The Challenge

The National Archives had a unique opportunity to raise its profile and engage with a wider audience with its unprecedented collaboration with MI5 to develop the MI5: Official Secrets exhibition.

In a time marked by global uncertainty, interest in spy stories is booming. The spy genre is experiencing a certified renaissance — espionage novel sales surged 45% in 2024 alone (Nielsen BookData), while Netflix’s The Night Agent became the platform’s third-biggest debut for a new series, racking up nearly 170 million viewing hours in just four days. Recognising this context, The National Archives wanted formative feedback to help refine the exhibition’s marketing strategy, ensuring it would capture the public’s imagination, drive engagement online, and convert curiosity into footfall.

The Approach

We ran three online focus groups with the London exhibition-going market, engaging a cross-section of relationships with The National Archives – from those who had visited in the past through to those who only knew the name. Participants were asked about their perceptions of The National Archives, before feeding back on the exhibition concept itself and different components of the marketing campaign including PR coverage, Out of Home, digital banners, the website and ‘hooks’ that could be drawn out in social media coverage.

The Results

Participants were overwhelmingly positive about the concept, but enthusiasm was tempered for some by uncertainty around what an exhibition at The National Archives may be like.  Those that were less familiar with exhibitions at The National Archives were more likely to presume that the experience might be too ‘dense’ and potentially even ‘hard work’.  This key insight alongside detailed feedback on the draft marketing assets led to several practical recommendations that were implemented by the marketing team, including:

• Introducing more hero images featuring people for the campaign – ‘shadows’ of people that sparked curiosity
• Crafting messages around the ideas of ‘hidden’ world and leading with human stories and remarkable objects.
• Amplifying the free entry nature of the exhibition in marketing copy
• Practical planning information about The National Archives as a destination was elevated across comms and the webpage, helping The National Archives feel like a viable day out for those unfamiliar.
• Increasing visuals of the exhibition space within marketing assets – helping to reassure potential visitors get a true sense of what the exhibition will be like (showcasing the range of content to dispel any ‘heavy’ assumptions and demonstrating The National Archives as a cultural destination).

After just two months, the exhibition enjoyed strong success; achieving around +50% more visitors than the previous most successful onsite exhibition during the same period.  In the run up to the opening weekend, the corresponding social media campaign drove a record number of email sign-ups to find out more, and since opening, there have been clear web traffic ‘spikes’ around key promotions or messaging.  This has resulted in a new audience discovering The National Archives as a visitor destination: it is estimated that at least 70% of visitors to the exhibition had not previously visited The National Archives. 

The National Archives