V&A Dundee: Tartan

Tartan was the first major exhibition curated by V&A Dundee’s in-house team, it coincided with the museum’s 5th birthday and, in another first, had its world premiere in the city.
Being the first exhibition dedicated to tartan in Scotland in over 100 years, the campaign had to convey all that is great about the subject, while having the level of quality and spectacle befitting of an exhibition carrying the V&A brand.

With the messaging, V&A Dundee wanted to create an exciting and dynamic campaign, adaptable to a variety of contexts, designed to stop audiences in their tracks. Engage a variety of people with stories of tartan, creating an emotional hook with audiences. Position Tartan as a major international blockbuster while attracting loyal and new audiences, as well as re-engaging those who visited in 2018 but haven’t yet returned. Achieve ambitious revenue targets from tickets, membership, retail, and food and drink sales and overall celebrate the V&A brand values and epitomise the vision.

A 4-pronged approach was devised, flexing to maximise opportunities presented by ambassadors and media, which included relevant contemporary voices, endorsement quotes, positioning and FOMO.

The campaign saw a collaboration of some of Scotland’s best creative talent across graphic design, typography, motion, radio and film, while putting real people at the heart of the campaign by carrying out 80 vox pops across Scotland to the exhibition’s themes.

These vox pops alongside ambassador interviews from comedy legend Billy Connolly, Hollywood actor Alan Cumming, Outlander star Graham McTavish, drag queen Cheddar Gorgeous, and more, helped maximise reach and engage new audiences.

The campaign was an incredible success: becoming V&A Dundee’s second most popular exhibition ever behind their launch exhibition, seeing the largest audience growth and engagement across all social channels since launch, and exceeding ambitious income and attendance targets.

The campaign saw income at 5% over target, ticket sales 6% over, conversion from Footfall at 4% over, membership sales at 20% increase, food and beverage conversion at 3% increase and retail sales hit 8% over target.

Tartan was visited by the broadest scope of visitors yet across generations, continents and interest groups, including Simplicity Seekers, who traditionally never visit museums, demonstrating that the exhibition and campaign have truly broken boundaries. A respectful celebration and radical re-examining of a national cultural icon, the success of which helped the museum to engage with audiences in a positive way.