April 21, 2014 Digital mindset at Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum @museothyssen in Madrid – a missed opportunity ResponsibilitySocial Media Share this post: I recently had the good fortune to visit the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid. It has a fabulous collection (Chagall, Braque, Dali…), and makes for a great second visit after the Prado. Being my usual geeky self, meanwhile, my attention was immediately drawn by the fact that they were proposing a number of new applications to download (see below). There were several panels sprinkled throughout the ground floor publicizing these apps. What followed exposed a missed opportunity and, I believe, provides an insight into the digital mindset of the museum’s management team. Regrettably, since I was traveling in Spain, I had turned off all data roaming, in order to avoid those horrible extra charges. Thus, I was in need of Wi-Fi if I were to take advantage of these apps. I would have to imagine that a good proportion of the Thyssen Museum visitors are tourists in the same situation as me. Have WiFi, Will Travel Interactive screen… under works When the digital marketing efforts are run by someone who gets digital — such as the walk-the-talk Sree Sreenivasan [whom I recommend you follow on Twitter] at the New York City Metropolitan Museum — you can guarantee that the question of wifi was raised well in advance and that funds were strategically allocated in order for that to happen. Proof here. Furthermore, the Met has put in place a number of great digital initiatives to make for an enhanced interactive experience. At the Thyssen Museum, that level of digital understanding appears to be lagging or missing altogether. Digital Mindset – Thinking User Experience When management invests in digital, it is important to know that providing a complete user experience is what will make the difference. This type of oversight (no wifi) would point to a management team that thinks it is “cool” to have a new application; but it would appear to be a team that (a) hasn’t thought enough about the customer context, and/or (b) does not act or use digital tools and devices themselves. The person who served us at the ticket booth could only shake her head vehemently in agreement. Coincidentally or not, when I went by one of the interactive screens, I found the system frozen in a rather long reboot. It’s funny how I find these kind of bugs. [NB By the time I left the museum, the bug had been fixed.] Social culture On a positive note, Thyssen Museum has a reasonable social media presence and I enjoyed several of their more quirky boards on Pinterest, including Wine Culture at the Thyssen or Eros at The Thyssen. You can also find the Wine Culture “route” on their app… Another area of improvement: in the app, images of the paintings can be enlarged, but they haven’t been optimized as they take 8+ seconds to mount since they are in ultra high definition. I would argue that’s too long, especially if the connection is not fast. Execution + digital IQ Bottom line: if you want to indulge in digital to enhance the customer experience, you will need to walk in the customers’ shoes to make sure it fits the bill! I would be curious to know if this digital execution reflects the digital IQ of the management team at Thyssen? Anyone who knows the truth, do let us know! Better yet: I’d love to have someone from the Thyssen Museum reply and rebutt! Your thoughts? What other museums are doing a great job at integrating digital and social? UPDATE on 23 APRIL 2014: I received an immediate response directly from the Museum! Kudos to the Museum team for responding so quickly! @mdial Thank you for your post. We will have free wifi for visitors within some weeks 🙂 — Museo Thyssen (@museothyssen) April 22, 2014 NEWSletter Subscribe to Minter’s Bi-Weekly NEWSletter and receive a free copy of the exclusive and updated 8 Golden Rules of an eReputation Your Gift For Signing Up 8 Golden Rules of an eReputation SUBSCRIBE! You have Successfully Subscribed! apps, digital IQ, madrid, Met Museum, Mobile, pinterest, social media, Sree Sreenivasan, Thyssen Museum, Thyssen-Bornemisza, wifi, Wine Culture Minter Dial Minter Dial is an international professional speaker, author & consultant on Leadership, Branding and Digital Strategy. After a successful international career at L’Oréal, Minter Dial returned to his entrepreneurial roots and has spent the last ten years helping senior management teams and Boards to adapt to the new exigencies of the digitally enhanced marketplace. He has worked with world-class organisations to help activate their brand strategies, and figure out how best to integrate new technologies, digital tools, devices and platforms. Above all, Minter works to catalyse a change in mindset and dial up transformation. Minter received his BA in Trilingual Literature from Yale University (1987) and gained his MBA at INSEAD, Fontainebleau (1993). His newest book Heartificial Empathy, Putting Heart into Business and Artificial Intelligence, bowed in December 2018 and won the Book Excellence Award 2019 as well as being shortlisted for the Business Book Awards 2019. It's available in Audiobook, Kindle and Paperback. He is also co-author of Futureproof (Pearson, Sep 2017) and sole author of The Last Ring Home (Myndset Press, Nov 2016), a book and documentary film, both of which have won awards and critical acclaim. Minter has a new book on leadership, You Lead, How being yourself makes you a better leader, published by Kogan Page, that released January 2021. It's easy to inquire about booking Minter Dial here. View all posts by Minter Dial Previous post Next post
Why a Luxury Strategy Goes Wrong| Branding and digital strategy | The Myndset by Minter Dial April 28, 2014 at 3:45 pm […] wrote how the Thyssen Museum in Madrid promoted a number of mobile apps for an enhanced museum experience, yet didn’t offer free […]