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November 22 2025
By Manuel Charr
If you stroll down Oxford Road in Manchester, you may notice a long-legged sentinel lurking behind glass—looming, slightly menacing, and, as it turns out, unexpectedly charismatic. This Japanese spider crab, long a favourite for startling passing students, is now far more than a static display specimen. As Connor Murphy explained in his 2025 presentation at the Museums & Social Media Summit, “this guy is very much the star of the show… and now star of our social media as well.”
That sentence might seem unremarkable—except the star in question is not a curator, or an educator, or a celebrity collaborator. It’s a preserved spider-crab specimen.
And somehow, this crab has become a recurring character in Manchester Museum’s digital storytelling.
A Museum Rebuilt—And a Tone of Voice Reimagined
When Manchester Museum reopened in February 2023 after its major redevelopment, the transformation wasn’t just architectural. Connor stressed that the real change was in the museum’s values and approach: “It was more so about the values… about a shift in focus, a shift in approach, which has been building over the course of 10 years.”
This shift demanded a new kind of communication—one that felt warm, empathetic, humble, and deeply community-centred. With 35% of visitors coming from the global majority, the museum needed a tone that welcomed diverse audiences rather than reinforcing an institutional barrier.
And that’s exactly where the crab scuttled in.
A familiar specimen becomes a character
For years, visitors walking past the museum encountered the spider crab’s imposing silhouette in the window. Couples even shared that their first dates began beneath his watchful legs. Connor noted that choosing the crab as the museum’s “humanising face” made intuitive sense precisely because he already lived in the city’s collective memory.
For comparison, London Museum’s object-led viral story used a change in research understanding to create narrative tension.
But familiarity alone doesn’t drive engagement. What transformed this specimen into a digital icon was something entirely different: a voice.
Enter Tobias Longmate, the museum’s digital content creator, who looked at the historically sombre world of taxidermy and decided—quite simply—to make it fun.
Using conservation absence as a story
Tobias admitted that the taxidermy collection can feel “quite depressing,” so he set out to “give these creatures a sort of new life.” His method: music, humour, and a gloriously daft sense of joy.
He began writing taxidermy raps—yes, raps—about extinct pigeons, beetles with long legs, porcupines, and more. These playful videos did something important: they shifted fear and discomfort into curiosity and affection.
When the spider crab temporarily came off display for conservation work, Tobias seized the opportunity. He gave the crab a digitally generated voice—slightly sinister, unexpectedly sweet, and irresistibly entertaining. As the crab “said” at one point “I am in control of all Manchester Museum’s social media accounts… What are they going to do? Put me back in my display case?”
Thus began a saga that turned a routine conservation update into a city-wide—and eventually nation-wide—story.
Reacting to Manchester’s cultural moments
The examples discussed in the 2025 talk came from the character’s evolving storyline, rather than a single campaign reporting window:
– When Oasis played in town, the crab starred in a parody advert praising the museum’s “exemplary toilet facilities.”
– When John Lewis dropped its Christmas advert, the crab released a spoof the same day—and racked up 50,000 views in 48 hours.
– When the crab “went missing,” the museum launched a mock manhunt, complete with Bigfoot-style sightings, staff cameos, and location clues across Manchester.
He popped up everywhere—from the Science and Industry Museum to the National Coal Mining Museum to Liverpool’s World Museum, where he even fell in love with their crab (“Can a Manc crab ever be allowed to love a Scouse crab?”).
Visitors followed the journey, speculated, commented, shared—and most remarkably, started showing up at the museum asking about him.
These staff observations suggest a connection with local visitors, rather than a measured total of visits generated by social posts. The practical next step is building local museum audiences.
Campaign results and wider channel growth
When Manchester Museum was shortlisted for Museum of the Year 2024, the team deliberately avoided the standard “We are delighted to announce…” post. Connor described how they instead leaned into the crab’s storyline. His absence became the setup for a city-wide celebration, culminating in a dramatic curtain-reveal when he returned to his window.
By then, thousands of people felt personally invested in him.
The team reported the following changes for the crab campaign:
– 244% increase in impressions
– 1,100% increase in engagements and comments
– 2,600% increase in shares
– Engagement rate rising to almost 7%
Separately, the team reported these whole-channel changes across 2024:
– Impressions up 327%
– Engagement up 157%
– Video views up 656%
– 13,258 new followers across the museum’s main social networks
The team reported strong growth during the crab campaign and across the museum’s wider channels in 2024. Those are related measures, but they answer different questions. The campaign figures show how people responded to this storyline; the annual figures describe the whole account. Staff also heard from visitors who had come to see the crab, giving the team a tangible sign that the character was becoming part of the museum’s public identity.
Keeping humour connected to museum values
1. Tone of voice is strategy, not decoration.
Manchester Museum didn’t use humour for the sake of it. Their playful tone reinforces core values of belonging, empathy, and community engagement. A mischievous crab is not a distraction—it’s a bridge.
2. Characters beat content.
Audiences bond with personalities, not posts. Whether your character is a puppet, a mascot, or a troublemaking crustacean, giving your social media a recognisable “face” fosters loyalty and anticipation.
3. Speed matters more than polish.
The crab’s biggest hits came from reacting instantly—spoofing Oasis, hijacking the John Lewis advert, jumping on local news. Nimble beats perfect.
The Bigger Picture: A Crab That Changed the Museum
What began as a lighthearted experiment became a profound connector. Families visited because their children wanted to “see the crab.” Community groups followed the storyline. Staff embraced the jokes. Other museums joined the fun. And Connor highlighted how the campaign “developed a deeper sense of emotional connection… in ways we couldn’t have anticipated.”
It also gave the museum permission to break the mould.
Not every campaign will be as surreal as a runaway spider crab. But once audiences understand that a museum is warm, human, and playful, they begin to listen more deeply to its serious messages too.
And the Crab’s Final Word?
As he “told” the Museums & Social Media Summit audience, in his own uniquely unsettling way “Yes, the people worship me… and when I have enough minions to do my bidding, I will take over this museum and me and my son will eat as many visitors as we can.”
Terrifying? A little.
Effective? Undeniably.
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Tobias Longmate and Connor Murphy from Manchester Museum spoke at the Museums & Social Media Summit 2025.
About the author – Manuel Charr
Manuel Charr is a journalist working in the arts and cultural sectors. With a background in marketing, Manuel is drawn to arts organizations which are prepared to try inventive ways to reach new audiences.
