It begins in Turin, Italy, on our journey to discover theinnovation born on the ground, between the corridors of the city's civic museums and the Talent Garden. Custodians of ancient masterpieces, even museums today must confront new technologies and experiment with marketing strategies capable of engaging and bringing people closer to culture.
Culture marathon
To take on this new challenge, GAM (Gallery of Modern Art), Palazzo Madama, MAO (Museum of Oriental Art) and Borgo Medievale, decided to join forces in collaboration with Compagnia di San Paolo and with the contribution of the Turin Chamber of Commerce by putting themselves on the line in a cultural hackathon: a 30-hour marathon in which for a weekend the world of museums met in the Talent Garden spaces that of the new economy: startups, freelancers and software developers.
Participants were tasked with proposing new solutions to develop a new data management model focused on personalizing the visitor experience, online and insite.
The digital marathon ended with the awarding of the three best prototypes. Winning the first prize of 5,000 euros was the Magnet project: a relational database, based on data collection through an app integrated with proximity technologies, that offers users additional content and routes to visit the city. The information collected through the app will be used to feed the database and profile the user from which to design customized marketing strategies.
Second runner-up, awarded 2,000 euros, was the Profeelo project: a smartphone application that connects the user with the museum through several features: purchasing the entrance ticket directly from the smartphone, skipping the queue; selecting museum events; downloading audioguides directly to the phone; accessing one's membership area to enjoy reserved services; and participating with donations to crowdfunding campaigns. Visitors will also be able to view a map of the museum they are in, thereby accessing in-depth content and any sponsor-related activities.
In third place, awarded 1,000 euros, Oliva: the chatbot for museum audience engagement, a virtual assistant that accompanies visitors to discover the exhibition, engaging them with games and questions to create a diary of the visit that is fun, interactive and sharable on social networks.
Ilenia Dalmasso