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KING TUT EXHIBITION

Case Study

KING TUT:   THE MOST SUCCESSFUL TICKETED EXHIBITION IN FIELD MUSEUM’S HISTORY

SITUATION

It’s been 30 years since the golden artifacts of King Tut – the celebrated boy king – last left their home in Egypt and made their blockbuster debut in the U.S. as the major cultural phenomenon of its time.   Since the new Tut exhibition opened with national media attention in Los Angeles in 2005, it was a challenge for Chicago, as the third venue on the U.S. tour (after Ft. Lauderdale), to assure the organizers that we could guarantee a big splash in the media, one that would translate into advance ticket sales and exceed the impressive attendance numbers recorded at the first two venues by the end of the run.    We were also faced with the challenge of making sure the public knew that this was not the same show that toured in 1977 when 50 artifacts were featured.   This new exhibition would feature 130 artifacts and emphasize the latest technology.    

SOLUTION

Launching a Pharaoh:   We kicked off the ticket launch in January with a media event that included school children in King Tut pharaoh hats.   All local TV stations and newspapers were present to capture the first patrons waiting in line to purchases tickets in person.   TV coverage was syndicated across the country and the images from the A.P. ran nationally.   One week later, we had passed the 100,000 mark in ticket sales.   Our original goal was to sell 800,000 tickets.  

Partnering for Success:   With 700,000 tickets to go, we decided it was crucial to secure several major marketing partnerships in order to stretch our limited advertising budget.   We knew a TV partner was a necessary entity given the fact that we were working with only half the advertising budget of the first two venues.   NBC proved to be an excellent partner.   They ran two flyaway promotions and produced a 30 minute Emmy nominated special on King Tut, aired our TV spot on the Jumbo Tron at Soldier Field.   NBC developed a Trip to Egypt context, gave us a presence on their electronic news ticker and extensive news coverage throughout the run.    

Then we met with the Chicago’s Public Library in an effort to convince them to make King Tut the focus of their 2006 summer reading program.   They agreed to feature Tut displays in 79 libraries.   At the end of summer 874,088 King Tut and Egypt related books were read, their most successful reading program to date.   We were also included in the CPL’s PR, advertising and promotional material.  

In order to blanket the City and reach the very important commuter audience, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) would be an important partner.   The CTA provided wrapped busses, six back-of-bus ads and 1,242 interior train and bus cards with a “Take it to Tut” graphic.  

We knew that we also needed full market saturation and approached our next partner AP.   Jewel was our most successful promotion to date and was able to give us broad market coverage expanding into southeast Wisconsin and Northwest Indiana.   Every one of the 204 stores had full color hanging posters and 30 second radio spots and messaging on the paper receipts that promoted a special discount offer to their Preferred Card members resulting in 27,252 Jewel customers purchasing discounted tickets.   They ran the message in the weekly in-store publication, Sunday circulars and on 40 million shopping bags.   Jewel also brought on Jiffy Lube as a partner.   NBC provided in-store support and a three-week radio campaign that included 154 spots per week.   The above partnerships attained a total of more than $2 million in added value as a result of our efforts.

Chicago’s Public Library aired our thirty-second King Tut TV commercial (that aired on numerous broadcast stations in the Chicago market) on their in-flight video news channel on all domestic flights coming into Chicago during July and August, 2006.    

RESULTS

We exceeded our original attendance of goal of 800,000 by more than 200,000.   The King Tut exhibition at The Field Museum was the highest attended ticketed show ever with more than 1 million visitors, significantly higher than previous venues.   The exhibition brought the Museum’s annual attendance to 2,130.052, the highest attendance for any Chicago museum in 2006.