Experience Music Project

Helping EMP|SFM become a center of music and culture in Seattle and the Puget Sound.

BACKGROUND

Our first project with the Experience Music Project (EMP) was a rush project with a two-week deadline. The task was to completely rebuild the museum’s member publication to better reflect the diversity and vibrance of EMP’s exhibits. We renamed, rebranded, redesigned, and published a newly-christened Imprint magazine in just 10 days.

Following hot on the heels of our work on Imprint, EMP hired Trio to develop an integrated campaign for their upcoming The Music Behind the Magic exhibition of Disney music from 1928 to today. Concurrently, we were invited to consult with EMP on their merger with the Science Fiction Museum (SFM) and strategize how to improve their membership roster and overall museum development.

PROCESS

We began with an extensive historical review of the museum from a visual and visitor standpoint, with a comparison of how the museum’s visitors had changed since opening.

We delved into visitor and membership data to determine trending demographics; the primary insight was that the museum was overwhelmingly frequented by tourists, while the percentage of visitors from the Seattle metro area were in decline.

Our goal was to broaden the appeal of the museum to local visitors and reposition EMP as a cornerstone of the Seattle music scene.

The Disney campaign provided the ideal opportunity to sell EMP as a local attraction. Coupling the unique style of Frank Gehry’s architecture with the iconic Mickey Mouse ears, we created an instantly recognizable symbol that was spread across Seattle as part of one of EMP’s largest campaigns to date.

Trio designed and executed all supporting materials for the campaign, from internal graphics and signage, to billboards, bus wrap graphics, outbound marketing pieces and even a redesigned visitor services booth.

Our work with EMP|SFM continued with notable exhibits Out of this World and American Sabor. Trio provided creative design and print execution services for everything from identity design and museum signage to visitor guides and marketing materials.

In addition to the standard performance indicators of membership and ticket sales numbers, our long-term goal was to develop a marketing department in-house for the museum and return control of creative to that group. In the meantime, our creative director stepped in as the museum’s interim marketing director.

DELIVERABLES

• Imprint Magazine branding, design, templates, and publication

• Integrated marketing campaigns: The Music behind the Magic, Out of this World, American Sabor

• Membership and development consulting

• Media buying

• Print production

• Direct mail

OUTCOME

The museum was successful in attracting new local visitors by changing their admission and membership fee structure and combining EMP and SFM together. At the time of its completion, The Music behind the Magic was EMP’s most successful exhibit to date. Membership had nearly doubled from approximately 3,000 to over 5,000 when we returned marketing operations to the museum’s in-house creative team and EMP|SFM was well on its way to becoming a center of music and culture in Seattle and the Puget Sound.