2025 Winner
SilverBest in Consumer Engagement
BronzeBest in Emerging Technology
Art Gallery of Ontario
"Art Rate Monitor"
Zulu Alpha Kilo
"Art Rate Monitor"
Zulu Alpha Kilo
How do you make an art museum relevant to people who don’t consider themselves “art people”? That was the Art Gallery of Ontario’s (AGO) challenge in 2023 — to reverse attendance declines and attract a younger audience.
As one of North America’s largest and most celebrated art museums, the AGO is no stranger to acclaim — but like cultural institutions everywhere, it wasn’t immune to pressures like rising costs, shrinking sources of funding, pandemic closures, and sluggish recovery post-COVID. Museums have also been struggling to engage younger audiences, leading to a sector-wide drop in attendance.
Research confirmed their desired younger audience viewed the AGO as passive, outdated, and even boring, at odds with their desire for more immersive experiences.
So, solving the AGO’s attendance problem meant overcoming this perception issue. They needed to reframe their expectations of a visit — not as a quiet stroll through galleries, but as an active, energizing experience worth choosing.
Their objective was to drive visitation among younger audiences, measured by their overall increase during the activation, visitors being drawn specifically by the activation as well as the number of participants aged 20–30.
Art isn’t viewed — it’s experienced. By provoking an emotional reaction in us, art gives us a form of understanding we can’t get from words alone. It’s something we experience.
What if the agency could help the brand’s 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, 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.
With a limited budget, they focused on high-impact channels that would generate intrigue and drive people to the gallery. They narrowed in on the brand’s target demo, 18-34-year-olds who live in the Toronto area.
Social video was the agency’s lead medium — ideal for quickly teasing their core message that you can “Discover how your heart reacts to our art”, without giving too much away, prompting curiosity and action.
To extend the story into the real world, the agency used wild postings spread across Toronto to capture the attention of their experience-driven audience. The visuals mirrored the same call-to-action as social, to further drive interest and intrigue for visitation.
To take it one step further, they partnered with popular art and lifestyle influencers who were invited to experience “Art Rate Monitor” before opening to the public, to share their personal results, adding authenticity and reach. Their content helped demystify the experience and show just how individualized the output could be.
Budget constraints forced the agency to be focused and collaborative. Creative and media worked hand-in-hand to ensure consistency across channels while maximizing each medium’s unique strength.
Measurement was another hurdle — they leaned into qualitative signals like social engagement, influencer reach, and anecdotal feedback from visitors who came "specifically to try the “Art Rate Monitor””.
The result: a smart, efficient media plan that sparked curiosity and delivered real-world foot traffic.
They used existing technology in a completely new way — transforming a traditional art gallery visit into a personalized, data-driven experience. While wearables and beacons are not new, this was the first time they were used to measure emotional and physical responses to art at the AGO in real time, generating unique “art personas” for each visitor. 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.
Over the course of just eight weeks, more than 5,000 visitors experienced the activation, driving a notable boost in attendance for the AGO. In the two weeks following the launch, the gallery saw a 32% spike in visitation, with half of the participants reporting that they came specifically to experience the Art Rate Monitor.
The activation successfully attracted a younger audience, with 36% of visitors aged 20–30, a 14-point increase compared to the two weeks prior. It also strengthened the AGO’s connection with visitors: 81% of participants said they were very likely to recommend the gallery, up 11 points year over year and 12 points higher than other Toronto attractions.
Additionally, 75% said they planned to return within a year, a 26-point increase year over year and 31 points above benchmarks. The campaign also exceeded digital performance goals, delivering 2.5 times the planned number of landing page clicks, demonstrating strong overall interest and engagement.
Due to its success, the AGO is reactivating the experience this summer for its 125th anniversary, with other museums expressing interest in hosting it as a touring exhibit.
As one of North America’s largest and most celebrated art museums, the AGO is no stranger to acclaim — but like cultural institutions everywhere, it wasn’t immune to pressures like rising costs, shrinking sources of funding, pandemic closures, and sluggish recovery post-COVID. Museums have also been struggling to engage younger audiences, leading to a sector-wide drop in attendance.
Research confirmed their desired younger audience viewed the AGO as passive, outdated, and even boring, at odds with their desire for more immersive experiences.
So, solving the AGO’s attendance problem meant overcoming this perception issue. They needed to reframe their expectations of a visit — not as a quiet stroll through galleries, but as an active, energizing experience worth choosing.
Their objective was to drive visitation among younger audiences, measured by their overall increase during the activation, visitors being drawn specifically by the activation as well as the number of participants aged 20–30.
Art isn’t viewed — it’s experienced. By provoking an emotional reaction in us, art gives us a form of understanding we can’t get from words alone. It’s something we experience.
What if the agency could help the brand’s 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, 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.
With a limited budget, they focused on high-impact channels that would generate intrigue and drive people to the gallery. They narrowed in on the brand’s target demo, 18-34-year-olds who live in the Toronto area.
Social video was the agency’s lead medium — ideal for quickly teasing their core message that you can “Discover how your heart reacts to our art”, without giving too much away, prompting curiosity and action.
To extend the story into the real world, the agency used wild postings spread across Toronto to capture the attention of their experience-driven audience. The visuals mirrored the same call-to-action as social, to further drive interest and intrigue for visitation.
To take it one step further, they partnered with popular art and lifestyle influencers who were invited to experience “Art Rate Monitor” before opening to the public, to share their personal results, adding authenticity and reach. Their content helped demystify the experience and show just how individualized the output could be.
Budget constraints forced the agency to be focused and collaborative. Creative and media worked hand-in-hand to ensure consistency across channels while maximizing each medium’s unique strength.
Measurement was another hurdle — they leaned into qualitative signals like social engagement, influencer reach, and anecdotal feedback from visitors who came "specifically to try the “Art Rate Monitor””.
The result: a smart, efficient media plan that sparked curiosity and delivered real-world foot traffic.
They used existing technology in a completely new way — transforming a traditional art gallery visit into a personalized, data-driven experience. While wearables and beacons are not new, this was the first time they were used to measure emotional and physical responses to art at the AGO in real time, generating unique “art personas” for each visitor. 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.
Over the course of just eight weeks, more than 5,000 visitors experienced the activation, driving a notable boost in attendance for the AGO. In the two weeks following the launch, the gallery saw a 32% spike in visitation, with half of the participants reporting that they came specifically to experience the Art Rate Monitor.
The activation successfully attracted a younger audience, with 36% of visitors aged 20–30, a 14-point increase compared to the two weeks prior. It also strengthened the AGO’s connection with visitors: 81% of participants said they were very likely to recommend the gallery, up 11 points year over year and 12 points higher than other Toronto attractions.
Additionally, 75% said they planned to return within a year, a 26-point increase year over year and 31 points above benchmarks. The campaign also exceeded digital performance goals, delivering 2.5 times the planned number of landing page clicks, demonstrating strong overall interest and engagement.
Due to its success, the AGO is reactivating the experience this summer for its 125th anniversary, with other museums expressing interest in hosting it as a touring exhibit.
Credits
Agency: Zulu Alpha KiloChief 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