essential Kids School Holiday Guide:
Half-page ad, print readership 597k
Saturday Telegraph
(Sydney Metro NEWSPAPER)
• Best Weekend pullout: 4pp
wrap-around including editorial,
circulation 536k, readership 1.3m
Sunday Telegraph
(Sydney Metro NEWSPAPER)
• School Holiday Fun Guide pullout:
Step-shape ad (pictured),
circulation 488k, readership 1.3m
The Australian
(National NEWSPAPER)
• Culture Magazine pullout:
Full-page ad, circulation 300k
STEP-SHAPE ADVERTISEMENT
Referencing LEGO®
block shapes
22. Sydney Living Museums • Best Temporary Exhibition Communications Submission22
C O M M U N I C AT I O N E L E M E N T S :
P U B L I C I T Y
This combined coverage was
independently valued at over
€2.2m* in unpaid media value
and included 26 online stories, 75
print articles, 8 stories on national
television and 6 radio segments.
The publicity campaign for this exhibition
generated 115 known stories*
across
print, broadcast and online media.
* VIEW ONLINE PDF: Visitor Valuation Report
