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2008 MSA Executive Director's Speech
Beverly Baroosk
Sunday, April 13, 2008 – Tampa, FL
The envisioned future of our strategic plan includes a public that recognizes the value and benefit of cultural institutions and of cultural commerce. We all need to be part of our institutions' efforts to find strategies to increase and maintain visitation. The more people there are in our museums, the more our stores will benefit.
I’d like to give you a brief update on our exciting partnership activities with the U.S. Cultural & Heritage Tourism Marketing Council and the Shop America Alliance.
Last year we published three white papers on the basics of tourism and tourism marketing. The fourth, about online travel and tourism marketing strategies, is on your chairs this morning and has been mailed to all MSA members. This year we will publish a second series of white papers on topics such as a profile of the cultural traveler, who they are and what they are looking for; an overview of the travel trade industry; and one on training your staff to be tourism ambassadors.
But, in addition to this, I am delighted to announce that by early 2009 we plan to publish the first edition of The Cultural Traveler, a high-image guidebook on the museums and museum stores in North America. The publication will be directed to the consumer market and to the travel trade industry. Our goal is to provide consumer exposure for MSA members to tourism audiences, to help you increase retail business and attendance in your institutions. This publication is an opportunity to purchase cost-efficient tourism marketing and PR and to showcase participating MSA members along with U.S. Cultural & Heritage Tourism Marketing Council Members in an attractive, high-image travel guidebook that will reach 40,000 plus consumers, tour operators, travel agents and travel media interested in museums and museum store shopping.
Your exposure to the tourism market will be further enhanced by an electronic version of the complete contents of The Cultural Traveler along with direct links to participants’ Web sites, which will be uploaded to a new Web site started by MSA called www.MuseumStore.travel.
This Web site will be marketed and promoted to the travel trade industry and will be enhanced by additional content opportunities as the project develops. The digital version will also be promoted on the U.S. Cultural & Heritage Tourism Marketing Council Web site, the ShopAmericaVIP.com site and other appropriate sites for increased exposure. The travel trade industry will be directed to this Web site where they can download and print its contents to send to their clients.
I think you and your institution will find this a prestigious, highly attractive and cost-effective way to reach a market you should and must be interested in. Each participant will receive 250 copies of The Cultural Traveler to resell at retail or to distribute as you wish as a membership benefit in your institution.
Upon its publication, MSA will issue a joint press release with the U.S. Cultural & Heritage Tourism Marketing Council to the media about The Cultural Traveler. We will also provide each advertiser participant with a shell press release that you can customize to announce your inclusion in The Cultural Traveler to your own press list.
Distribution of The Cultural Traveler will include a select list of media interested in this topic, 10,000 copies will go to tour operators, travel agents, and travel leaders in the United States, UK, Canada and Mexico.
MSA will be exhibiting at the American Association of Museums meeting in Denver at the end of April and we will promote this new marketing and PR opportunity along with the Knowledge Standards Program and MSA membership. If you have staff members attending the meeting be sure to tell them to stop by and see us in our booth, #127.
You have just heard about the launch of the Knowledge Standards Program. The goals of this program are to increase the credibility of cultural commerce professionals and to add value to your institutions through increased revenue and quality visitor experience. This program could never have been launched without the steady work and commitment of a distinguished group of your peers. Stay tuned, more to come in 2009.
Our first ever membership campaign brought in over 53 new members, an excellent response rate on a mail campaign; and as of a few weeks ago, 21 of these new museum members and 16 vendors are in attendance or exhibiting at this Conference.
Some thank you’s are in order:
First, to members who sent digital photos to us on short notice – keep 'em coming. We have an ongoing need for photos for a variety of uses. See Tina Eichner, MSA’s Managing Editor, for specs on the best photos to send. We especially need photos with people shopping and enjoying your stores in high resolution, and in sharp focus and well framed.
Second, to all of the MSA staff, some of whom jumped into things with very little knowledge or background, for designing and producing the Knowledge Standards booklet, maintaining registration and executing on the countless other details needed to put on a meeting like this. It might look simple, but trust me, it is not! Be sure to say hello if you get a chance. They are wearing black cardigans with a red M.
Third, to Cliff Harrison and the Saint Louis Art Museum for working with use to create an illustrative example of a page of The Cultural Traveler.
Fourth, to Rosemary and Sheila who have worked with great creativity to help us help you become better marketers of what you have to offer. They have written articles for Museum Store, written several white papers, traveled to some of our chapter meetings to promote and educate us all about the potential of cultural tourism. They are both here on site today. Don’t miss an opportunity to talk with them about your tourism marketing challenges. They are fountains of clever and valuable marketing ideas.
And last but definitely not least: Thanks are due to all of you for responding to our surveys and calls for help this past year and to all of the volunteer work you did on behalf of your colleagues in 2007. We will be asking you to continue to respond to requests for information this year as well. The Member Needs Survey is just completed and we will be working with this data to look for new ways to meet your needs. Watch for a future issue of the magazine for a summary of the survey results.
I leave you with a few words from the Queen – the Queen of Hearts in "Alice in Wonderland," that is: “Now here you see it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.”
Beverly Barsook
MSA Executive Director
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