The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television is part of NMSI, the group that also owns The Science Museum and The National Railway Museum. When we were approached, the museum had two key problems. The first of these was visitor numbers – currently declining across the entire sector, although NMPFT can still boast the highest numbers for a UK museum outside the capital. The second was its name – difficult to remember and even harder to say.

After the appointment of a new Museum Director we were appointed to undertake a strategic review of the name and brand, including extensive internal consultation and external audience research. A decision was taken to increase the remit with the inclusion of radio and the web, and to make large-scale operational changes. Our brief was to develop a name and brand that could match both the ambitions of the new team and clarify the full remit of the museum with a specific focus on increasing footfall in the museum and the Imax cinema.

On Dec 1 '06, after our first stage of work, NMPFT became National Media Museum. Working closely with the Executive team, we created a flexible and cohesive brand identity to communicate the new name and engage with clearly defined audiences – families, cultural attendees, education, local businesses and staff. The final phase was to devise a cost-effective brand communication strategy for the museum's on and offline marketing material. Post launch, consumer recognition of the brand is higher with 57% of visitors recalling the name accurately before entering the museum, and £170,000 of equivalent media coverage was achieved through brand related PR activity.

"Developing the new brand has created a real buzz – we're 10% up on visitor figures, we've had our busiest October half term in 5 years and exceeded our targets for Spring Half term by 58%, with over 4952 visitors in a week. Over 20% of our visitors are taking in an Imax show, well over our existing targets. In the Feb half term we had over 5,654 visitors to Imax."

Vic Wilson, Marketing and PR Manager.
National Media Museum