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In terms of media activities, year 2021 was still largely influenced by the epidemiological situation caused by a new type of coronavirus. This was reflected in particular in lower number of press conferences and guided tours of exhibitions for journalists. Only 11 press conferences and 10 guided tours for media were held. Press conferences and guided tours of the newly opened exhibitions had a great media impact. A total of 21 press announcements and 19 press releases were sent to the media, with most of our information usually being taken over by the media in large numbers. On average, according to regular media monitoring, the National Museum had 28 outputs per day (including duplicates).
In 2021, the website www.nm.cz acted as one of the main online information channels, inviting visitors to current exhibitions and events, highlighting news and providing a variety of information about the institution. A new subpage with an overview of all recorded sessions was created within the ‘Virtually to Museum’ section together with the launch of the National Museum podcast.
In 2021, the website of the National Museum recorded 879,345 unique visitors, and a total of 1,492,135 visits.
As in previous years, the National Museum used Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and newly TikTok as the official communication channels of 2021.
Communication using the National Museum's social networks focused mainly on promoting the preparation and opening of new history of nature and historical exhibitions, but it also continued to present the collection objects and activities of the workers of the National Museum in an attractive way and also to promote exhibitions and events.
Even in 2021, the traffic numbers of the primarily used social networks Facebook and Instagram had an upward trend. This year, despite minimal paid support, the National Museum's posts were seen by more than 2 million people on Facebook, which is 206% more than the previous year, and by 708 thousand people on Instagram, an increase of 2300% more than in the previous period. The number of followers also increased significantly, by 4,196 on Facebook, which almost broke the barrier of 30,000 followers, and 3,870 more followed the account on Instagram. The most successful post achieved a unique reach of 382,000 views.
In 2021, we published 207 posts on Twitter. The number of followers rose by 1,343 to a total of 5,540 followers from the ranks of journalists and the general public.
Even the numbers on the official profile of the National Museum on YouTube have been constantly increasing when compared to the previous year. Videos on our YouTube channel published in 2021 received a total of 365,296 views and users watched our videos for a total of 8,500 hours, which is almost twice as much as in the previous period. We gained a total of 692 new subscribers for the museum profile in 2021, bringing the total number of subscribers to 2,000. It must be said that we primarily use YouTube as a video archive and have not used it as an advertising channel to date. Even in 2021, we continued to connect our YouTube profile with our website and Facebook.
We gained a total of 560 new followers on the LinkedIn platform in 2021. The TikTok platform, which was launched before the end of the year, has not yet generated enough data to be considered for evaluation of success.
In 2021, the Secrets of the National Museum podcast was also launched, presenting the most interesting exhibits contained in new exhibitions. 18 episodes were published, which altogether amounted more than 6,100 listeners.
For the National Museum, year 2021 was also a turning point in presentation and promotional activities. After many years, a new exhibition was opened in the Historical Building of the National Museum. As part of the communication, visitors were introduced to the topics - Miracles of Evolution, Windows to Prehistory, and History.
Together with the gradual opening of new exhibition units the National Museum is trying to shift its communication to the general public and gradually introduce unifying elements that link the brand and communication of the National Museum both in communication in its buildings and in promotion and advertising. The aim is to shift the perception of a visitor from being a traditional cultural organization to a modern and lively institution, dedicated not only to science but also to its popularization. Due to the complexity of the brand and a vast number of specifics, it has been decided that the setting-up of visual identity is going to be done internally, so that the transition is gradual, not forced and so it reflects the specifics based on the details of all emerging exhibits.
Did it use to be good?
The National Museum decided to promote the thematically diverse expositions via a special Bejvávalo dobře (It used to be good) campaign, the aim of which was to draw attention to the brevity in our thinking using an interesting concept, attract visitors and, above all, strengthen the awareness of the National Museum's brand. Using stories from various historical stages and life situations accompanied by the content-contrasting song Bejvávalo dobře to point out that we tend to adapt the past to what we want to believe, to remember rather the good and to selectively ignore and delete certain facts from our memory. This creates a false idea of the good old days, which is not based on any facts. With the campaign, the National Museum also responded to the current climate in society, and through creative representations it drew attention to the fact that difficult times have always accompanied us through history.
A key element of the campaign was a one minute video, which was promoted in the online environment, especially on social networks. In addition to the online videos, shorter 20-second cuts were also broadcasted in the Czech Television. Banners and branding were also used in the online campaign, which happened both organically and through paid advertising. The communication was further supported via the OOH in paces with high visibility (CLV), areas at stations and in suburban trains (CLV, variaposters, frames in trains) were used for regional communication. The media mix was supplemented by a radio spot, which was deployed on the radio Český Rozhlas. The campaign was continuously supported through PR.
Video Bejvávalo dobře? was very well acknowledged by the professional public and won the bronze place in the Nutcracker prize.
Other exhibitions of the National Museum
Last-minute offers and online and social media communication were used to promote other exhibition projects of the National Museum.
Even in 2021, the National Museum continued to promote and support its accompanying activities, which it prepared during the lockdown. It continued its online exhibitions, launched its podcast and, after some of the protective measures were lifted it gradually added a variety of events for children and for the general public.
A great pleasure was the Film Award of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, which the National Museum received in 2021 at the Zlín Film Festival. The jury appreciated the popular educational communication and the entire online section dedicated to children, which the museum has already prepared during the pandemic.
The total number of visitors of the National Museum's buildings in 2021 increased by almost a third compared to the previous year, despite the fact that the museum was again faced with long-term closures of its parts lasting from the beginning of the year until 3 May, amounting to 123 days.
At the same time, this year saw the full impact of contactless ticket purchases, i.e. the use of purchases via the internet or self-service ticket offices, with 5 times more online ticket purchases in 2021 than in 2020 and 45 times more purchases via automated ticket offices. We expect this trend to keep increasing in the next year as well.
Attendance revenue is thus slowly returning to the level of 2019, when it was not affected by the global pandemic. The museum responded to this crisis by setting up contactless visitor check-in via automatic turnstiles and the possibility of purchasing tickets online.
In 2021, the activities of the Center for the Presentation of Cultural Heritage were marked by the development of long-term continuous but also of new activities of the workplace, which integrate social and ecological aspects into the operation of museums and the field of museology. In the area of making museum collections and exhibitions accessible to a wider groups of visitors, the Centre continued its projects from the previous period, especially in the management and development of the pilot project National Museum without Barriers, which makes digital museum content accessible to users with sensory disabilities. In 2021, worksheets accompanying videos in Czech sign language with the target group of child users were highly demanded. The offer of regular guided tours interpreted into Czech sign language was also significantly expanded (both in terms of frequency and the number of National Museum objects in Prague involved). The center has also launched a project to make museum collections and exhibitions accessible to children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2021, the project, which included a series of Summer Fridays for Children events, was directed at children of single parents, and in 2022 it is expected to expand to other similarly disadvantaged groups, such as foster families or low-threshold children's groups from socially excluded areas.
The activities of the Center were methodically evaluated at the two-day international conference Museum for Visitors IV.: Virtual communication (not only) during the coronavirus period, which took place in September 2021 after last year's postponement. The conference was organized in accordance with the standards of sustainability and ecology (minimal use of plastics, low waste production, catering offer from local sources), which the Center deals with within the agenda of environmental issues in relation to museums. In this area, the Centre is also actively involved in the preparation of the National Museum's Sustainable Development Concept in cooperation with the National Museum's officer for environmental issues.
In addition, the Centre's activities continued to focus on long-term tasks, which are at located as the main pillars of the Centre's activities: the operation, updating and further development of the information portal www.emuzeum.cz, the administration and development of the Centre's museological library and the editorial processing of the Muzeum journal: Museum and ethnographic work. Through these activities, the workplace contributes to raising awareness about important issues of Czech and world museology among the target group of museum experts and also among the general public, and thus fulfills its educational and communication function.
In 2021, The Center for the Presentation of Cultural Heritage continued to co-host the Prague Museum Night, one of the most popular cultural events in the metropolis. The original date of the event was normally in June, but due to the pandemic situation it was moved to autumn, but in the end the event was cancelled even in this alternative date. Preparations for the event, including the graphic visual, took place in advance during the first half of 2021, as usual. In 2021, new website on the domain prazskamuzejninoc.cz was put to use, being prepared based on a tender; due to the cancellation of the event, the website is currently accessible only in a trial version.
Prague Museum Night is one of the most popular cultural events in the metropolis. After its cancellation in 2020, due to the pandemic measures, the 18th year was to take place in 2021. Every year, its events are co-hosted by tens of museums and other cultural and educational institutions and are visited by tens of thousands of visitors. It is held regularly on the second Saturday in June. Its organizers are the National Museum, the Association of Museums and Galleries of the Czech Republic and the Prague Public Transit Company. Initially, it was moved from its original June date to an unspecified date during autumn 2021, similarly to what happened the year prior this was caused by the epidemic situation. However, it was soon cancelled for the whole of 2021 due to the ongoing problems and restrictions.
Since 2022, the National Museum has expressed an interest in leaving the primary organization of the event to another entity from the ranks of contributory organizations in the field of museology due to the lack of staff capacity and the subsequent non-coverage of new capacities. It therefore asks the founder to designate another contributory organization of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic to take over the organization of the event for the next period. The National Museum can pass on the necessary agenda to the organization, including the administration of the website. The National Museum does not rule out future participation in the Prague Museum Night as one of the participating entities.
