Heide Museum of Modern Art 2010 Annual Report

8. Communications & Marketing
Market research remains key in
understanding existing and potential
visitors to Heide and in 2010 both
Quantitative and Qualitative research was
undertaken. Throughout 2010, audience
research was collected via surveys,
postcode data collection, purchasing
statistics and in-depth interviews and
focus groups.
In February, Heide joined a Newspoll
Omnibus questionnaire to determine
benchmark figures for awareness and
visitation levels amongst all Victorians. The
results indicated that 37% were aware of
Heide and of this number, 55% have visited.
With the Newspoll benchmark figures,
we could then explore gathering more
in-depth data with Visitor Monitors. The
key objective of the Visitor Monitors is to
understand the Heide experience – how
visitors find out about the exhibitions, who
they visit with and what activities they
engaged with whilst on-site to determine
reactions to specific exhibitions and
facilities, measure overall satisfaction and
provide a demographic profile of audiences.
They were developed to gather information
on gallery audiences, their demographic
profile, frequency of visitation, actions,
satisfaction levels and their methods for
information gathering. There were two
Visitor Monitors conducted in March and
July to coincide with the Central Galleries
exhibitions; Cubism & Australian Art and
Up Close. This research indicated that
Heide is a social environment with the
large majority of visitors attending with a
Friend or Spouse. Demographics changed
according to the appeal of the exhibitions
with Cubism attracting an older audience
Heide Museum of Modern Art
2010 Annual Report
when compared to Up Close. 60% of visitors
to Heide in July were first time visitors,
with 41% of visitors attending the café and
40% patronising the Heide Store.
In April, Heide undertook a qualitative
research project to understand and explore
the motivations and barriers to attendance,
determine perceptions of the Heide brand
among the community and identify key
messages, materials and programs likely to
build the profile and patronage among new
audiences. Key insights from the research
indicated how important it was to create an
effective multifaceted campaign to generate
noise and buzz about a specific exhibition;
assessibility, facilities and atmosphere are
all elements that contribute to the decision
making process for attendance; and that
Heide is a destination in itself – it is one of
‘Melbourne’s best kept secrets’. These key
insights were used to develop the successful
marketing campaigns for the year.
This year saw the appointment of Janet
Wells as Marketing & Communications
Manager in April and with the departure of
Jade Enge, Marketing & Communications
Coordinator, Nicole Kenning was appointed
to this position in November.
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