>On Fri, 19 Apr 1996, Henry B. Crawford wrote: > >> Yet I still contend that the intent of the department store is not >> interpretation and education as in a museum exhibit. Department stores use >> museum interpretation techniques to market goods. Museums use (or should >> use) marketing strategies as a means to interpret and educate. Of course I >> am speaking only of truly interpretive exhibits (see my earlier definition >> below). > >Henry, >Are you suggesting that there is some substantial difference between >marketing goods (stores) and marketing ideas (museums)? Is marketing a >bad thing? Is not one of the functions of a museum to market (make >palatable) our interpretation of our subject just as one of the functions >of a store is to market (make palatable) its goods? > >Michaele and David Haynes [log in to unmask] Reply: I Don't see a substantial difference. I am making a point that marketing is good, and museums have now finally come around to using marketing strategies (to promote ideas through exhibits, outreach, and programming) that the commercial world has used successfully for years. As anyone knows, marketing is a strategy which is employed to enhance ones public image. Advertising is not marketing, but is merely one among dozens of marketing tools. Department stores and museums simply approach the same marketing goals from different directions. To both, the objectives are 1. to get bodies through the door, and 2. to ensure that those bodies leave with a product in hand, whether a pair of designer jeans, or a head-full of the world's knowledge. In this sense you are correct. Museums market ideas just as stores market goods. Without a positive public image, the product becomes irrelevant because no one would care. The use of a comprehensive marketing strategy is good, and I am a firm believer in it. HBC ***************************************** Henry B. Crawford Curator of History [log in to unmask] Museum of Texas Tech University 806/742-2442 Box 43191 FAX 742-1136 Lubbock, TX 79409-3191 *********All opinions expressed are mine**********