Becoming a National Museum

The Royal Armouries required a creative partner to help reposition its brand to reflect its status as a National Museum and raise its profile nationally and internationally. While it was important to generate an increase in visitor numbers, it was also important to enhance the quality, depth and gravitas of the offer and introduce a greater sense of consistency between the three Royal Armouries sites in London, Leeds and Portsmouth.

Face to face with history

The new branding introduced a more serious look and feel, reflecting the museum’s role in education as well as family fun. The lead imagery for each event appealed to the individual audiences and tied into the relevance of the museum in today’s world, at the same time revealing the depth and significance of the collection. In addition to the brand repositioning, we developed new website templates, promotional literature for each audience, online and offline ads, signage and a full range of collateral.

The results

Increased visitor numbers to events, talks and seminars as well as a substantial increase in social media activity all confirmed the re-brand was working. Peter Armstrong, Royal Armouries Creative Development Director reflected:

“In the 12 months since the rebrand, we have increased visitors to family events. May 2013 saw a 27% year-on-year jump in visitors. And what’s more impressive is that this is against a backdrop of falling attendances to the other museums in the region.”