Marketing Culture – Museums in Kuwait

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Why Marketing Is Important To the Success of a Museum
Background
Product Market
The reason behind the existence
Market Segmentation
Recommendations
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) defines a museum as a lasting institution that is not profit oriented, focused on serving and developing the general public which obtains, preserves, researches, corresponds and displays, for the goals of learning, education and leisure, tangible evidence of man and his surrounding (Ambrose and Paine, 1996, p.8).

Museums exist in diverse forms though they have two common aspects: They are concerned with objects and their purpose has to do with communication. From the definition, three vital duties of museums are highlighted: Obtaining and conservation of accumulated objects to keep for a long time for purposes of learning and use, research on items in the assortment and exhibition and other utilization of resources for information and enlightenment for the entire public.

These duties normally entail a clash of interests. For instance, it may be challenging to research on an item being exhibited and a resource may not be well conserved if it is visitors frequently get in touch with it for education reasons. The concentration of museums on attaining equilibrium among these diverse roles is also changing. Initially, museums focused on acquisition of works of art and did not so much value how people benefited from them. The museum’s contemporary duty has very much to do with communication.

Why Marketing Is Important To the Success of a Museum

Marketing is adequately bendy enough to fit to emerging situations. Past information on marketing reveals that its focus has been gradually shifting through commodity, institution, function, management, and social settings.

Marketing basically encompasses a client need, fulfillment of this need, a connection between the company and the customer, and optimization of gains. Museums have not been actively involved in marketing because since marketing aims at meeting the customers’ needs, they fear that if they engage in it, they will lose their mission and instead focus on fulfilling only what customers need.

This ought not to be the case since, marketing, if well conceptualized, can enable museums attain their objectives. Services marketing is becoming increasingly imperative to museum marketing. As such, the extended marketing mix is applicable. This refers to price, product, place, promotion, people, process, and physical support.

The museum being a non-profit making organization ought to interface strategic marketing by linking its mission to marketing. A museum, being a non-profit making entity, has two unique parties that they need to reach out to funders and clients. In the same vein, marketing is needed to convince funders to keep on supporting the museum.

The purpose of this work is to: identify the varying target markets for museums, discuss the use of psychographic base as a tool for segmenting the market for the Kuwait National Museum, show how consumer’s decision in visiting the firm is affected by personal influences and reveal a marketing strategy that the Kuwait National Museum can devise in order to remain relevant to the contemporary consumer.

This report is divided into four parts. The background highlights some profile information about the museum such its history, sources of funding, staffing, location, and collections.

The second part describes the product market and market segmentation of the museum. The third section aims at recommending the appropriate target market, positioning strategy, and marketing mix for the museum. The conclusion part contains a summary of the recommendations and explains how they will result to a greater value to both the customers and the museum (Cox, Radbourne and Tidwell, 1998,).

Background

The Kuwait National Museum was designed by architect Michel Ecochard. Having been completed in 1983, it encompasses five different buildings put up around a central backyard, and grouped in accordance to the knowledge of the Arabian Peninsula, its olden times, topography and civilization.

The buildings are connected with galleries that enable easy movement from one to another. Those sightseers who wish to access only one part of the building can get into it through a lawn, protected from strong heat from the sun-by-sun breakers that are three-dimensional (Ecochard, 2000, p.1).

First, there is the management, and cultural section comprising of conference facilities, a library, nightclub, restaurant, and administrative offices. Second, there is Land of Kuwait section, showing Kuwait’s aspects like botany, and zoology among other national aspects. Third, there is man of Kuwait partition exhibiting how the Kuwait man has developed socially and economically with time.

Fourth, there is a section showing how Kuwait has developed both before and after oil discovery, and finally, the planetarium that shows the ancient devices of observation, a state of which the Arabs were the undebatable leaders up to the nineteenth century (Global markets, 2010, p.15). The museum is in a public and cultural building located in Kuwait city.

Between 1990 and 1991, the Iraqi invasion took place leading to the looting of the museum’s exhibits by the Iraqis. After looting most of the artifacts, they then set the facility ablaze. From about 1994, the museum has been seeking fiscal support from the United Nations Educational and Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This is meant to help it both restore its collection and renovate the museum building.

Studies reveal that both Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) and Kuwaiti fund have devoted significant amount of finances towards the study for construction, construction works, and procurement of equipment for the construction of the national museum that is expected to transpire between July 2010 and January 2013 (CDR, 2009, P.18). These form the three sources of funding for the museum.

However, the museum has undergone renovation and is currently among the best ones in Middle East with about 20000 artifacts (O’shea and Spilling, 2009, p.136). Therefore, with regard to the Product Life Cycle (PLC), the museum is in its introduction stage given that it has been in the decline stage after its destruction by the Iraqis (Mukherjee, 2009, p.80). In this stage, its management has developed innovative products that include 20000 artifacts and other olden valuables from Faylaka Island.

Product Market

Product market is a strategy that enables people to purchase goods or services with ease. The museum competes in several cultural markets. First, there is the cultural market. The product offered by the museum is intricate and transient. It may be interpreted in diverse ways by different people such as the experience brought about by the item, a specific item in the collection and social approval. This confusion regarding the actual product complicates the possibility of categorizing museums on the product / service foundation.

The reason behind the existence

The Kuwait National Museum has a strong market view gauged from the method through which it presents its materials, the duration it is open to the public and its tools of promotion. Its artifacts reveal much about the Kuwaiti and Islamic culture. Secondly, the museum plays an educative role. Due to its rich reservoir of ancient and cultural items, the museum is able to offer these products to people from Kuwait who may be interested in broadening their cultural knowledge.

Tourists also use the facility as an educative instrument where they are able to acquire knowledge concerning both ancient and Arabic culture. Thirdly, the museum also competes in the leisure market. Numerous tourists from other parts of the world go the Kuwait National Museum to for recreational purposes. The museum is in the growth stage. This is due to increased awareness resulting from the cultural, educative and leisure product markets.

Market Segmentation

Market segmentation refers to the process of portioning the market into identifiable groups or segments. Market segmentation will enable the museum administration to develop a marketing mix that will meet identifiable customer needs in an effective manner. Secondly, by prioritizing the needs of customers, market segmentation will enable the museum to meet its goals and objectives.

In order to meet the specific needs for customers, it is essential for the museum to segment the clients into different groups in accordance to their wants, to be able to design a marketing mix that will suit them. An appropriate base of segmentation will therefore be psychographic segmentation. This segmentation approach is based on personality, motives, lifestyle, and geo-demographics (Mouncey & Wimmer, 2007 pg.310).

Personality defines whom a person is in terms of behavior, attitude towards the product for instance, if a potential customer harbors negative attitude towards the artifacts, it is highly probable that they may not show up for it. On the hand, those with a positive attitude will buy. A person’s trait also defines his or her personality and most people buy products and services they believe to be in line with their personalities.

Segmentation based on geodemographics integrates some geographical aspects with demographic aspects. Geo-demographic segmentation is based on the assumption that people tend to move to locations in which their classes fit and with people that they share occupation.

Geo-demographic segmentation may use either acorn or Mosaic methods to segment the market. Acorn method categorizes people with identical socioeconomic characteristics together while the mosaic method analyzes information obtained from different sources (Beamish & Ashford, 2006, p. 65). Lifestyle is also another important base for segmenting the market.

It takes a more subjective approach and classifies markets based on factors such as opinions, social activities, and interests. Under social activities, emphasis is on activities or functions that bring people together such as shopping and sports. Interests refers to what people like or enjoy doing and especially during their free time and this would include music, internet etc. such factors are then interlinked with demographics to form a better foundation for market segmentation (Beamish & Ashford, 2006 pg 65).

Incorporating this base of marketing segmentation will enable the museum devise suitable product markets that will suit the needs of the customers. That is categorizing customers based on the geo-demographic segmentation will enable the museum design products that reflect the culture of the customers.

Successful segmentation is based on four essential criteria. First, the market should be substantial implying that the target market segment should be large enough to justify development and maintenance of marketing mix. Demographic segmentation suits this criterion because personality, motives, lifestyle, and geodemographics cover a very diverse region within the market.

Secondly, the target market segment should be identifiable and measurable meaning the marketer should at least know the number of people interested in the marketing mix. Based on the psychographic segmentation especially the geo-demographic aspect, it is possible to identify and measure the exact number of clients based on their lifestyle, as well as where their respective class enables them to be.

Thirdly, accessibility of the target market should be considered since it would not make sense to develop a marketing mix that will never get to the customers. Personality base focuses on people’s social activities and interests, and as such, it is possible to access a target market based on these aspects.

Finally yet importantly, the market segment should be responsive to the particular mix designed. All components of psychographic segmentation such as personality, motives, lifestyle, and geodemographics are likely to respond to the marketing mix in a similar way. For example, all these components involve people, that is, the museum administration interacting with potential customers to find out the best way of reaching them with their product.

Recommendations

The target market for the museum could be the working class of the Taiwan people. This is because in segmenting the market with regard to geodemographics, people tend to be close to where their counterparts fit and their classes are. Potential customers who are likely to have this tendency are the working category.

Given that they have a source of income, they are likely to provide a wider market for the Kuwait National Museum. Structurally, such a category of consumers has a well-structured lifestyle in terms of their varying opinions on range of issues, diverse interests for themselves and their families and plenty of leisure time to be utilized in fulfilling their interests.

Due to varying personalities, it is possible to equip the museum with those artifacts that reflect the respective personalities of this target market. As such, the artifacts are supposed to be as diverse as the personalities themselves and therefore this segmentation implies growth to the museum and hence fits it.

Positioning strategy refers to the act of painting in the minds of the target audience what the organization stands for, what makes it so unique in comparison to other organizations in a bid to place a perception in their mind that will make them prefer it to similar others (Sargeant and Jay, 2010, p.83).

The attributes crucial to the target market is the ability of the museum to provide products that suit their cultural expectations, their interests. A product that is in line with their culture and likes will definitely cause them to have a positive attitude towards it.

The Kuwait National Museum being based in the Kuwait city is stocked with diverse works of art that reflect the Arabian culture. It has five different apartments that contain varying artifacts to suit the different needs of the customers who also have different personalities. However, with the changing demography and hence personalities, the museum ought to reposition itself to suit the emerging client needs. This may include increasing the diversification of its products.

The museum should adopt the conventional marketing mix that includes product, place, price, and promotion. To support the museum’s position, the artifacts in the museum should be designed to reflect and suit the social, cultural, and political perceptions of the customers. Since museums are believed to be for public good, prices should be set in accordance to the value that clients attach to the service provided.

Promotion informs the customers about the services being offered in the museum. Since financial considerations restrain promotions carried out in the museums, the museum should work attracting funding in a bid to influence decision makers like the local government. Concerning the place, the Kuwait National Museum is strategically located in Kuwait city and there may be no need for changes.

Conclusion

To ensure that the museum has a greater value for its works of art, the marketing mix should be improved accordingly. First, the products should be diversified to reflect the broad cultural and social needs of the clients. This will lead to increased value for the customers because it will be a measure to suit their needs. Secondly, the prices should be adjusted to reflect the value of the customers to the facility and its public significance.

This will enhance the museum’s competitiveness, cause many customers to prefer it and in turn show the value for the clients. Thirdly, since promotion is expensive and the museum is non-profit making organization, attempts should be made to raise funds to enlighten customers on the museum’s services. This will reflect the museum’s concern for the customers’ needs and will better its relations with other parties. In addition, the place where the national museum is located is in Kuwait city and as such, it is strategic.

Reference List

Ambrose, T. and Paine, C., 1993. Museum Basics. New York: Routledge. Web.

Beamish, K. and Ashford, R., 2006. CIM Course book 06/07 Marketing Planning. MO: Butterworth – Heinemann. Web.

CDR. 2009. Social Infrastructure. Web.

Cox, S., Radbourne, J. and Tidwell, P., 1998. Museum Marketing: Implications for Extending the Current Literature. (Attached material).

Ecochard, M., 1980. The National Museum of Kuwait. In Places of Public Gathering in Islam. Philadelphia: Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Global Markets. 2009. Kuwait 2009 Hospitality Market Overview. Kuwait: Global Markets. Web.

Mouncey, P. and Wimmer, F., 2007. Market Research Best Practice: 30 Visions For the Future: A Compilation of Discussion Papers, Case Studies and Methodologies from ESOMAR. England: John Wiley and Sons. Web.

Mukherjee, K., 2009. Product Management: Texts and Cases. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Limited. Web.

O’shea, M. and Spilling, M., 2009. Kuwait. New York: Michelle Bisson. Web.

Sargeant, A. and Jay, E., 2010. Fundraising Management: Analysis, Planning and Practice. New York: Routledge. Web.

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