IOWA ROI Case Study

Background: The Battleship IOWA is the West Coast's only battleship open to the public. It gets thousands of visitors a year through regular and group ticket sales. Prior to October 2015, this interactive naval museum didn't have an audio tour and offered volunteer-led tours in English only. The battleship and Guru partnered up to create an audio tour and add a fun, interactive digital later to the IOWA experience. Three months after the IOWA launched its Guru-powered app, the battleship significantly increased its revenue and number of visitors through group tour sales.

Challenges: In July 2015, the Battleship IOWA faced a problem: it lacked any type of guided audio tour and in two months, the IOWA was hosting the annual convention of the Historic Naval Ships Association. When the IOWA team looked into using a standard audio tour company that included hardware, they were told it would be six to ten months until their tour was ready...uh oh! Solution: That's when Guru came in. Six weeks later--yes, 6 weeks--Guru delivered the IOWA app that included more than 150 original audio overviews, 93 videos, 6 tours (including one for children) and an augmented reality feature that allows the user to see the dormant 16-inch guns fire. In addition to having tours in English, Guru added Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese to the app--instantly making the ship accessible to non-English speaking visitors and opening group tour sales to a whole new market. Results: 

• Added Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese to audio tour

• Increased number of visitors through group tours by 21%

• Generated 63% increase in group tour revenue

Guru charges museums $0 up front and bears all the initial financial risk. If you don't approve the app, you never pay Guru!