Museums are traditionally viewed as somewhat niche public venues reserved for those who are genuinely interested in history and art. Oh, and school kids who were assigned to visit a museum for a school project.
However, there’s one particular museum (actually, a group of museums) that has been using their social media to do some very clever marketing that is both engaging, fun, and educational.
We are, of course, talking about the York Museums Trust who manages the York Castle Museum, Yorkshire Museum and Gardens, and the York Art Gallery. After launching several viral “museum battles” including the time when the Yorkshire museum started a hilarious competition over who has the best bum exhibit and another one for who has the creepiest exhibits.
So, the York Museums Trust decided to show Britain’s national treasure Judi Dench as other national treasures in their collection
Image credits: YorkMuseumTrust
This time, it’s not a battle but still a very educational experience—the York Museums Trust compiled a 7-tweet thread listing the various images of Judi Dench as various objects that they possess in their collection. And you better believe Twitter loved it.
“At York Museums Trust, we’re always keen to be responding to what’s going on in the digital world and we had seen this meme format used before by fan accounts and such comparing celebrities to things like ice lollies or cars!” explained York Museums Trust in an interview with Bored Panda.
“We are keen for a wide audience to engage with our collections, so adapting memes and trends online to fit with us as a museum is a great way to reach a wide audience and get our collections seen my thousands of people!”
They compared various pictures of Judi Dench to the exhibits found in their museums
Image credits: YorkMuseumTrust
Image credits: YorkMuseumTrust
The items included everything from workboxes and head pots to cat statues and arsenic dresses
Image credits: YorkMuseumTrust
So, they came out with 7 exhibits, all with their appropriate pictures of Dame Judi Dench. These included: a 17th century workbox, a Julia Domna head-pot, a Victorian wreath, an 18th century cat dummy board, an Ormside bowl, an Ann Stokes globe fish ceramic, and a 19th century arsenic dress.
Each exhibit was detail and color coordinated to match the different outfits and settings that Dame Judi Dench happened to find herself in. The one that Twitter seemed to love the most was the cat dummy alongside Dench in a full cat costume as portrayed in the 2019 movie Cats. You know, the one that Seth Rogen watched while being high and said that Judi Dench looked the most cuddly (because of her costume).
When asked why did they choose Judi Dench specifically, the York Museums Trust had this to say: “Dame Judi Dench is a national treasure, which worked great alongside our own treasures! But she is also York-born herself and a huge advocate for the arts.”
Twitter found it hilarious, with some giving props to whoever came up with the idea and used the Museum’s account to share this with the world. They said that the person behind this deserves a raise after this and the thread itself needs an award. For many, this thread made their day, calling it anything from amazing to delightful.
Image credits: YorkMuseumTrust
Image credits: YorkMuseumTrust
Each item was color- and detail-coordinated, making for some hilarious comparisons
Image credits: YorkMuseumTrust
“We could have added many more [exhibits], but it does take some time to try and find a match! We think we included some of Judi’s best looks and roles, so that’s important. Maybe some more may come out in the future…” You heard them—stay tuned because they might start another Twitter trend here.
As for trying out the meme with other celebrities, the York Museums Trust explained that they have been asked by their followers to do more, and they’d love to: “We’ve thought of a few celebrities, we’d love to include Sir David Attenborough as he opened our Yorkshire’s Jurassic World exhibition last year. If anyone has any suggestions, though, we would love to hear them!”
Bravo, York Museums Trust, truly a great way to keep your audience engaged and people entertained! What did you think about this? What other noteworthy people would you like to see done in a similar fashion? Let us know in the comment section below!
People on Twitter loved the gag, with some even stating that the person behind this needs a promotion
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Even the Mary Rose Museum was inspired to do the same, pondering what their collection could be compared to
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