S.

Hollis Mickey
AMCV2220: Museums and Communities
February 23, 2011

Brand Analysis: Victoria and Albert Museum

Quick, don’t think: What is the first brand that comes to mind? For most of us, the

answer is probably Cocoa-Cola, or Nike, or Apple. These are all brands which provide familiar

commodities that we, as consumers, purchase in the form of an object—a beverage, a pair of

shoes, an electronic gadget. The brand you first recalled is probably also associated with specific

images like a logo as well as feelings and quality judgments. In the most general sense, a brand is

the identity or impression of a service, business, or product in the mind of consumers or potential

consumers.1 Brands encompass the total experience of consumption. Consider for a moment the

following names: the Smithsonian, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Tate. What feelings and

thoughts do these names conjure? Each name probably has a distinctive association, just like

Cocoa-Cola, Nike and Apple. Indeed, these museums are all brands as well.

In recent years the notion of museum branding has become more popular as museums

consider their image and identity in the minds of the audiences they wish to reach. Since

museums offer a complex array of experiences, creating a singular, cohesive, and compelling

brand identity can be challenging. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England offers a

provocative case study. Founded in 1852 after the Great Exhibition, the museum was created to

fuel the English creative economy, by inspiring designers and demonstrating to the world the

superiority of English innovation.2 This historical context tied to elitist and exclusive narratives

of class is no longer the narrative first associated with the museum. This is due, largely, to the

                                                                                                               
1  “brand,  n.”OED.  Second  edition,  1989;  online  version  November  2010.  <http://www.oed.com:80/Entry/22627>;  Accessed  17  February  
2011.  Earlier  version  first  published  in  New  English  Dictionary,  1888.  
2  “A  Grand  Design:  A  History  of  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum.”  V&A  2009.  Accessed  17  February  2011.  

<http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1159_grand_design/>.  
fact that the museum has been considering its identity for much longer than most arts institutions,

adopting powerful branding strategies and attending carefully to the total museum experience.

The V&A’s interest in branding seems to have peaked in the past ten years. In 2000, the

museum created an exhibition entitled “Brand New” which explored the process and products of

branding. This exhibition seems to have coincided with, or perhaps even inspired, the V&A’s

own rebranding process which kicked off in 2002 with the FuturePlan Campaign. This

campaign, still actively ongoing today, encompasses a total revamping of nearly every aspect of

the museum, including everything from the reinstallation of permanent collections and building

new gallery spaces to refurbishing lavatories and designing new uniforms for staff. Generated

with the Jane Wentworth and Wolff Olins brand consultancy firms, FuturePlan, which pushes

consistency, has helped double annual museum attendance,3 and cement V&A brand identity.

On the V&A marketing website, a lengthy section is devoted to the importance of branding.

The V&A brand is defined as:

-What the V&A does

-What the V&A stands for
-What the V&A means to different people, with a view to establishing and communicating clear goals, both
internally and externally.4

While the marketing team does not define these three categories, we might look to the V&A’s

2010-2015 Strategic Plan for answers. The essence of any institutional brand—what it does,

what it stands for, and how it hopes to be perceived—should be reflected in its mission

statement. The V&A’s mission statement begins the Strategic Plan; it’s mission is “to be the

world’s leading museum of art and design; enriching people’s lives by promoting knowledge,

understanding, and enjoyment of the designed world.”5 This mission is followed by four specific

                                                                                                               
3  “V&A  Renewed.”  Wolff  Olins.  2009.  Accessed  17  February  2011.  <  http://www.wolffolins.com/media/case_studies/VA_case_study.pdf>.  
4  “Marketing  the  V&A.”  V&A  2011.  Accessed  17  February  2011  <http://www.vam.ac.uk/about_va/marketing/index.html>.  
5  Strategic  Plan  2010–2015  2010/11.V&A.  2010.  Accessed  February  6,  2011.  <http://media.vam.ac.uk/media/documents/about-­‐

us/2010/v&a-­‐strategicplan2010-­‐15.pdf>.  
values: Generosity, Imagination, Coherence, Rigour. These values, combined with the mission

statement, suggest what the V&A aspires for its brand to mean to others. The success of the

V&A brand depends upon the embodiment of its mission and values in every aspect of its

work—from advertising to exhibitions, from gift shop merchandise to public programming, from

the café menu to publications. Evaluating every dimensions of this massive institution is beyond

the scope of this paper, so this document instead focuses upon a few examples of V&A brand

identity: name and logo, website, merchandising, and exhibitions.

So, what’s in a name? For audiences, names are essential—names offer first impressions

and hold lasting associations. The V&A offers a fascinating history of rebranding through

naming. The V&A has not always been the V&A. The museum at its founding was originally

called The Museum of Manufactures. This name suggests a particular kind of collection that

certainly would have drawn some visitors. If the name remained today, it would decidedly deter

those not interested in manufacturing. Just five years later, in 1857, the museum changed names

and locations to become The South Kensington Museum. This name change no longer identified

the collection, which was growing to include a range of objects beyond the manufactured. The

new name, instead, associated the museum with a place. Then, in 1899 it was renamed The

Victoria and Albert Museum after its royal patrons, and suggesting to audiences a legacy of

imperialism and elitism. In 1989, the museum made a bold move, rebranding its identity to

downplay this royal title. Acclaimed designer Alan Fletcher created the V&A’s current logo:
This logo drops the names of the English monarchs, shortening the name of the museum. It

incorporates a typeface from 1798 (Bodoni) with modern design, visually communicating the

museum as associated with both the historic and the cutting-edge. Now, the V&A rarely goes by

its ‘full name’ of The Victoria and Albert Museum. Instead, it capitalizes on the play between

history and modernity imbedded within Fletcher’s design, using the logo and the abbreviated

name in all of its print material and advertisement. Through this logo and ‘nickname’, the V&A

makes a tension within the museum—a collection of old objects and the desire to capture the

minds of contemporary audiences—into an asset. As well, the logo subtly communicates the

V&A’s British identity, as Alan Fletcher was a British designer. Most importantly, this logo

embodies what the V&A does—promote inspiring art and design. The logo suggests both

imagination and coherence; it creatively plays with the ampersand but is completely legible.

With a simple but engaging design the V&A conveys its value for innovation and tradition,

creativity and rigour.

The V&A has recently used its logo to further assert its dynamism in the contemporary

world of art and design, hiring a Hollywood-based design group, Troika, to create signage for

Tube stations. Using Fletcher’s design, Troika deconstructs the logo so that it becomes a

palindrome, rotating on an access in a glowing pneumatic tube. 6

Perhaps suggestive of a deconstructed post-modern condition, perhaps indicative of the

increasing need for museums to be more like Hollywood cinematic experiences, however this
                                                                                                               
6  Sinclair,  Mark,  “Troika  deconstruct  the  V&A.”  Creative  Review  2004.  Accessed  17  February  2011.  
<http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-­‐blog/2010/august/troika-­‐va>.  
signage is read, it certainly communicates that the V&A is not stuffy or conservative, but rather

forward-thinking, modern, and vibrant. The story of the evolution of the logo and name of the

V&A points to the power of branding to redefine and institution and make it sustainable in

changing times.

The website offers another interesting study in the V&A brand. The current website is

largely clunky, overcrowded and difficult to navigate:

Despite the V&A’s drive to be the premier place of art and design, the website is lacking visually

arresting imagery and the layout and font connote the early days of website design. The logo is

perhaps the only aspect of this front page that catches the eye. The V&A seems aware of these

shortfalls and is currently developing a new website, now in its beta (or trial) phase. This new

website has all of the dynamism of the Tube palindrome, and invites the online visitor to engage.

Arresting imagery and immediately interactive features such as video and changing graphics

promote the impression of the V&A as a modern museum. This new website is creative and

coherent, rigorous in content while also accessible and generous to the visitor who might know

nothing of the V&A and its collections.

The V&A would do well to adopt this new website as soon as possible. For most, the website is

the first impression they have of a museum experience. Now, visitors go to the website before

ever setting foot into a gallery; some visitors may never visit the ‘real’ museum. If the V&A

wants to ensure brand coherency, and wants to further its identity on the world stage, this is an

important step to take.

The proliferation of V&A merchandise expresses another dimension of the V&A brand.

While most museums offer some sort of retail experience, the V&A is especially known for its

consumer goods. The large shop at the V&A’s entrances sells postcards, expensive designer

underwear, Arts and Crafts water bottles, locally made jewelry worth thousands of pounds. With

such a diverse stock of goods, ensuring that each item communicates the V&A brand means

more than stamping it with a logo, though, to be fair, most of the merchandise does feature the

logo prominently. The V&A ensures that all products communicate its values through its brand

licensing program.7 This program works with the designers of its merchandise, encouraging them

to be inspired by the V&A archives and exhibitions, but also regulating quality. The Program

hosts design competitions and the resulting products have won many international design

awards. This increases the desire amongst young designers to be associated with the V&A brand.

Increased desire and competition around merchandising raises the profile of the V&A as a

museum of remarkable historic objects of design, and also as an engine for the contemporary

design market.

The products available through the V&A online shop are, without a doubt, incredibly

appealing and consistently so. Quality is high and they are presented aesthetically as in any

department store window. The online shop also uses commercial display tactics, employing

excellent retail photography to capture goods in an enticing way. Many products take old
                                                                                                               
7  V&A  Licensing.  2011.  V&A.  Accessed  18  February  2011.  <http://www.vandalicensing.com/>.    
patterns, forms and designs and transform them into desirable objects for the modern consumer,

again suggesting the tension of old and new implicit in the museum. Most products are limited

editions, produced for current exhibitions, or created by up-and-coming artists and designers.

The regular turn over of merchandise reason for return visits to the museum shop. While the

commercial attractiveness of the V&A brand is undeniably laudable, it does demand the

question, when does the museum go too far? Is the V&A becoming a lifestyle brand, like Martha

Stewart, solely based around ideas of consumption? Should shopping be such a central part of

the museum experience?

Indeed, the gift shop is located at the museum’s heart, but most of the V&A’s square

footage is gallery space. The exhibitions are perhaps not as successful as the shop at

communicating a cohesive brand message. Due to the massive scale of the museum a number of

special exhibitions may be running on any day. In fact, on February 17th, 2011, the V&A had

seventeen special exhibitions on view:

Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography, Imperial Chinese Robes from the Forbidden City, Sacred Silver used by the
London Huguenot communities, Magic Lantern by Mat Collishaw, Isotype: international picture language, Art School Drawings,
Beatrix Potter: An Awkward Education, Zen and the arts of print: Birgit Skiöld and Japan, Picturing Plants: Masterpieces of
Botanical Illustration, A History of Camera-less Photography, Space & Light: Edward Gordon Craig, Jain Manuscripts, Up
Close and Personal, Walter Crane: A Revolution in Nursery Picture Books, So Noble a Confection: Producing and Consuming
Chocolate, 1600 – 2000, Mapping Materials and Makers: Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951, Richard Slee: From
Utility to Futility

What is impressive about this list is the sheer diversity of the exhibitions. The opportunity to

learn about the history of chocolate, look at Jain manuscripts and see installations by

contemporary artists like Mat Collinshaw and Richard Slee all in the same building is truly

noteworthy. Like the logo of the museum, these exhibitions communicate that the V&A is both

innovative and traditional, and certainly expresses the V&A’s desire to be seen as a creative,

imaginative hub. As well, the prolific number and diversity of exhibitions affirms the image that

the V&A is the premier place to experience all kinds of art and design. However, looking at this
list, one can only wonder how truly coherent the museum experience might be. Should an

institution try to encompass such a scope? The V&A has amassed millions of objects over its two

centuries of existence, and one might argue that perhaps, it should, for the edification of its

visitors, exhibit all dimensions of its collection. The V&A has extensive permanent collections

that demonstrate diversity to any visitor. Special exhibitions offer a unique opportunity to

consolidate around specific themes. Certainly this does not mean there should only be one

special exhibition, but perhaps creating correspondences and relations between them would help

further cultivate the coherence the V&A puts forth as a primary value. Some strategies the V&A

might adopt include working to create rigorous and creative connections between shows through

programming and consolidating exhibitions around intellectual frameworks. The V&A might

step back and ask, what makes the V&A brand into equally recognizable in the metalwork

exhibitions as the Beatrix potter show? How might we create coherence?

At the heart of the V&A brand is tension between old and new, and the V&A has found

creative tactics to deal with these complexities. Like any large institution with many facets,

maintaining a singular, cohesive identity is a challenge. And, while the V&A has not achieved

perfection, its logo, its new website, and its shop do clearly communicate its mission to be a

world premier institution for art and design. Branding has been central to the V&A’s evolution,

and has informed much of its success. However, as the V&A looks to the future, it seems

important that the institution take stock of centrality of branding to its identity. The V&A must

consider the growing association of its name with consumer goods. The V&A might refocus its

branding energies and creative strategies to making its special exhibitions more cohesive. By

returning attention to its collections and exhibition strategies, the V&A has the opportunity to to

reassert the meaningful encounter with art and design as the primary experience it offers.
 Works Cited

“brand, n.” OED Second edition, 1989; online version November 2010.
<http://www.oed.com:80/Entry/22627>; Accessed 17 February 2011. Earlier version first
published in New English Dictionary, 1888.

“A Grand Design: A History of the Victoria and Albert Museum.” V&A 2009. Accessed 17
February 2011. <http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1159_grand_design/>.

“Marketing the V&A.” V&A 2011. Accessed 17 February 2011

<http://www.vam.ac.uk/about_va/marketing/index.html>.

Sinclair, Mark, “Troika deconstruct the V&A.” Creative Review 2004. Accessed 17 February
2011. <http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/august/troika-va>.

“Strategic Plan 2010–2015.” V&A. 2010. Accessed February 6, 2011.

<http://media.vam.ac.uk/media/documents/about-us/2010/v&a-strategicplan2010-15.pdf>.

V&A Licensing. 2011. V&A. Accessed 18 February 2011. <http://www.vandalicensing.com/>.

“V&A Renewed.” Wolff Olins. 2009. Accessed 17 February 2011. <

http://www.wolffolins.com/media/case_studies/VA_case_study.pdf>.