Integrating Communications, Branding & Ticketing Across Multi-Entity Organizations
October 2025
This article is related to a recently completed custom research project conducted on behalf of an ABA member. Our research team is always delighted to speak with members about tailoring research projects to your organization. To learn more or submit a custom research request, simply contact your member advisor or email us at info@advisoryarts.com.
How are cultural institutions that encompass multiple organizations and sites within their structure, each with their own distinct identities and staff, successfully integrating and coordinating their communications, marketing and front of house efforts?
These questions from a multi-entity museum group, led to a qualitative research study consisting of interviews with 7 organizations across artistic and cultural genres that encompass multiple organizations within their operations to understand how they have integrated their communications, branding and ticketing across all sites.
Key findings of this report include:
Legal structures determine branding priorities: Depending on the overall legal structure of organizations and how separate they are as legal entities will determine the priority and balance between branding and identities of each site over the whole organizational group. Sites that encompass more independent organizations (like resident companies) prioritize their unique identities, while central offices can provide branding guidelines and protocols that everyone must abide to, to maintain some cohesive storytelling.
Empowered leadership that connects the dots: An empowered point person for marketing and communications across all institutional sites must have trust, legitimacy, and authority to align institutions effectively. Strong leadership ensures consistent messaging, manages external relationships, and keeps internal coordination on track. Dedicated budgets are necessary to manage these efforts. Co-financing between individual sites can also be a way to legitimize the efforts of joint branding.
Carefully balancing the insititonal brand with site-specific communications: Across our interviews, many organizations adopt a two-pronged branding system including a central brand function overseen by the main office team that provides core site-wide communication, storytelling and cross promotions with site-specific branding that serves more day-to-day communications. Depending on the organization, both branches can be handled by different teams, but following centralized guidelines.
The full report is available to ABA members by clicking below.
