How The Cleveland Museum of Art Uses the Art of Marketing to Achieve Goals

Maggie Sweeney

 PRSSA Kent hosted a trip to the Cleveland Museum of Art to hear a presentation from its Chief Marketing Officer, Todd Mesek, and to see the Picasso and Paper exhibit. When I saw this opportunity, I knew it would be the perfect way to spend my 19th birthday. Mesek talked with us for a little over an hour and gave us so much valuable information. 

Knowing Your Audience

One thing that stuck with me was how important it is to understand your audience and what they bring to your organization. At the museum, a loyal base of older art enthusiasts funds the museum and donates pieces from their collections at home. Although these older art enthusiasts are the museum’s primary target audience, other target audience segments with larger populations, like college students, Cleveland residents, tourists or other audiences looking for things to do, must also be considered.

Understanding audiences  is important to ensure messages resonate with everyone while the museum tries to expand its reach.

 Another example of the museum leveraging its knowledge of the target audiences involved capitalizing on the community of Clevelanders and their pride for Cleveland. When people mention Cleveland, they mention the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Playhouse Square and sports teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers. The museum knew their target audience, it honed in on this city pride by collaborating with the Cavs on the 2024-2025 Nike City Edition uniforms. We watched the promotional video that brought in a new audience to the museum. 

Listening to Your Team

The most important thing I learned from this experience was to understand the source of  team members' concerns. When trying something new at a company, I communicate why you want to make changes and how they will impact the company. In the collaboration with the Cavaliers, some of Meek's coworkers expressed concerns.

The video features some of the basketball players dribbling a basketball in the museum. The museum holds many priceless pieces of art that need to be protected and preserved, so showing players bouncing basketballs in the museum could send the message to viewers that this behavior is welcomed at the museum. Some of Mesek’s team thought this would undermine the integrity of the artwork and the museum. To ease his coworkers’ concerns, editing was added to make the basketball magically glow, giving it a Night at the Museum feel.

This taught me that if your team members are hesitant,  listen to their concerns, go back to the drawing board and figure out a better way to make positive changes. 

How the Event Helped My Career

    This event helped me not only get a better understanding of the industry I am going into, but also changed the way I look at audiences.

Understanding diverse audiences is key to making sure your messages are well received. Events like these have helped me better understand the concepts I have learned in class by seeing them in action and hearing the perspective of someone working in the field. It was also amazing to see the Picasso exhibit.

My favorite piece at the museum was the Portrait of Francoise: May 20, 1946. Seeing the progression of Picasso’s artwork over time was so inspiring, and I can’t wait to see what other exhibits the Cleveland Art Museum will bring. Finally, the event strengthened my connection with the other amazing students in PRSSA Kent. I now have so many fond memories from this trip.

Portrait of Francoise: May 20, 1946.