Ideas that energise long-term change

Andy Hayes, explores our partnership with the Natural History Museum

What do you picture when you think of a museum?

museum [myoo-zee-uhm] noun
a building or place where works of art, scientific specimens, or other objects of permanent value are kept and displayed.

Anyone who’s experienced the Natural History Museum (NHM) won’t hesitate to confirm that it doesn’t fit the traditional dictionary definition of a museum. It may be a grand historic building, and it may house an extensive collection of prehistoric bones, however the NHM has its sights fixed firmly on the future as much as it does on the past. The Museum’s mission is ‘to create advocates for the planet’, inspiring and educating current and future generations to discover the answers from our past for the questions about our future. They’re using their considerable influence and actions to tackle the climate emergency and realise their vision of ‘a future where both people and planet thrive’.

If ever there was a case to expand the dictionary definition of ‘museum’, NHM is it.

The NHM is also a world-leading scientific research facility, with over 300 scientists, publishing 1,000 papers annually, half of which are peer-reviewed. Not to mention its site in Tring, its touring exhibitions, and vast online open-access resources.

The NHM is harnessing its extensive knowledge, assets and equity to create a positive impact on our environment, and simultaneously answering questions posed by academics at UCL back in 2020:

“The profound challenge of the climate emergency forces us to think more radically about what museums could and should be. What would a museum dedicated to meaningful climate action look like? How would it operate? Who would it serve, and what stories would it tell?”
– Climate Crisis: How Museums Could Inspire Radical Action.
The Conversation, Nov 2020

We worked together with the NHM to answer these questions, positioning the museum as a brand of the moment, not an institution of the past, all stemming from a unique, unifying idea that will stand the test of time well into the future.

The narrative and the brand positioning we developed engages diverse audiences spanning visitors (online as well as in person), the scientific community and funding partners, all with mutually reinforcing roles and all central to creating advocates for the planet. It needed to be brave and inspiring, bringing both urgency and hope – encouraging action through inspiring people, not shaming them. Advocacy starts with awe, with stories that inspire curiosity. It’s about making an urgent, yet hopeful, emotional connection.

The brand – with science at its core – tells the story of the past helping us to understand the future, cementing the role and importance of ‘natural history’ in our consciousness.

So next time sometime says museums are just big old buildings full of dusty old artefacts, remember; never judge a museum by its dictionary definition, as some of them of are responsible for securing our future as well as honouring our past.