Gardiner Richardson has completed the rebrand of the North East’s biggest cultural organisation – North East Museums.
The Newcastle-based agency was brought in to rename the then Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM) last year, ahead of a planned expansion.
“Our new name and identity created with the team at Gardiner Richardson puts us in a fantastic position as our organisation grows into Northumberland managing three additional venues from 1 April,” explained Keith Merrin, Director of North East Museums.
“Our new brand was front and centre for our campaign to drive visitor numbers for February half term across our venues, and we’ve seen a real boost to footfall and interest in our organisation.”
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North East Museums is made up of a regional museum, art gallery and archives service, that manages 9 museums and galleries across Tyneside and the archives for Tyne and Wear. The expansion will see it manage a total of 12 venues and run arts and cultural projects across the region.
Gardiner Richardson’s founder, Darren Richardson explained that the rebrand came about following months of work, including meeting with visitors, employees and the wider community to ensure it would be authentic to the people at the heart of the organisation.
“We engaged with the staff, partners and visitors in a fun consultation process, which informed the ‘we move you’ brand position. The name was a clear choice – easy to understand, readily searched for online and appropriate for their wider geographical reach,” he explained.
“‘Stories from the heart’ was the inspiration for our design system. Flexible yet distinctive, the system is designed to work with the diverse range of content created by the museums, galleries and archives.”
The agency also developed brand positioning, identity and a social media campaign for the organisation.
