Museon-Omniversum uses cultural audiences as a strategic compass

In conversation with Sofie Visscher Litjens, Head of Marketing, Communications & Sales at Museon-Omniversum. She explains how the Audience Research for the Cultural Sector, enriched with the organisation’s own insights, became the foundation of their strategy. By making smart use of data and deliberately embracing AI and co-creation, Museon-Omniversum is working to expand its audience reach — not only during the day, but also in the evenings and within the local community.

At Museon-Omniversum, participation in the Audience Research for the Cultural Sector has become second nature. Whereas in previous years it was mainly an interesting source of insight, the research now lies at the very heart of the organisation’s strategy.

The combination of research based on the Cultural Audience Segmentation Model and the deepening of insights in collaboration with a research agency has led to the identification of the key audience segments. This provides clear direction for Museon-Omniversum: from testing objectives and defining KPIs to determining concrete actions to reach the desired audiences.

Data collection: in development

At Museon-Omniversum, audience data is largely collected automatically through ticket sales. In addition to ticketing data, information is gathered via an audience survey that visitors receive after their visit. Furthermore, data from scanned Museum Cards can be used for this research, allowing Museon-Omniversum to enrich its own data with additional insights provided by the Museum Association.

Audience-focused thinking: different audiences during the day and in the evening

The research results offer insight into the composition of Museon-Omniversum’s audience.

• During the day, the Family-Oriented Culture Enthusiast is the dominant audience group.
• In the evenings, the museum increasingly attracts the Curious Suburban Explorer.

Both profiles are actively incorporated into the media mix. Media buying is specifically tailored using insights from the Cultural Audiences brochure.

The Curious Suburban Explorer often lives outside The Hague, in surrounding municipalities. This raises an important question: how far is this audience willing to travel for an evening programme? And how can the offer be optimally aligned with that willingness?

At the same time, this presents an interesting positioning challenge for the organisation:

“Our communication is currently primarily focused on families with children. But how do you position the evening programme in a way that also appeals to adults? Should we work with a different style, or even a separate website? These are questions we are actively exploring.”

Co-creation: youth council and audience dialogue

Co-creation is an important value for the Museon-Omniversum team. This also resonated in the lecture by Pim Halkes during the kick-off of the new edition of the Audience Research, where co-creation was highlighted. Museon-Omniversum is keen to apply this principle: engaging in dialogue with audiences rather than making top-down decisions.

For the daytime audience, the organisation is working on setting up a youth council: children who actively provide feedback on new ideas and can co-create. This is crucial, because while communication often targets the mother as the primary point of contact, the offer itself must above all appeal to the children.

For the evening audience, Museon-Omniversum is also seeking direct input from the target group. The organisation is interested in potentially collaborating with other institutions that successfully reach the Curious Suburban Explorer, for example through joint research or co-creation of programming.

“We use the brochure to better understand what appeals to these groups — from musical preferences to broader interests. If we programme a rock film, the brochure shows that this resonates with the Curious Suburban Explorer, and we see that reflected in attendance. We want to build on that.”

Museon-Omniversum also finds it valuable that other museums in the Netherlands are participating. This creates opportunities to share experiences around audience development with comparable institutions, such as NEMO or Naturalis.

Zuidwest as a third pillar: culture in the neighbourhood

Alongside its main building, Museon-Omniversum is also active in the Zuidwest district, an area with more limited access to cultural facilities. At Museon-Omniversum Zuidwest, the organisation programmes cultural and science-related activities for local residents, with a focus on families with children — such as the free Wednesday workshop.

“We suspect that here we mainly reach the Strolling Pleasure Seeker: people with less budget for culture who are nevertheless interested when activities are close by and easily accessible. We want to measure this separately in the next edition of the research, to test whether that assumption is correct.”

This results in a three-tier audience strategy:

• Intensive cultural use (daytime),
• Medium use (evening),
• Light use (neighbourhood).

Museon-Omniversum’s innovative approach: from data to AI-integrated personas

As mentioned earlier, the research results have been further enriched through additional studies. These insights led to the development of personas — tailored specifically to Museon-Omniversum, based on the Cultural Audience Segmentation Model and supplementary insights. These personas have since been integrated into AI tools.

“For example, we have fed ‘Sarah’, our Family-Oriented Culture Enthusiast, as an AI persona with data from the brochure. When we are developing a campaign, we ask her questions such as: what do you think of this name? We then take that feedback into account in our decision-making.”

Making it concrete in annual plans and KPIs

The audience-focused approach is reflected not only in practice, but also in strategic documents. In the policy plan, this is clearly set out:

• Which audiences are prioritised,
• What the desired growth or impact is (expressed in indices and percentages),
• And which actions in programming and marketing contribute to this.

“It helps to have a clear goal on the horizon. We know which audience we want to reach — and also what matters to them, what motivates them and what appeals to them.”

Team inspiration: persona sessions and customer journeys

Internally, the Cultural Audience Segmentation Model is firmly embedded. During brainstorm sessions, personas are first “channelled”, ensuring that everyone keeps the target audience in mind. At a team event, the team even went out into the city as a persona, in order to truly experience the customer journey.

“We asked ourselves: what does this persona’s journey through the city look like? What do you encounter along the way? And what can we learn from this for our own customer journey? It really helps to keep your objective clear.”

Tip for other institutions: challenge your assumptions

The key lesson Museon-Omniversum would like to share:

“The Cultural Audience Segmentation Model and the research can really offer a great deal. The insights help you substantiate choices and break through endless opinion-based discussions. You can challenge one another: it’s great that we have this idea, but does it actually fit the audience? The research provides direction, structure and a solid foundation.”