Exhibition: Product or Campaign?

What’s an exhibition? In the commercial world, experiences given to customers are either products or campaigns.

Products are things we value: cars, cappuccinos, feature films. We choose to pay money willingly for them.

Campaigns promote products: car ads, coffee shop window clings, movie stars on talk shows. We don’t pay for campaigns with our money. But we do pay, unwillingly, with our attention.

So is an exhibition a product or a campaign? Yes.

An exhibition has educational or entertainment value we want to pay for. So it is a product.

But it also promotes the organization's point of view: a take on history, a call for justice, a belief in science. So it is also a campaign.

This duality has consequences. Cappuccinos don't have a point of view. A visitor who would pay for our exhibition product might not do so, if they don't like the campaign that comes with it.

Here’s the thing:
Because exhibitions are both products and campaigns, we need to master the balance of both aspects. If we leave it up to chance, or leave things unsaid, our projects will fall short. And we won't know why.

Warmly,
Jonathan