Case Study: Brooklyn Museum Reengages Lapsed Members and Converts House Prospects Through Exhibition-Timed Membership Acquisition
Client: Brooklyn Museum
Year: Fall 2023
Campaign Type: Direct Mail Membership Acquisition
Challenge
In late 2023, the Brooklyn Museum sought to reach new audiences and re-engage lapsed members through a direct mail campaign focusing on Spike Lee: Creative Sources, a landmark exhibition celebrating the acclaimed Brooklyn-born filmmaker. The objective was to present the value of memberships throughout the year, while capturing the excitement of the exhibition and corresponding events.
Solution
Partnering with Daniller + Company, the Brooklyn Museum launched a double-drop direct mail and email acquisition campaign, pairing stunning campaign design with compelling messaging and offers and strategic audience targeting. Key strategies included:
- Timely Engagement: The campaign was scheduled to arrive just as the exhibition opened, maximizing excitement and relevance. The strategic double drop, added additional urgency, providing an important reminder to respond.
- Emphasis on Value: Messaging highlighted exclusive member benefits, including free admission and special access tied to the Spike Lee exhibition experience.
- Targeted Segmentation: The audience included both lapsed members and house prospects, with new approaches like wealth screening and modeled data tested to reach the most responsive audience.
Results
The campaign generated strong returns across both reactivation and acquisition audiences:
- Gifts and revenue exceeded goals, with 42% more revenue and 48% more gifts than projected. The campaign achieved the highest response rate and most revenue for a similarly sized acquisition campaign to date.
- Lapsed member outreach produced profitable results, delivering a solid response rate and a strong return on investment—proving that the Spike Lee exhibition message successfully re-engaged prior supporters. The lapsed recapture portion of the campaign even earned a Gold MAXI Award!
- House prospects responded at an even higher rate than lapsed audiences, demonstrating that the offer and creative performed exceptionally well with new-to-membership households already connected to the Museum through ticketed experiences and events.
- Overall, the campaign delivered a positive net return over $2, reinforcing the strength of a multi-audience strategy that paired timely exhibition messaging with clear membership value.
Conclusion
By aligning a culturally resonant exhibition with the value of membership and using brilliant creative and smart audience targeting, the Brooklyn Museum achieved significant gains in both revenue and engagement.
