Revamping Singapore’s Nation Museum is a suitable illustration for the difference among the above mentioned three.
In its effort, a PR campaign was implemented to generate awareness of what the refurbished and re-opened museum had to offer. Its grand strategy was to reposition the ‘dry and boring’ museum to the ‘hip and cool’. This was generally the crisis faced by many museums in Singapore. It was hence, a good move made by the National Museum to salvage their museum by leveraging on Louvre’s Greek Masterpiece.
This PR firm used intensive media relations to reshape the public’s stance of the museum. The museum is now seen as a progressive, world-class institution and a lifestyle destination where visitors can dine and party amidst ancient history. Ongoing communications continue to drive the message that while it was Singapore’s oldest museum, it was also the one with the youngest and most innovative soul. Yet, developing a museum-going culture required consistent work. The tactics employed: interviews, previews and targeted pitching were extensively covered in lifestyle features, photo stories, personality profiles and stories about the collaboration between the two institutions.
In accordance to the previous entries posted by my team members, this campaign had illustrated the power of media relations where the PR effort achieved valuable and significant media coverage in the dailies, magazines, television and radio as well as online media. As a result, this interest group helped attain exceptional museum visitor numbers during the period of the exhibition. With the implementation of the strategic PR campaign, this was groundbreaking for the museum scene in Singapore.
In my opinion, I think Singapore Philatelic Museum should also adopt this grand strategy and change their ‘boring’ stamp appreciation to a ‘hip, cool and engaging’ stamp culture so as to sustain the museum’s life and to heighten awareness among the younger Singaporeans.
Jacquelyn Tan
C3101908
The term 'Grand Strategy' usually throws me off and I tend to pass it off. Maybe it was the word 'Grand', but I think it was the fact that policy-level decisions were involved.
ReplyDeleteDespite that, the example provided proved to be a solid success based on the use of a grand strategy. Bringing it all back to SPM, the implementation of a grand strategy might increase visitor figures, but the use of media relations might not be one that SPM will adopt.
Where SPM is concerned, a different grand strategy can be developed, but I'm all for change - From boring to hip, cool and engaging!
hey Jacq,
ReplyDeleteA really good and relevant example used!
Yes, like Singapore Philatelic Museum, the National Museum of Singapore also faces low visitors rate in 2004 and 2005.
In fact both SPM and NMS were both doing poorly with visitorship of 91k and 82k only in year 2005.
Source: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/reference/yos09/statsT-culture.pdf
However, after engaging a brand new strategy (Media relations)for NMS, the visitorship had increased by more than 6x, to an impressive 675k in 2007.
This shown SPM a great example the need to abandon the old strategy and adopt a new strategy for a better visitorship.
And in turn a chance to raise the budget given from the government to do more on their vision, which is to further promote Singapore's Heritage and history through Philately! =)
One important point to take note for the difference between grand strategy and strategy is that strategy operates at the planning level of campaign, such as the allocation of resources. On the other hand, grand strategy operates at a much higher level, which involves industry or governmental level of policies.
ReplyDeleteThus, besides business, grand strategy can also be applied in the government sector. These include the deliveries of effective policies in a peaceful means and the ability of the country’s leaders to bring together all the military and non-military elements for best interests for their nation in the long-term.
I think grand strategy is a defining factor for an organization as it affects the overall image. As a result, careful consideration is important, as the public’s perception of the organization’s image may be irreversible. In the case of the National Museum, it was a good move since the Louvre’s Greek Masterpiece exhibition elevates the museum’s status and signals it’s intention of wanting to be a world-class museum.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it is critical for organizations to follow up on their grand strategy, as the repositioning of an organization is cumulative in nature. The National Museum proves its dedication by continuing to curate internationally renowned works such as the 2009 exhibition, A Story of the Image: Old & New Masters From Antwerp. It is a significant move, as the public tends to judge the museum’s reputation according to the exhibitions shown.