The Power Plant (TPP) Contemporary Art Gallery is Canada's leading non-collecting public art gallery devoted exclusively to contemporary visual art from Canada and the world. TPP is a registered Canadian charitable organization and is supported by its members, sponsors, donors and funding bodies at all levels of government.
"The visitor insights we uncovered using EA's data are helping us engage with new and existing audiences in more meaningful and impactful ways. As a small non-profit gallery, this allows us to make the most of our limited resources."
As an ungated art gallery offering free admission to all members of the public, it was a challenge for TPP to grasp who their visitors were and where they were coming from. In order to reach their strategic goals of attracting a larger and more diverse audience, TPP required actionable data to gain a detailed understanding of their different visitor segments and the best ways to engage with each of these groups.
In the absence of comprehensive visitor data, TPP turned to MobileScapes to understand where their visitors were coming from. By pulling the records of 52,000 visitors to the gallery over three years, a heat map of the Toronto CMA was developed to visualize a landscape of where these people were coming from. Before this, TPP relied on optional in-house surveys to provide information on its visitor base's background, interests and opinions.
Several core target groups – Cultured Youth, Cultured Affluence and Midscale Millennials – within TPP's visitor base were identified by linking the MobileScapes data to PRIZM. These lifestyle types fit the art gallery's assumptions about its visitors; they were cultured, established in their careers or young people with a passion for political artwork. However, a fourth target group emerged from the analysis, Established Families, which represented a key opportunity for growth within their existing visitor base.
To improve how they engaged with their audience, TPP conducted a personification analysis for each of their core target groups to better understand lifestyle attributes like discretionary income, media preferences, social values and leisure and recreation habits. These data provided the art gallery with the vital information they needed to tweak their messaging and strategy around the behaviours of each of their unique groups of visitors.
The data collected from this project have introduced TPP to new potential markets and helped them recognize their existing visitors' demographics and behaviours.
As part of a phased marketing and communications plan, TPP is leveraging this information to develop an actionable strategy for their organization to steer future growth and adapt to internal and external changes, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moving forward, TPP now has a detailed understanding of the nuances of various visitor segments and how to target them effectively, which will allow them to stretch the limitations of their marketing budget.
