Stedelijk Museum Annual Report 2012

Marketing and Communication
Overview
For the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2012 was unquestionably one of the most
important years in terms of marketing and communication. Following the long
closure, the Marketing and Communications Department adopted a strategy to
reposition the Stedelijk as the largest museum of modern and contemporary art in
the Netherlands. Besides acquainting existing and new audiences with the renewed
and reopened Stedelijk, the department strove to attract as many visitors as
possible to the museum. Marketing campaigns focused on art lovers in the
Netherlands and other countries, and on the people of Amsterdam, with particular
attention to young audiences and families.
Prior to the opening, the department assessed the types of public groups to be
targeted. Before the reopening, a survey was conducted to identify Dutch
audiences’ perceptions of the Stedelijk, and gauge their awareness of the museum
as a brand. Further research into brand awareness will be carried out in 2013, and
the findings will be compared to those of 2012 to ascertain whether the media and
press strategies continue to achieve the desired result.
Campaign
The objective was to represent the Stedelijk by these core concepts: active, alive,
and anticipated. In keeping with the spirit of the campaign, the slogan was “WE
ARE OPEN.”
The reopening campaign was launched a week before the grand opening of the
new Stedelijk. Every facet of the campaign aimed to put the museum back on the
map as a ground-breaking, world-class art institution, and to stimulate the public’s
curiosity. At the heart of the campaign was this message: Starting on September
23, everyone is welcome back to the Stedelijk. The sense of welcome was integral
to the campaign, and it reflects the mission of the Stedelijk to be a home for art and
artists and a meeting place for a wide variety of audiences.
The campaign concept was devised and realized by graphic design duo Mevis &
Van Deursen and Erik Kessels of KesselsKramer. In keeping with the Stedelijk’s
commitment to being an artist-centered institution, a distinctive textual and
typographic campaign was created. The slogan WE ARE OPEN was embodied in
poems written by Norwegian artist Hanne Lippard.
The Stedelijk brought 2012 to a successful close, exceeding expectations. The key
objective for the department was to attract 250,000 visitors to the museum by the
end of the year. After the festive reopening at the end of September, some 300,000
people visited the museum in the space of just three months. With activities ranging
from performances and film screenings to lectures and symposia, between
September 23 and the end of the year, almost 10,000 people participated in the
Public Program and more than 10,000 students became acquainted with the
Stedelijk. During the Christmas holiday, the Atelier of Light was a hit among our
youngest visitors, attracting more than 5,000 people.
Partnerships
Another key objective was to ensure that no one could fail to be aware of the
imminent opening of the Stedelijk. In partnership with public transportation manager
GVB, Amsterdam Marketing, ad broadcaster STER, the RTL entertainment network,
NRC Handelsblad, Het Parool, Telegraaf, and De Bijenkorf department store chain,
the Stedelijk organized specific campaigns that included: a Stedelijk tram, flags,
newspaper advertisements, outdoor signage (MUPIs), online banners, and
commercials on Dutch television channels STER and RTL. In addition, window
displays at De Bijenkorf were devoted to the work of three young artists, along with
the opening campaign messages and the voice of Hanne Lippard. The (partially
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