Historical Museum Striving to Maintain GenZ Relevance

History Museum Striving for Relevance with GenZ. A well-established history museum with a social mission worried about its dimming relevance with younger generations. The museum needed to understand what America's GenZ thought of its social mission and the global events that spurred its very creation.

The museum realized that without buy-in from younger generations, it could become a dusty relic of the past, rather than an inspiration for a better society.

Key differentiator: Springboard uniquely leveraged Gen Z staff to identify potential social media influencers, embedding peer perspective into influencer discovery.

1. First — conducted secondary research on Gen Z (youth insights, adolescent behavior, demographic trend review).
2. Then — tasked Gen Z staff to identify potential social media influencers (staff-driven influencer identification, influencer mapping).
3. Finally — executed a national online survey of diverse Americans ages 14–17 (quantitative online survey, national sample of adolescents).
4. Our vs. client role: Springboard performed the listed research and fieldwork
5. Steps involved: secondary research → Gen Z staff influencer identification → national online survey of 14–17-year-olds.
6. Implementation speed: The multi-phased project was completed over 5-6 months

Outcome: Museum leadership redirected additional resources to social media awareness campaigns.

1. Action taken: A follow-up survey was commissioned with Springboard to enable longitudinal tracking of the museum's efforts to increase GenZ awareness and concern about topics central to the museum's mission.

Business impact: By shifting budget toward social channels and adapting content to engage GenZ, decision-makers improved relevance to younger audiences, increased reach potential for in-person and online exhibits, and positioned the museum for stronger earned and contributed revenue over time.