Why Royal Air Force Museum chose Radioville

The Royal Air Force Museum was established as a legacy of the RAF’s 50th anniversary, opening its London museum in 1972 and its Midlands museum in 1998.

Their purpose is to share the story of the Royal Air Force, past, present and future – using its people and the 1.3 million objects in their collections in order to engage, inspire and encourage learning.

The museum also h as interactive displays and dynamic experiences (such as VR simulators and 4D theatres) that really capture a child’s imagination – so there’s something for every generation of the family.

The context

• Market research provided us with the strong insight that the museum was far more exciting and dynamic than people were expecting.
• Off the back of the research ‘Get ready for takeoff’ became the campaign strap line because it gave a nod to the aeronautical heritage of the RAF while at the same time ‘landing’ (see what we did there?!) the sense that the museum is a really enjoyable and exciting place to visit.
• Radio was chosen as the lead marketing channel because of its strong ROI performance, its brand building qualities and its ability to deliver high frequency along with regional targeting (so there wasn’t much wastage).

The objective

• To change perceptions about the RAF Museum.
• To position the museum as THE destination fora great family day out.
• Increase brand awareness of their Midlands museum.
• Increase the number of visitors (especially families with children aged 5-11).

The challenge

• Low brand awareness outside of the RAF/pilot enthusiast community.
• Low visitor numbers at the Midlands site.
• The ‘family days out’ sector is incredibly crowded.

Our approach

• We brought to life the idea that a trip to the the commercials museum is so enjoyable and memorable that it stays with you long after you’ve left. It was this truth which led to the ‘spot the kid’ concept.
• Given that we were targeting families with children, we thought it would be nice to produce commercials that dramatised, in a gently humorous way, how various everyday situations involving kids were impacted following a trip to the museum.
• We developed 40” commercials for brand building and the 20” and 10” commercials were deployed to build frequency and land some of the more specific tactical messages.
• To help build a strong brand identity we created a sonic ident which was featured on every commercial. The sonic ident reflected the history and longevity of the RAF – by gradually morphing the sound of a spitfire-esque plane into that of a modern fighter jet.

The outcome

The numbers took off!

300% increase in unprompted brand awareness
30% increase in visitor numbers
Strong ROI: £1.60 profit was generated for
every £1 spent on the radio ad campaign

'Grandad 40s'

'Fish Fingers 40s'

'Proms 20s'

'Go Wild 20s'

'Space Race 10s'

'Red Arrows 10s'

Working with Radioville has been a really good experience –they’re extremely creative and always fun. They really listen to what we’re trying to achieve but they also put forward other objectives that lead to effective outcomes. Partnering with Radioville to do our radio advertising is certainly working for us,
so I would definitely recommend them.

Michelle Worthington, Communications Manager, RAF Museum