Andrew Marcus, Head of Communications at Museum of London, tells Figaro Digital how they enlisted the support of rapper Tinie Tempah to promote the museum’s new Sherlock Holmes-inspired tweed
What do you get if you put a famous English rapper in a tweed jacket and send him down the catwalk? In October 2014, Museum of London took it upon themselves to find out with a campaign designed to promote their exhibition, Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived And Will Never Die. Partnering with Liberty of London, Christys’ Hats and Lovat Mill (Hawick, Scotland), they crafted a fabric to bring together the history of tweed and contemporary tailoring in London. Then they sent Tinie Tempah out in it.
“Museum of London has to think like a consumer brand,” Deputy Head of Communications Andrew Marcus told delegates at Figaro Digital’s Content Marketing Seminar. This means connecting with the city’s influencers. “You may think of museums as being all to do with history, but if there isn’t a relevance to our lives now, then what’s the point?” For this reason, Museum of London’s marketing strategies centre on the interests of two very specific personas: the ‘cultural connoisseur’ (sophisticated city dwellers looking for high quality experiences), and the arty, trendy ‘London insider’.
A Study in Grey (With Blue and Gold)
Having survived over 120 years, 56 short stories, four novels and recent screen adaptations by the BBC and Guy Ritchie, Sherlock Holmes is very much a part of London. But the campaign aimed to do more than inspire a passion for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless character. It was part of a larger objective to situate London as the capital of men’s fashion, with Holmes’ iconic tweed as the centrepiece.
“London is incredibly important to the men’s fashion industry. There’s a big project to position it as the spiritual home of menswear and we underpin the history of that”, says Marcus. The museum unveiled the suit, modelled by Tinie Tempah, at one of the largest celebrations of men’s fashion in the city, London Collections: Men. The fabric’s contemporary look—an urban grey with tones of royal blue and gold—is a combination of three factors: research into menswear forecasts for the next three years; late Victorian hat and tweed fashions; and an analysis of colour references in Conan Doyle’s stories.
Before revealing the suit, the museum released a range of Christys’ deerstalkers and other hats made from Museum of London Tweed to coincide with the launch of the exhibition. These were available to buy from Liberty of London, Christys’ Hats and the museum shop, and were also sent out to journalists.
“In many ways, this was just a PR stunt,” laughs Marcus. “We actually didn’t think we’d sell many. I think we ordered 50, Liberty ordered even less. But we sold loads. They sold out in days, and we re-ordered again and again and again.” The prestigious brand partnerships were made with the ‘cultural connoisseur’ in mind, meaning that the end product was of high quality.
London Collections: Men AW15 coincided with the museum’s low January period, which made it an ideal time to reveal Tinie Tempah’s new suit. “We did a PR tactic that other museums wouldn’t think of doing,” says Marcus. “We dressed Tinie Tempah up in his suit and sent him off to the catwalks. It was a really fun moment. We used the story across our social channels and blog. Harper’s Bazaar actually took a photo of Tinie Tempah in the front row seats of Topman’s fashion show, wearing our suit.” This was social media coverage that, arguably, few other museums would be able to replicate. But more than this, it was a declaration of the museum’s relevant approach to marketing.
The Game is Afoot
Taking this a step further, the museum partnered with video production company LAMB&SEA to document the story behind the Museum of London Tweed. The 14-minute film was a departure for the organisation: “We’d done a lot of video content for YouTube, primarily sticking to three minutes and under. We’d also done a lot of video where a curator talks to the camera about a particular topic. This is always brilliantly successful for us, as the Museum of London is absolutely brimming with content, and we have amazing spokespeople. That was easy. But we wanted to challenge ourselves with a documentary.”
At the time of writing, the video—designed to appeal to the discerning ‘London Insider’ demographic—has racked up nearly 6,000 views on the museum’s YouTube channel. “For some brands that doesn’t sound a lot,” says Marcus. “But for us that’s really successful”. The campaign also had coverage in GQ Magazine, the Evening Standard, London Live, BBC London, the Daily Mail, and Women’s Wear Daily.
The museum’s use of carefully conceived personas underpinned a campaign that proved timely, relevant and bursting at the seams with enticing content. Marketers can follow suit by thinking hard about who they are trying to reach, and how they want these people to interpret their brand. Thread this knowledge into every action.
museumoflondon.org.uk