Mobile Audio Tour Case Studies
Kew Gardens is a major international visitor attraction and its 132 hectares of landscaped gardens attract over one million visitors per year. Kew was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 representing over 250 years of historical landscape.
Kew Gardens Henry Moore Exhibition Case Study
'Moore at Kew on your Mobile' powered by X-on is an innovative audio guide which is accessible to the public via their mobile phone. Using their mobiles, visitors to the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew are able to 'eavesdrop' on conversations involving botanists, artists, photographers and people who had worked with Henry Moore. As they wander around visitors can enjoy the most significant Henry Moore show for many years. The audio guide system is easy to access, flexible in any environment and has limited need for staffing.
The exhibition and the new technology being employed to enhance the visitor experience generated significant press interest with over 70 articles being published.
Linear or Ad Hoc Tour
Visitors can take a linear or ad hoc tour, in the case of 'Moore at Kew on your Mobile' it is an ad hoc tour. Visitors can access the audio content in any order they choose, improvising the tour, guided by signage at each sculpture.
For each sculpture that has audio, there is a unique three digit code on the sign next to that piece. The audio enables visitors to eavesdrop on scientists, art historians and photographers who discuss the artwork and their relationship to their surroundings. This interactive resource is flexible allowing visitors to pause, repeat and skip.
The telephone keypad provides navigation through the content, skipping forwards and backwards between exhibits, or fast-forwarding or rewinding through audio content.
Once the visitor has dialled in and paid, the system can remember the visitor's number and position within a tour, allowing them to hang up and call back in later. It will also give access to the tour for 48 hours, allowing visitors to enjoy the tour at their own pace.
Business Model
The business model is not based on per minute billing through a premium rate number. The number used for the service is a geographical number and could be free to the caller depending on their mobile phone tariff.
The billing for the tour is via SMS, credit card or a voucher scheme. Reverse SMS and credit card billing can be through the phone keypad, not requiring staff to administer the guide. The vouchers can be sold at shops or offered for free to those who qualify for a concession.
Content Management System and Business Intelligence
The audio guide comes with its own content management system which allows the site staff to upload and change the tour through a web interface. This means tours can be updated and changed at the click of a button with no added cost implications. The content management system also gives detailed reporting on the activity of callers using the audio guide. This includes the time of day they called, their dwell time at each stop, how many callers per day and how they paid. There is also an individual breakdown for each mobile phone number.
Overall Objective
Mike Saunders, Director of Digital Media at Kew, was looking for a technological solution to provide an audio guide service for the temporary exhibition of Henry Moore's work at Kew. Henry Moore originally envisaged his work being encountered in the outdoors and twenty eight of his sculptures were placed in various locations around Kew. The issues Mike Saunders faced included how to create more than just a visual impact for the visitors without detracting from the sculptures themselves.
An audio tour was the obvious solution, but how to manage it with such a large outdoor site? Using mobile phone technology allowed Kew to offer an audio guide solution to enhance the visitor experience without the hardware and staffing required for a traditional audio tour.
"Having the audio guide provides a different perspective on the sculptures, which is very useful and beneficial to visitors. The technology works excellently, its easy to use and we have received great support from X-on. The feedback from users is generally very favourable. I would certainly recommend X-on and use their services in the future if a similar opportunity arose."
Mike Saunders, Director of Digital Media at Kew Gardens.
Strategy for Implementation
The strategy for implementation was very simple. It came in four stages:
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The statues had to be in place for the creators of the audio content to be able to record the commentary for the audio tour. |
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Both Kew and the audio content suppliers had training on the content management system to upload the audio themselves and manage the system. |
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Marketing/signage strategy was decided upon. |
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Live testing, staff at Kew being educated in using the system, and marketing/signage put in place. |
Method Deployed
The most important element contibuting to the success of this project was marketing the new technology to visitors. Teamwork and communication between Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, the audio content suppliers, and X-on resulted in a smooth upload and go-live process.
Creativity and Originality
Technically original features of MobiTour include the use of SMS billing and vouchers to overcome visitor objections to perceived 'premium' call costs and the access to a low cost high quality audio guide with no specialist equipment or staffing. It is fitting too that this new use of a mobile phone has allowed the sculptures to be enjoyed and explored in an organic environment, which is what the artist intended for his work.
Website: www.kew.org/henry-moore
