2026 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

How do you make an art museum relevant to people who don’t consider themselves “art people”?

That was the challenge the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) brought to the agency in 2023 – to reverse attendance declines and attract a younger audience.

Research confirmed the brand’s desired younger audience viewed the AGO as passive, outdated, and even boring, at odds with their desire for more immersive experiences.

So, the agency needed to reframe their expectations of a visit – not as a quiet stroll through galleries but as an active, energizing experience worth choosing.

Art isn’t viewed – it’s experienced.

By provoking an emotional reaction, art gives us a form of understanding we can’t get from words alone. It’s something we experience. What if they could help the audience realize that a visit to the AGO offers them an immersive experience that they can’t get anywhere else?

“The Art Rate Monitor” is a unique tech experience designed to prove viewing art isn’t passive; it’s an active experience. Visitors were given tech-enabled wristbands connected to beacons throughout the gallery that monitored visitors’ heart rate, location, and movement as they explored the AGO.

Over 90,000 works of art were analyzed by the gallery to identify eight universal themes, such as power, spirituality, or aesthetics, spanning across genres and time periods. After their visit, participants received an “art persona” created from their wristband’s biometric data, including the art that elevated their heart rate, calmed them most, and held their attention the longest, and the colour schemes they were most drawn to.

To drive return visits, results also included upcoming exhibition recommendations based on their personalized data.

The agency used existing technology in a completely new way: transforming a traditional art gallery visit into a personalized, data-driven experience. The experience proved that viewing art is not passive; it’s deeply personal and active. By merging media, tech, and culture, they created an unprecedented use of data to drive engagement, making the gallery visit feel
both intimate and shareable, and redefining how audiences interact with art spaces.

“The Art Rate Monitor” proved that visiting the AGO is an active, emotionally engaging Experience – driving increased visitation and deeper connection with a younger audience.

In just 8 weeks, more than 5,000 visitors experienced the activation, with the AGO seeing a 32% spike in visitation during the 2 weeks post-launch. Notably, 50% of participants came specifically for the “Art Rate Monitor”. The activation also drove younger audience engagement, with 36% of visitors aged 20-30 – a 14-point increase vs. two weeks prior.

The campaign also strengthened institutional connection, as 81% of participants were very likely to recommend the AGO (11 points year over year, 12 points vs. other Toronto attractions), and 75% said they would return within a year (26 points year over year, 31 points vs. benchmarks).

Additionally, the campaign delivered 2.5x planned landing page clicks, indicating high interest.

Credits

Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Chief Creative Officer: Jenny Glover, Brian Murray
Chief Design Officer: Stephanie Yung
Design Director: Jeff Watkins
Creative Director/Copywriter: Jeff Tyser
Creative Director/Art Director: Nikki Garrett, Kevin Sato
Associate Creative Director/Copywriter: Marco Buchar
Associate Creative Director/Art Director: Ivan Mallqui, Michael Romaniuk
Digital Design Director: Damian Simev
Account Team: Alyssa Guttman, Alexa Macdonald, Erika Dafoe
Executive Director, Comms Planning & Technology: Sean Bell
Strategist: Heather Segal, Meredith Ferguson, Sarah Yim
Head of Media: Alicia Petralia
Campaign Manager: Tania Perales
Client: Art Gallery of Ontario
Clients: Ros Lawler, Kimber Slater, Suman Chahal, Sahana Nair
PR (AGO): Laura Quinn, Andrea-Jo Wilson, Wendy So, Lexie Buchanan
Agency Executive Producer: Laura Dubcovsky
CGI Artist/Animator and Illustrator: Pierre Bourjo
Digital Producer: Kenneth Haz
Digital Interactive Producer: Kelly Sun
Web Developer: Kyle Collins, Jake Edwards
Interactive Technology Studio: WXM Tech
Creative Technologist: Damian Wright
Software Engineer: Dmitri Melamed
Project Manager: Sabrina Teles
Production House: Zulubot
Post-Production Company: Zulubot
Director of Post-Production and Operations: Sarah Dayus
Executive Producer: Adam Palmer
Zulubot Producer: Amy Groll
Senior Post Producer: Lena Hamady
Editor and Motion Design: Bergougnou Productions
Assistant Editor: Adrian Gluvakovich
Colourist: Ryan Ruskay
Motion Design: Miguel Natividad, Diego Romero
Director: Kyle Chappell
Photographer: Can Yuksel, Arash Moallemi
Audio Engineer: Noah Mroueh, Diego Romero
Studio Manager: Henry Eugenio
Production Artist: Aron Harris, John Rodrigues