Each year, over 2 million art lovers visit the world famous Rijksmuseum to appreciate iconic Dutch masterpieces. Yet despite this popularity, the Rijksmuseum still struggles to attract a more mainstream, local audience. This is a public that believes art, and the museum, is elitist. They don’t know of the rich history and diverse stories, or the passion that drives its employees. The Rijksmuseum couldn’t wait to bring this to the attention of the general public, but how did we go about reaching people not primarily interested in Art?

Every week, when everyone else had gone home, we gave a different Dutch celebrity the keys to the majestic Rijksmuseum for a private, tailor-made museum adventure based on their interests. Using Instagram Live, their followers could join the tour in real time. Actively engaging with both the influencers and the museum as the action unfolded.

To connect to this audience, we had to tap into their world; to engage with an audience that spends hours a day following influencers and celebrities on social media. How? We gifted their favourite internet icons a bucket list experience, and streamed each event live on their platform of choice: Instagram.

Every week, when everyone else had gone home, we gave a different Dutch celebrity a private, tailor-made museum adventure based on their interests. Using Instagram Live, followers joined the tour in real time. Actively engaging with both the influencers and the museum as the action unfolded.

Interactivity greatly influences how we consume digital content because it is immersive. Therefore Instagram Live was our obvious platform of choice; it gave the audience the opportunity to virtually explore the museum. It’s also a highly visual medium—best serving the museum’s objectives and helping create organic visibility for the campaign.

8 weeks, 8 familiar faces, 8 experiences, all starting at 8pm. Every Thursday, we gave a different Dutch celebrity the keys, and after hours access, to the majestic Rijksmuseum. Directed by their followers, they wandered the halls in search of hidden treasures and did things nobody has ever done. They dined, rapped and biked, but they also met curators, restorers and employees who revealed the unknown to both the celebrity and their audience.

All content was shot on a smartphone, and promoted via social and PR. The live stream began with the influencer and then switched to the Rijksmuseum account. This way, the influencer’s audience was exposed to the museum in a natural way—out of interest and curiosity. To maximise impact we repurposed the content into digital executions for those that missed out. A Facebook trailer, influencer posts and an IGTV after movie all helped keep the story alive.

The series had an organic reach of 1 million, successfully converting short-term interest into long-term museum followers. In fact, this format doubled the weekly growth of the Rijksmuseum’s Instagram account. With an average viewing time of 18 minutes (60%) the campaign was extremely well received; going on to create free publicity on social media and gaining traction in blogs and the media. Most importantly, we took a brand new audience behind the scenes, exposed them to the unexpected and the educational, and showcased the Rijksmuseum in a way that was relevant to the people watching.