The Houdini Museum of New York Public Relations Proposal By Amy Jans, Adria Penna, Benjamin Midkiff, Samantha Sniatowsky, and Julia Zackiewicz Situational Analysis The Houdini Museum of New York opened in New York in 2012. It is located inside Fantasma Magic, which is a retail shop that sells magic trick products. Inside, you will find the second largest Houdini collection in the world! The cost to get in is free! It’s a gem for people in New York City looking for something fun- let alone free to do; however, when ten people were randomly asked at the Official New York City Information Center at 151 W. 34th St. if they have heard of The Houdini Museum, they all said no. When asked if they would like to go, they said yes. The lack of awareness of The Houdini Museum not only hurts the business itself, but it prevents people from valuable information to be educated about the great and prolific, Harry Houdini. Harry Houdini is one of the most legendary escape artists who has existed to this day. He paved the way for modern greats like David Copperfield and David Blaine. He is an American icon. Many people travel to New York City for the sole purpose of visiting a museum. According to Statista.com, “Over 14 million American households visit art museums every year, and 63 percent of Americans saw visiting an art/design museum as a cultural activity. In 2017, 81 percent of Americans participated in cultural activities for ‘having fun.’” When typed in Google “Free museums in NYC” it could not be found in that search. With boosting the social media presence of The Houdini Museum, it will be able to get organic search engine optimization; therefore, be able to be found easier on Google. The only social media they list on their website is Twitter, in which they have not updated since April 8th, 2014. Not listed on their website is their Instagram but their last post on 1 that was October 5th, 2018. They currently only have 1,841 followers. The Houdini Museum could also benefit from using an SEO company, like Yodel.com to make sure that they get on the front page of Google organically and in the paid Google section. On the official guide to NYC, nycgo.com, they have a section of their website that lists the free museums in NYC, and The Houdini Museum is not on that list. By reaching out to the targeted media in the New York City museum niche, the museum will be able to get on the lists that people go to find when they are looking to choose a museum to visit. This will create more awareness with the goal of more foot traffic. The Houdini Museum is not even to be found in the most basic places where one would search for a free museum in New York City; for example, they could not be found on the high ranking website, tripsavvy.com, for their “New York City Museums With Free or Discounted Admission” site. By being listed on this site and similar ones, it could generate more traction for the museum. The fact that The Houdini Museum is free sets it apart from so many museums as they can be costly. The MoMa charges $25 for adults, and the Guggenheim is $25 for adults, the Tenement Museum costs $27 on average for adults. 2 S.W.O.T. Analysis Strengths Weaknesses ● Largest public Houdini museum ● Lack of signage around the museum ● Free Admission ● Small size of museum prohibits ● Has the ability to hold paid events hosting large events including birthday parties ● Poor advertising/marketing efforts Opportunities Threats ● Located near Herald Square ● Museum market in New York City is ○ Tourist area with heavy foot extremely saturated traffic ● Lack of income threatens museum ● Museum has niche subject matter ability to fund operations ● To create media plan to develop and reach the target audience to bring awareness to the museum Scope of assignment The program used will inform and bring awareness to the public's about the Houdini Museum exhibits and events offered by the museum. The museum’s director of customer service cites that they have a daily attendance of 45 people and an average booking of a paid events of 3 1.5 per month. Admission is free to the museum, but the paid birthday parties cost $1200. This price includes food, drink, cutlery & plates, as well as live entertainment by a professional magician. The exhibits were donated in 2012, and with no admissions fee, their main source of income is the paid events. During 2018, the Houdini Museum hosted 6 paid events, with a total income of $7,200. The main income comes from the magic shop that is attached to the museum. Income totals for the shop were not made public. However, the museum curator said that the shop almost solely supports the museum’s cost. Objectives ● Increase museum of attendance from 45 people a month to 75 people. ● Increase the frequency of paid parties from an average of 1.5 a month to 4 a month. ● Increase the income of the museum from $7,200 from the paid parties to $35,000 from donations gathered by the museum through 2 fundraising events. Target Audience There are two key audiences that this public relations campaign will be targeting. The first audience that will be targeted is the media. The media is a vital target audience audience for a public relations campaign because it is one of the best ways to get messages across quickly, and to a large number of people. The second audience that will be targeted are Tri-State area families. The location of the museum is very convenient for visitors in the Tri-State region to access (near Herald Square and Penn Station). The museum’s exhibits caters to children, as well as adults. Throughout the 4 duration of the campaign there will be two fundraising events. The events will be targeted to individuals in this area who are known to donate to museums. Another target audience are magicians and fans of magic in the Tri-State area. Houdini is one of the most famous names in magic and is widely considered to be amongst the top 10 magicians of all time. The historical artifacts in the museum will be attractive to magicians and by making them aware of the museum, they will be more likely to visit. Targeting the media, Tri-State area families and magicians will help increase the number of monthly visitors, paid parties and amount of donations gathered through fundraising events. Research When visiting the museum, unobtrusive research was conducted by listening to visitors reactions to the museum and their interactions with the museum employees. Eavesdropping on visitors provided the opportunity to to learn why they were visiting the museum and what interested them about it. One woman, who’s father is a magician, was visiting from Austria and was looking for some souvenirs to bring home for him. There was also a father and his daughter who appeared to be approximately 6 years old visiting the museum. Another family was visiting the museum and their son, who appeared to be approximately 8 years old, was an aspiring magician and was purchasing magic books from the magic shop. The information that was learned through this form of research was used to help determine the target audience. A one on one interview was conducted with the director of customer service at the museum. Through this interview, it was learned that there are presently no efforts being made to 5 increase the number of visitors to the museum. It was also learned that the museums primary source of revenue is hosting birthday parties that cost $1200. A survey was conducted using a convenience sample by randomly asking ten people at the Official New York City Information Center at 151 W. 34th St. if they have heard of the Houdini Museum of New York. Everyone who was asked said that they had not heard of the museum but that they would be interested in going now that they know about it. A survey was conducted through Survey Monkey using a combination of convenience and random sampling. The survey was distributed through various forms of social media asking for respondents from the Tri-State area. There were a total of 27 respondents. Through the survey it was found that: ● Over 85% of respondents have not heard of the Houdini Museum of New York. This data is a good indicator that the Houdini Museum suffers from a major lack of awareness. ● When asked why they would decide to visit a museum, over 30% of respondents said that the content of the museum was the deciding factor making it a popular majority. This provides good insight into what aspects of the museum should be highlighted in communication efforts. ● The museum offers a small gift shop that sells Fantasma Magic products as well as Houdini memorabilia. Respondents were asked how likely they would be to buy something from the shop. 40% of respondents said they were somewhat likely to make a purchase from the gift shop. 6 Messages The purpose of this campaign is to attract more families and magicians to the Houdini Museum of New York. The key messages that will be sent out throughout the duration of the campaign, must support the programs objectives. These messages will include: ● The Houdini Museum holds priceless artifacts from the wide span of the famed escape artists and magician Harry Houdini’s career.