This week Agenda
published the results of a branding survey conducted by Robert Jones, Head of
New Thinking at Wolff Olins, during the Communicating the Museum conference
held in Venice in June 2008. A few months after Robert leapt into the cultural
psyche of the event’s 274 participants, the report still proves fascinating
reading for anyone looking for an insight into the current mindset of museum
professionals with regards to branding. The full 9-page report can be read in full here but we just wanted to pick out a few
of Robert’s most interesting findings here on the blog.
First, a considerable number of museum professionals underestimate the power and scope of branding. 65% of conference participants said that their brand merely “determines the look of stationary, signs and leaflets.” Only 23% claimed that it “guides our exhibition programme.” What’s more, museum professionals don’t seem to like the idea of branding all that much. 23% of participants agreed that brand is “a dirty word – too commercial,” happy to leave it to the marketing department. Robert’s report has a very interesting take on what branding should be – and it’s anything but dirty.
The strongest point throughout Robert’s report is that branding is a vision of a museum’s personality and purpose long before it is a logo. Internally, it is an essential tool in helping employees to adhere to the direction or philosophy of their institution; as Robert puts it “brand is a contemporary tool for management. By asserting what a museum stands for, it suggests what it should and shouldn’t do.” Most conference participants had not yet embraced this side of branding. Just 17% agreed that branding “guides how our staff behave”.
And the report touches on what will be one of this blog’s most current themes; the fact that museums are a-changing. The gradual migration of both museums and visitors into the buzzing hyper-connected universe of Web 2.0 means that the relationship between museum and visitor is ever more dynamic. Branding is key in facilitating museums’ mutation from teaching institutions into cultural platforms for discussion and sharing. Take the Tate as an example. Its branding is an invitation to “look again, think again,” an invitation which is equally applicable in a museum or in the online community and transforms the museum into a participatory platform.
Interestingly, the report shows that it is museums in the Asia Pacific region and the US which are most keen to harness this new connectivity. Just looking at the number of blogs in Australia and the States dealing with this subject in comparison to those in Europe would seem to confirm this trend.
Anyway, we heartily advise you to go and check out the report itself. We can’t really do justice to all 8 pages here and they are all certainly worth a read.
Picture: Adactio (Some rights reserved)
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