Socio-Cultural Currents Affecting Heritage Site Visit Considerations or 'I didn't join English Heritage to be a Salesman'

My day job is the study of the British, the public generally, the electorate, in political terms (although opinion polls that you see in the newspapers and on television is but 1% of our turnover -- that's right, 1%, of MORI's turnover - but 99% of the publicity).

And elite opinion, that is, those in power and influence over people's lives, MPs, Captains of Industry, the media, the City, and other influential groups in British society.

(Leave aside for the moment the international work that we do, both for British companies and organisations abroad, such as the 12 country study currently in the field for the British Council, and work for Shell and BP on the one hand and WWF and Greenpeace on the other.)

There are five things that survey research can inform those interested in heritage: behaviour (what people do), knowledge (what people know, or at least think they know), and opinions, attitudes and values. I have defined these terms, rather too poetically I fear for scholarly adoption, as "opinions: the ripples on the surface of the public's consciousness, shallow, and easily changed; attitudes: the currents below the surface, deeper and stronger; and values: the deep tides of public mood, slow to change, but powerful".

Why do I think that elites are important? Not least for English Heritage? Because they are the influencers and the power brokers who can help you to meet your mission, the protection of England's Heritage for the people of this country.

But before I dwell on the relationship that English Heritage has, or should have, with its publics, let me step back and reflect on changes facing British society, mainly drawn from our Socioconsult studies of the British people.

The pace of change, corporate, product, political and consumer, is accelerating at an accelerating rate.

Longevity threatens economic stability, global money movement and speed and independence of communications from government restrictions threatens economic sovereignty, the family structure is under threat, with the greatest projected growth the single person household, trends to the service economy and an increasing proportion of women in the workforce, downsizing and growth in part-time jobs, equally desired by both men and women, the rise of the civic society, rejection of role models and loss of confidence in institutions, acceptance of feminism and informality, loss of status and breaking down of hierarchies all present both threats and opportunities to our society.

The Single Market is coming closer to reality. Even the British are beginning to accept that. That of course has implications for visitors to our sites, but also to competitions for funding and sources of funds, competition to our people going abroad for their heritage 'fix', and competition for share of mind, as the British, inevitably, perhaps kicking and screaming, get dragged into Europe, like it or not.

Our work with the Socioconsult consortium of research companies across Europe has identified a number of 'cross-cultural convergences' to be taken into account:

• A growing gap between institutions and people, so EH must think about how it can act and appear to act less institution-like, and more user friendly.
• A move from self-centeredness to autonomy, so EH must think how it can enable historic site carers to feel that you are on their side rather than opposing them on every move. Now, and historically, EH is seen as a negative, not a positive influence by many people.
• A flow from ideology to the need for meaning, so EH needs to think through how to be flexible with hours, with forms, with reactions, with procedures, with people, to go with the flow when it's flowing your way, and stand your ground when architects, developers and builders don't toe the mark, such as in the recent British Museum Portland stone incident. 'Or similar'. Phooey. If you let your friends and supporters down, they'll write you off as patsies, and on the side of the trade-unionists, and not the conservators you think yourselves to be and want to be, or you wouldn't be here.
• A trend from an organised social structure to a network culture, so that EH is in touch with those that can help you, who want to help you, and will help you. Each year MORI accepts a Forum for the Future scholar, and this year we have a cracking project for him/her - to 'spider-map' the elite network of board members and friends in high places of the environment movement, to enable the Forum for the Future, ODPM (DTLR) and the Environment Agency, WWF and Greenpeace, Going for Green and the Tidy Britain Group, and the rest of the environmental movement.
• A current from feminism to feminisation of society, which again supports the yin of the conservators against the yang of the trade-unionists, and most architects, developers and builders are together with the money men, the trade-unions, and you know which side of us tends to be which, the feminine the conservator by nature, the trade-union sr the male of the species.
• A drift from rational to polysensorial, so that sights and sounds, images and visions must accompany the logical and soundly financially-based plans and projects you undertake.

All of these will affect our society, and you with them, whether you like it or not.

Other convergences, specifically closer to home will include

• Going from saving time to savouring time, which bodes well for heritage.
• Going from pleasure-seeking to parallel crude and discerning hedonism, which should also affect public reaction to what EH has to offer
• Going from ecology to daily environmental friendliness, including increasing concern with conservation of our heritage

There is a growing sense that daily life has become too stressful, and that security is undermined. In the application of Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Human Needs', sustenance is assured, but security is threatened. Esteem is under attack, and self-actualisation comes hard.

Crude hedonism is on the rise; more drugs, and more anti-social behaviour, and growing faster with young women than young men; too many are what we call the 'underwolves' , which we define as the underdog who bites back . Protection of sites and 'fights to the death' will be admired and supported against the minority who mar and mark, tear down instead of build up, and who don't value our heritage in the way we do.

A continuing sense of insularity but without ethnocentricism: a strong desire to maintain British customs and regional differences, which you can exploit. Multi-culturalism, an 'island on an island'; is rejected by most older people, but accepted as a way of life by most younger people

Leisure Activities

The British, like other Europeans and the Americans, are couch potatoes, nearly all of them saying their chief leisure pursuit is watching the box. Nearly all the British say this is something that occupies them in their leisure time. Other competitors for leisure time are listening to the radio, done by over 80% on a regular basis, and, increasingly, records and tapes, and for nearly 60% of the population, reading books. However, going to the library is something many have done in the past year, more than have gone to museums, the theatre, visited stately homes or even football.

The British are a nation of gardeners, with nearly half the nation digging away. Of 350 million visits to attractions in Britain, less than 100 million were to heritage sites, museums and galleries. Over the period 1981 to 1999, there have been many changes in the attractions world in Britain, with much more competition, and the instigation of a charging policy of some of the nation's major museums and galleries.

Over that period, attendance at the Natural History Museum has decreased, as has the V&A, Science Museum, Kew and other major national galleries and sites, while the British Museum's throughput has doubled, and significant gains have been made by such attractions as Chessington World of Adventure and Alton Towers.

Among the nearly 6,000 UK attractions which accounted for nearly 400 million visits, an average of over 60,000 each, historic properties accounted for roughly 80 million, museums 60 million, country parks 50 million, leisure parks 37 million, wildlife attractions 22 million, art galleries 19 million, and gardens 16 million. The National Tourist Boards report that wildlife sites had the highest proportion of children (37%) followed by museums (32%), historic sites (23%) and gardens (17%).

Almost the reverse was true of overseas visitors to UK attractions, according to the Tourist Boards: Historic attractions (including the Tower) drew the greatest proportion of foreign visitors; wildlife the least, with just 4%. Over the past four years, while library going in Britain has stayed static, cinema going has gone up sharply, especially among the 15-34s (+8%) and perhaps surprisingly nearly as much among the 35-54s (+7%), but hardly at all among the 55s and over (+1%).

This suggests that in the future cinemas will share heritage sites', galleries' and museums' problem with the 'Third Wave' growth which is forecast. But more to the point, there have been sharp drops since 1991 on those having gone to museums. In 1991, 38% said that they had gone to a museum in the previous twelve months, and this had fallen to 32% by 1995; in 1999, even with the category widened to 'museum/art gallery', only 35% had done so. The fall, comparing 1991 with 1999, was mostly among middle-class (-6%), middle-aged (-9%). An even greater drop between 1991 and 1995 was found in those visiting National Trust houses and gardens, from 39% to 31%. This fall was across the board in terms of class, but proportionally more among older people, down 11% among the over 55s. (By way of contrast, reported cinema going has risen sharply, from 44% in 1991 to 59% in 1999, with a similar rise among all age groups.)

Heritage

But what becomes interesting is to use this 'map of the British' and indeed the French, the Germans, etc., to see what turns which group on, and off. Those who strongly agree much more than others to the statement 'It is as important to preserve historic monuments as the environment' (49% agreed and 13% agreed strongly in 1994) are those we've described as the 'discerning hedonists', who like points of reference, authenticity, have a sense of well being and who are 'Inraceptive' ('intuitive and spontaneous comprehension of others and systems; the capacity to put oneself in some else's shoes'). There are two groups or clusters of currents who tend to reject this idea: they both tend to be more traditional than modern, but are very different: one group includes those with a strong sense of ethical responsibility, are 'multiculturalists' who are 'fluid networkers' and 'adaptive navigators'; the other group couldn't be more different, yet they share the same view on the relationship between historic monuments and the environment -- these are 'risk takers', who 'live on the edge', take 'pleasure in violence' and are 'under-wolves'.

The second testing statement is relevant also, it is this: 'I would like to spend more time visiting beautiful houses and gardens'. (52% agreed in both 1994 and 1997, with 12% and 14% respectively agreeing strongly). Their traits are clear, they 'savour their time', have a 'sense of well being', see themselves as 'aesthetics in their everyday lives', have 'holistic intuition' and 'appreciate authenticity'; the perhaps surprising thing is that they cluster towards the modern rather than the traditional. Two groups again reject this idea, including, surprisingly, a single current group w ho are 'multicultural'. The other group are our old friends, both individualistic and traditional, who are 'risk-takers', 'living on the edge', take 'pleasure in violence' and are the 'under-wolves', but who now include those who are 'seeking success' and are 'ostentatious consumerists'.

The third, reacting to the statement 'What I love about Great Britain is our heritage' (21% agreed strongly in 1994 and 26% in 1997), are more social than individual, and one group among the three which stand out positively on this dimension are 'discerning hedonists' who 'savour their own time', have ' sense of well being' and who like 'points of reference'. There are two other, one current, groups of people who identify with Britain's heritage: somewhat surprisingly, one is at the centre point, and is the current of 'frustrated ambition'; the other, very traditional, the 'national chauvinists'. In opposition are two groups, our old friends who have been consistently negative, plus a different group, who share 'ethics of responsibility', 'multiculturalism' and are 'adaptive navigators'.

Demographic Trends

Demographers have the advantage of attitude researchers, for they know, with considerable certainty, the population profiles for the immediate future, for the population profile of twenty or thirty years from now is largely determined by the behaviour of people now.

One thing is very certain, significant growth in population between now and the year 2025 will be in the developing world, in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and less in the USA (and much of their growth will come from Asians and Hispanics), and the former USSR, and hardly any from Europe, now the prime source of museum and gallery visitors.

Looking to Europe, there will be an interesting continuation of the trends of fewer young persons and a higher proportion of older people, which will of course have an important impact visitors to museums and heritage attractions. In 1961, 25% of the British public for instance were under 16, and this remained steady to 1971, but dropped by 1981 to 22%, and by another tenth, to 20%, by 1991. It is forecast to fall way further to just 18% by 2011, then levelling off, so that over a forty year period the under-sixteens will have fallen from one in four of the population to little more than one in six. These trends take their place in the cohort sequence through the years, and there is a decided shift to an older population forecast to take place in the next century. Proportionally, there will be an increase by three quarters of the over 65s, between 1961 and 2021. Similar shifts in cohort proportions are taking place in France, Germany, the Benelux countries and in Scandinavia. Not so in the developing world.

Neil Chalmers, director of Britain's National History Museum, reflects that many people go three times to his museum in their lives, as children, parents, and finally, grandparents. That the balance is shifting away from younger people to older will impact on European sites of historical and artistic interest.

Another trend in Britain is that while over half of the adult population is working, including 31% men working full-time, 15% women full time, and 10% part-time, 86% of whom are women; there are more men in each age cohort going out to work, right up to retirement age. This heavily affects the time people have to visit leisure sites and attractions.

Working women have much less free time per week, after taking account of sleep, work, travelling to and from work, domestic chores and personal grooming, than do men, and part-time women workers have not much more, and less than men in full-time employment. Housewives who are not working have more time on average, although this varies greatly depending if they are looking after small children or not, while the retired have more than twice as much 'free time' as do people who work; yet relatively little attention is paid to getting these people out to leisure attractions, and when it is, it is at an OAP rate or free.

The proportion of 'Third Age' people is growing; is it a market opportunity for heritage sites, museums and galleries? Yet they are, at present, a burden to many museums' financial situations, as they are given access to most otherwise paying museums getting in at a reduced old age pensioners rate, or for free. Better news for you and for those like you, including the museums and galleries directors, is that British higher educational enrolments have been growing sharply, and these people who have attended institutes of higher education are more likely to come to leisure venues, and more likely to bring their children.

In closing

In closing, let me just add a few words about the management of your 'corporate brand'.

Working with some of the nation's largest corporations some years ago, I devised a simple model of effective management of a company's communications programme. It is I would argue, no less relevant for English Heritage.

It seems simple, yet in this morning's newspapers, on the television this evening, you will see many companies and other organisations whose advertising or other communications will fail, because it is not based on the sequential building blocks of:

1. Awareness: Here's who we are.
2. Involvement: Here's what we can do for you.
3. Persuasion: Here's what we think.
4. Action: Here's what we want you to do.

There is no reason for anyone to listen to your message if they do not know whom you are and what you represent, so that the first of these building blocks to a consumer franchise is awareness. My own fieldforce area managers tell me that they are often approached by interviewers who work for other market research agencies and who say they would like to work for MORI, as it is so well known and people are much more likely to agree to be interviewed if it is MORI rather than the XYZ market research company. This is true of ICI's salesmen, Heinz's soups, Mars' ice cream bars, and Shell's petrol at the pump. Former Shell chairman Sir Peter Holmes estimated that at least 10% of their world-wide profits can be attributed to their good corporate image. And they won't listen long, either in the corridors of power or in the supermarket if they don't see, clearly and quickly, what's in it for them.

People pay attention, read ads, listen to the message, if they see how it is going to affect them in their daily lives. So involvement is important. Build it in, and be explicit about it. Tell them exactly what you can do for them, and they'll listen, and be more susceptible to be persuaded to your point of view. And that is no less true for your stakeholding partners and sponsors, central government and local authority civil servants, and MPs and counsellors, as it is for your site visitors.

The next stage is:

Persuasion. The British certainly are prone to understatement. I find that endearing, and one among many of the reasons I like living there. In America I always feel I am being shouted at; in Britain, I'm spoken to politely, most of the time anyway, and also on the Continent. But you must be explicit, not too underplayed. Be clear what it is you believe in, whether it is your product, your people, your financial promise, or your position on an issue of public policy about heritage. If you have dug the foundation of awareness and built the framework of involvement, people will listen to your argument, and be more likely to be willing to be persuaded.

So that you can make it clear to them what action you want them to take. Again, the British way is one of softly, softly. They must learn to ask for the order, don't expect the potential customer to ask you for the pen and ask where he or she should sign. You must learn to tell the Minister why you want him to change the government's policy, and how he can go about it so that he will be the hero to your industry and benefit therefrom, and why his action will gain him political credit, as I am sure Sir Jocelyn does in no uncertain terms! Too often however the British make advertisements which leaves you thinking 'that's cute, but what's it got to do with me?' 'What are they trying to tell me?' or 'Now what am I supposed to do?'

Why is all this important for you, for custodians of the nation's heritage, archeology, historic sites and buildings? I know you 'didn't join English Heritage to become a salesman.' But everybody here will have to become a salesman for your corporate brand because...

...Values and perceptions drive behaviour. Behaviour affects relationships. Relationships drive business success. Relationships which are mutually supportive drive business success; those which are not damage the basis of business success.

This is why awareness, involvement, persuasion and action, based on trust in who you are and what you are trying to do is vital to the success of English Heritage. And who better than you to sell it?

I define the Corporate Brand from the perspective of the consumer and other external audiences as 'the net result of all experiences, impressions, feelings, beliefs and knowledge that people have about an organisation or company', more subjective than objective. This is important, because these may or may not be true, but I don't measure truth in some abstract way, but perceptions. And as the first Century slave-philosopher Epictetus said: 'Perceptions are truth, because people believe them.'

Thank you.