Team members: Miao Yang, Chao Huang, Zhongyun Chen, Qianqiao Fang, Fanfan Kong, Xin He, Jiandong Ren, Qinyu Cheng
Project mentor: Yiyan Zhang
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Abstract
Museums around the world have become more commercially minded, realizing selling gifts as a form of cultural merchandise can increase their impact, especially among the younger generation. In particular, museum gifts, or Wen Chuang, have become a big hit in China in recent years. From the standpoint of urban communication, the design and promotion of museum gifts can also help construct and revitalize city images. Using a Uses and Gratifications approach, this research project investigates what motivates Chinese consumers to engage with museum gifts on China’s social networking site WeChat — an emerging platform for marketing cultural and creative products — and the extent to which a city’s cultural identity plays a role in this process. Methodologically, the study is based on an online survey and experiment among a convenience sample of Chinese consumers. The results show that the convenience of obtaining product information online and the cultural significance of museum gifts are among the major driving forces for consumers to purchase the products. Our research builds a theoretical link between the Uses and Gratifications theory, urban communication, and marketing research. It also has important practical implications for professionals who work in the museum sector in particular and cultural and creative industries in general.
Keywords
cultural and creative industries; social engagement; online purchase intention; Uses and Gratifications Theory; urban communication; Strategic Experiential Modules (marketing research); online survey and experiment; WeChat
Team Bio
Our team is made up of eight Emerging Media Studies Master’s students of Boston University, mentored by Yiyan Zhang, a Ph.D. candidate at the program. We are all from different provinces in China and have great interests in cultural and creative industries. Most of us have purchased cultural and creative products on large e-commerce platforms and social media platforms and found the products as well as the shopping process enjoyable. Therefore, we are very passionate about this research project. What we have learned from the Division of Emerging Media Studies provides us with relevant theories and methodologies to complete this research. We now have strong capabilities of conducting online survey and experiment research, running data analysis, and writing research reports.
Client Bio
Destination Partner (DP) is a Shanghai-based cultural and communication company, focusing on destination marketing. As a part of their effort to promote Shanghai’s city image, DP collaborates with over 100 Shanghai-based museums and launched a WeChat online shop “Explore Museum” to sell museum gifts collectively. DP hopes that the results of the research project can inform their business strategies to enhance user interactions with the WeChat shop and ultimately promote the City of Shanghai as a tourist destination.