Case study | Renaming your museum

At the end of last year, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (Twam) unveiled its new brand and name – North East Museums.

We had refreshed our mission and commitments – and realised that our brand no longer reflected the reality of our organisation.

What's in a name?

Tyne and Wear is rarely referenced as a geographical area and hasn’t been a regional political boundary for decades. It also doesn’t align with the geography that we now represent – our programmes and audiences reach beyond Tyne and Wear, and since April we have also managed three museums in Northumberland.

“Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue – and let’s not even get started on ‘Twam’, which is reminiscent of a Batman sound effect.

A key strategy shift was to focus on promoting the venues collectively, so that visitors see they are all managed by the same organisation and
that they can expect a consistent experience.

Getting started

We worked with Newcastle-based agency Gardiner Richardson, which supported us through an extensive but fun consultation with staff, volunteers, partners and visitors to inform a brand vision, purpose and character.

We defined our brand superpowers, identified celebrities who embodied our brand personality and created march placards to articulate our purpose. The distillation of this informed the name and design of the visual identity.

It came down to two name options but North East Museums was a clear winner, as it’s easy to understand and appropriate for our growing portfolio.

A woman and baby smile on a train; a young girl looks excited. Text reads: We love half term at North East Museums. The background is pink and purple with text on black rectangles. — An example of a marketing campaign from North East Museums

Finding the right logo

We didn’t want another boring corporate logo, so we were delighted with Gardiner Richardson’s design concept. It uses a strong, bold typeface to represent north-eastern grittiness, which also tempers the heart shape from appearing too twee.

The heart shape reflects the warm welcome visitors can expect at our venues and the love people feel about culture and heritage in north-east England.

The new logo

Lessons

We revealed the new identity to staff and it received an unexpected round of applause. The feedback has continued to be overwhelmingly positive.

We learned a lot from the process. Consultation and stakeholder communication was time consuming but necessary, as it helped people feel engaged and created a brand that feels authentic.

It doesn’t all have to be done in one go. We are a complex organisation with lots of stakeholders and limited money. For these reasons, we have phased the introduction of the brand.

Sheryl McGregor is the head of communications and development at North East Museums

Comments (2)

Loved working with you Sheryl and an organisation with a willingness to look beyond the everyday and ordinary to create something truly distinctive and authentic.

Projects like this come along once in a lifetime and valued your desire to make this matter, a willingness to work together to make it happen and your determination to make it last.

This is not a pot of mythical gold at the end of an elusive rainbow. It is the genuine potential of any organisation enhanced by the power of managing your brand.

Great work. A smart, necessary move. The new name brings clarity, coherence and a stronger sense of place, not just for those of us in the sector, but crucially for the public you serve. Good to see a rebrand grounded in audience connection and organisational reality (so often eclipsed by vanity). Well done all, we know from experience, shifts like this are no small feat.