Using only its blog, Facebook, and Twitter the National Museum of American History launched a “Race to the Museum” campaign that engaged nearly 24,000 people over a period of 3 weeks. Blog readers were introduced to eight jewels of the Smithsonian car collection covering 120 years of history. A public vote was then opened to determine which two cars would come out of storage and go on display. This was the first time that the museum has asked the public to help choose objects for display, a decision usually made by the curators. On “moving day,” the museum used its YouTube channel to bring visitors behind the scenes from storage facility to final display.
Organization: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
Audience: Car enthusiasts and auto bloggers, history enthusiasts, local museum visitors
Role: Project manager, content developer, contest manager
★Award
This project won an American Association of Museums Gold MUSE Award for outstanding achievement in museum media in the category “Public Outreach.”