The culture, museums and heritage sector have become to depend more and more on family visitors and if you aren’t appealing to this key sector your venue could be missing out. In this blog we aim to show you how animation can enhance the heritage and museum experience for families and children.

1. Create animated social media videos

Animated social media videos attract audiences and therefore visitors. 65% of humans are visual learners (source). But all social media users have short attention spans and will only spend a short time before swiping! Animation stands out in the crowd, it evokes emotions that can resonate with your family visitors.

Indeed Walt Disney said, “Animation offers a medium of storytelling and visual entertainment which can bring pleasure and information to people of all ages everywhere in the world.”

Animation sparks discussion and will make your family visitors want to follow that story right into your museum or heritage attraction.
We really love this campaign by Starcatchers for Today Museum Play.

Still from the *Today Museum Play* project by Starcatchers.

Social media image for promotion of the *‘Pirates Life for me’* exhibition at the *V&A Museum of Childhood.*

2. Create appealing animated mascots to use on marketing materials and on site

The main purpose of a mascot is to build and strengthen brand identity (source). With an animated character associated with your museum or heritage attraction, families are more likely to give your venue a place in their minds. With this, you get to have recall and awareness, which will inevitably drive visitors to your doors.

Mascots can come in all shapes and sizes, the Japanese ‘Museum of Poo’ even has one! We love developing ideas for mascots with our clients, the weirder the more wonderful.

*Unberuto* - the character mascot of *The Unko Museum* in Japan.

3. Create engaging content within displays/exhibitions

Once your visitors are through the doors you want their experience to be memorable, you want them to share their experience on social media and with friends and family. To engage with family visitors, interesting exhibitions and display content is key. An animated film can hold the attention of children, a key factor for their parents! The Science Museum has gone one step further with this idea, dedicating a whole gallery to animation

We created this content for an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood in London.

4. Explain your history in a short, engaging animated video

Many heritage attractions have a long and interesting history but sometimes this needs to be condensed into an easy to understand story for the family audience. These histories are useful not only within the museum and heritage attraction but for your social media too.

We created the history of the Abington Estate for their family visitors and it received a great response.

5. Show off your family-friendly amenities with a fun animated video

A quick animated video can explain all the family-friendly amenities you have at your attraction. They may not be that interesting for live-action video - who wants to see an actual changing table in a toilet on video? But with a fun animated video you can highlight all the features that may appeal to families at your venue.

We hope our suggestions give you some ideas for your museum, or heritage attraction. We really enjoy working in this sector so if you want to drive more families to your cultural attraction get in touch.