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Streetmuseum is a perfect example of how a simple piece of communication can capture the audience's imagination and amplify its effect way beyond budgets and paid for media – generating over 20 times the target downloads, reams of national press coverage and tripling footfall to the Museum of London.
Brief
The museums market in London is somewhat saturated and, in communications terms, pretty noisy. Therefore, to announce the opening of the new Modern Galleries and to support their print media campaign, the Museum of London were looking for another way to cut through, beyond traditional media and, specifically, a way of hooking in Londoners and prompting them to visit and learn more about their city's heritage.
What they needed was a piece of digital content to engage and involve people, generate PR and further awareness of the new gallery openings.
Strategy
The team at Brothers and Sisters, like the majority of London's population, had migrated to the city, either from elsewhere in the UK or the world. London has become our adoptive city.
Using this knowledge, we reasoned that this love of London sparks a natural curiosity and genuine interest in the stories contained within the galleries.
The insight? Londoners love to know about London.
Execution
Knowing that the iPhone was growing in popularity at an incredible rate, particularly within the younger, more affluent London market, we predicted that if anything would be a platform for viral activity in 2010 it would probably be an app.
This technological trend, combined with our insight about Londoners' love and desire for knowledge about their city, prompted us to develop a campaign which pillaged the image archive of the museum and to use the iPhone to take this content out onto the street so people could look at the past as they stood in the present. And so Streetmuseum was conceived.
The Streetmuseum iPhone app brought the Museum of London's extensive art and photographic collections out onto London's streets. The app guides users to sites across London and allows them to overlay images from the Museum of London's fantastic archive over real street scenes.
Results
With a target of 5,000, the app has now achieved nearly 150,000 downloads as well as generating huge value in press coverage, being prominently featured in national press titles including the Sun, the Guardian, Metro, Evening Standard and the Sunday Times. Streetmuseum was also an iTunes Featured new app, reached number 19 in the top free apps and was number two in the top free lifestyle apps.
In the weeks after opening, the galleries saw footfall triple and the profile of the new galleries continues to grow.
So, why did Streetmuseum perform so well?
At a basic level because it is free, so cost was not a barrier. While this was a factor, it doesn't explain why it reached number 19 in the apps table rather than 190.
It is a relatively easy concept to grasp: it overlays old images over modern streets. You don't need to be a techhead to get your brain around that one.
It was also easy to use; in one touch it's up and running without any need for a long-winded explanation of how to use it. It makes every technophobe feel like a pro.
It's a beautiful bit of design. It hasn't reinvented anything. It uses all the functionality and layout cues you already use everyday, but takes you to a whole new destination.
It is both useful and entertaining, which is the holy grail of app design. Many are entertaining, but when it comes down to it, pretty useless. They are just engaging diversions; little games to play on the bus. Others, like bus timetables, are really useful but rather dull. Streetmuseum is both useful and great fun if you happen to be walking about in London. Or sitting on a London bus looking for a distraction.
It's quite addictive. The layering of the past over the present is instantly gratifying and provokes the joy of discovery, making you want to explore further. People seem to love the idea of standing in a spot where history happened. Seeing the place where you work, live or are just visiting as it was 50, 100 or 200 years ago is pretty incredible. It feels as if the app gives us access to the past.
It makes for great images. Ideas spread virally when they catch the attention of the media and Streetmuseum had one especially important asset in this respect: it was photogenic.
Pictures of the old overlaid over the modern made for striking images that looked great in newspapers and magazines and print media love images because they are easy to digest, brighten a page and fill space. Striking pictures are the secret to getting in the papers and Streetmuseum provided them in abundance.
In fact the Streetmuseum app was so successful that Museum of London has since invested in an Android version and are developing an even more advanced version for the promotion of Roman London later this year.
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