Silly/Serious Sloganeering
By Michael Bouman
A friend once told me about a sign outside the local "no-tell Motel." It said, Now rat-free!
OK, it's not very good advertising, but let's look on the positive side. That slogan reflects the visitor's needs. A lot of motels are advertising Free internet or Free breakfast. Visitors to this motel probably just needed a clean room without unanticipated life forms! Too bad the owner had to mention the absence of rats. Just try not to imagine a rat when I assure you that the bedroom won't have one!
Slogans come at us like pollen in the April air! I even hear double slogans from the sponsors of The News Hour. I can't say they make twice the impression. To the contrary, they are twice as forgettable.
A slogan says what you are. Writing a good one is an art. You have just a phrase or two, just a little nibble of sound. Since it's an art, I have created a small "slogan museum" in unused space inside my head. Want to see the first display? Remember when Subaru was "inexpensive...and built to stay that way?" Can you identify the company that promised "Better living through chemistry?" Ah.....leaving so soon??
Outside a museum I like very much is a wry little slogan that you see as you leave. It says, "Thanks for visiting our town's best-kept secret." You could say the same for any humanities council. Like Dr. Pepper, we're "so misunderstood." Even worse, we're "under the radar" for almost everyone.
Two weeks ago I thought of some slogans in connection with a visit to The History Museum for Springfield-Greene County. It's an organization that does almost everything right.
Their exhibits are beautifully lit, tastefully designed, multi-dimensional. The room on Native American history far exceeds the norm. It traces the Native American presence in the area from the distant past up through the 19th century.
With such a detailed story line, the Native American room is a strong asset to build on. One idea would be to check the census figures and begin a public conversation about Native Americans in Greene County today. That county enjoys almost twice the state average Native American population, at slightly under 1 per cent. Another idea is to update the information on the Delaware people by forming a relationship with the museum at The Delaware Nation in Oklahoma. Each of those ideas could lead toward a fascinating future.
That's what this museum wants, a future that fascinates the entire population. To deserve that future, the Springfield museum has to be consistently wonderful without making excuses. Sure, it would love to have more parking space, more storage space, more space for programming. It wants to generate more revenue and solve the challenge of too few workers. But operating a museum is never about what you want. It is always about what people want.
What I admire so much about this operation is the drive to create new ways for people to become involved. In fund-raising, money follows meaning. A museum that wants to grow must learn to flood its community with value.
The slogan of this museum is, "The place we call home." It has charm, doesn't it? It implies the involvement of people rather than lifeless things. What you don't want in a slogan are words like "collecting" or "preserving." You don't want to invite people to imagine a community attic.
The Springfield group could improve their good slogan and make it a great one if they could convey energy; the energy of people in the community, people gaining fulfillment through their participation in telling the stories of "the place we call home." The best museum slogan reflects a benefit to the energized stakeholder. "Better living through chemistry" is all about the benefit to the stakeholder. "So misunderstood" is on the opposite pole; its purpose was to stimulate curiosity.
Over lunch we chatted again about the limitations in the building. There are three flights of stairs to get to the museum, or one elevator. It's in good order and might hold six people without crowding. Moving a group to the third floor is a challenge.
I quipped a new slogan, Worth the climb! OK, it's not much better than "rat-free," but imagine this as an un-published slogan, something just for the insiders. If this is your slogan, then everything you do has to result in a visitor experience that is "worth the climb."
Take that slogan one step further and say, Always worth the climb! Now it describes a place that changes things. It wants to attract the repeat visitor. This actually fits the current mode of operation at the Springfield-Greene County Museum. While the main displays do not change, the museum creates new interest with a cycle of changing exhibits. These changing exhibits invite the communnity to add value to an interpretation. The new display is partly a mirror of community response.
For example, the recent ice storm led to a photo exhibit on Disasters. People contributed photos from the ice storm in a judged competition. Local businesses provided prizes. The museum will have rights to keep copies of the pictures. Much more important, many people saw their own lived experience transformed into "history." I think they will hold the museum in high regard for reflecting their wonder, and often their sufferings.
The "disaster photo" exhibit in Springfield is just one way that a place with "impossible" limitations finds a way around them. If you're anywhere near Springfield, a visit to that museum is not only worth the climb (or the elevator ride!), it's worth meeting the Director, John Sellars, and finding out how the museum touches people's lives every day of the week.
http://www.springfieldhistorymuseum.org/home.htm
[Michael Bouman organizes workshops year-round to help heritage organizations imagine a better future. See the guidelines for "charettes" at the Council web site.]