A ticketing platform built for the arts, not the ferry

MONA · Strategy Design, Strategy Implementation · Arts and Culture

Helping one of the world's most original museums choose a ticketing and CRM platform as ambitious as it is.

The challenge

MONA sells far more than museum entry. Ferry trips, tours, accommodation, cinema, concerts, restaurant bookings and festival passes for Dark MOFO all run through its website, often combined into packages. Its ticketing system had been chosen because the ferry operator already used it, and it had been built for transport, not the arts. Booking errors, failed ticket emails and scanning problems at festivals were frustrating visitors and staff, and the system held almost no usable customer data, so MONA couldn't speak to the people who loved it most.

What we did

We started by restoring confidence: listening to the team, fixing the most urgent booking issues and setting up a steady rhythm of communication. We then carried out an independent review of the ticketing platform, mapped every type of sale MONA needed to support over the next five to eight years, and assessed the leading arts ticketing and CRM systems against those needs. Alongside this, we reviewed the online packages journey for Dark MOFO and Red Queen, recommending clearer calls to action, lighter and more inviting imagery, and abandoned booking emails to recover lost sales.

The impact

MONA's leadership had a clear, evidence based case for moving to a platform built for the arts, with CRM at its heart, and a practical list of fixes to lift online package sales in the meantime.

Deliverables

Ticketing platform review and recommendation

Needs analysis across every sales channel

Vendor comparison with indicative investment range

Packages user experience review

Ongoing website improvement

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