SUMO and the North East Regional Museum hub have launched a unique marketing campaign to promote museums across the region. The ‘I like… museums’ campaign which launched earlier this week is encouraging people to visit museums in the North East by linking their collections to peoples individual interests, showing that museums have something for everyone. The ‘i like...’ brand for the campaign has been applied to over sixty themes, ranging from historic periods such as ‘I like… Romans’ to more unusual trails which you might not associate with museums ‘I like… things to do with a hangover’. The campaign uses a mix of media – press, outdoor and radio advertising, sponsorship, promotion teams, merchandise, PR and a website that takes advantage of the latest Web 2.0 trends. The site contains a directory of all the museums and trails and invites users to submit their own themed trails (‘I like… to be beside the seaside’ was one of the first visitor trails to be submitted), rate trails, give feedback and enter competitions. The campaign is a result of a unique initiative funded through MLA North East, bringing together a marketing panel from thirteen regional museums to develop new ways to cross promote their venues. SUMO have been working with this marketing group since January 2007 to develop their vision of a series of themed trails in to the I like museums campaign. Jim Richardson, Lead Consultant at SUMO, said “Museums rarely work together to cross promote their activities, and nothing of this scale has been tried in the UK before. We are especially excited about the I like museums website, which not only tells visitors about what North East museums have to offer, but asks them to share their experiences and tell us what they like about museums.” The I like museums campaign will run across the region throughout the summer. MLA North East has appointed SUMO as Agency of Record, with a two year contract. Our appointment follows a successful working relationship with MLA North East over the past three years. Jim Richardson, lead consultant at SUMO has been invited to speak at the Heritage 365 conference Marketing Conference about how Museums around the world are reaching out to people aged 18-35, persuading this fickle audience that Museums have something for them. Visit our Museum branding seminars page for details. SUMO has come second in North of England Design Consultancy of the Year, the awards which rank agencies by turnover, a peer poll and a client satisfaction poll. We were especially pleased as this was largely down to excellent feedback in the client poll in everything from creativity through to client service. Brighton & Hove City Council has appointed SUMO to develop a brand strategy for their Museums & Libraries services, and to implement a new corporate identity system across their venues. This will include a new identity for the world famous Royal Pavilion. SUMO has been appointed to develop a website to link together exhibitions and events to commemorate the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. The database-driven website will allow individual Museums to log in to a secure area on the site to add their exhibitions and events, these details are then approved by a designated administrator before being published on the site. The website allows users to search events and exhibitions by date and geographic area. This is one of several Museum website projects our interactive design team are currently working on. SUMO has launched six new websites for York Museums Trust and their venues. SUMO developed a website design which was in keeping with the offline brand, develivering a strong consistent image for the venues. The sites use the latest technology to allow the inhouse team at the Trust to update the websites, while adhering to accessibility guidelines. The project also includes a re-vamped hospitality site - an important revenue stream for the museum. The contract to develop the website for York Museums Trust was awarded following the success of offline marketing materials developed by SUMO. Visit the York Museums Trust website SUMO has been appointed to develop a regional marketing campaign to promote the 93 museums found in North East England. The campaign, which will include press and outdoor advertising, a printed regional museum guide and a website to link North East collections together, will roll out across the region in the run-up to the Summer holidays. This will be one of the largest cross-promotional campaigns ever tried in the Museums sector. SUMO's Lead Consultant, Jim Richardson, has been invited to speak at the Museums & Heritage Show in May about how to get the most out of your Museum Branding. Visit our Museum branding seminars page for details. SUMO has developed the brand, exhibition displays, web site and marketing materials for ‘Climate Dome’, a traveling public education exhibition which launches this week in Newcastle upon Tyne. The Climate Dome is an inflatable temporary structure which will act as a traveling exhibition to engage people, on their own ground, who are either not yet aware, or not convinced, of climate change as a 'here and now' threat. It will exhibit across the North East for 15 months, to both urban and rural audiences in places with high footfall including shopping centres, city centres, sports and music events, schools, colleges and fairs. Over 100,000 people are expected to pass through the Climate Dome, and over 1 million are expected to see it. The dome explains climate change through fun interactive exhibits, exhibition displays and animations. It is accompanied by a film (developed with the BBC), website and online game.