AIM Hallmarks – The Gurkha Museum Trust

Gurkha Museum Brand Evolution

The Gurkha Museum ensures the future of Gurkha Heritage by celebrating, honouring and promoting the history and culture of the Gurkha Soldier and their continuing service to Britain. Located in Peninsula Barracks in Winchester, the Museum takes you on a journey of Gurkha history, beginning in their home country of Nepal and on to the year 1815 which saw Gurkhas first enlisted.

Their stories cover not only battles and campaigns, but the culture and religion of this unique fighting force. We see them locked in battle with mutinous sepoys in 1857, then standing guard in India’s north west and north east frontiers before being sent half a world away to the trenches of the Western Front in 1915.

The Gurkha Museum’s 5-year plan saw investment in the galleries and collections as well as the development of commercial, marketing and fundraising activities to help develop key income streams and cement sustainable income for the Trust. The Museum set its largest marketing budget yet for 2019. With a wealth of ideas in the strategy to take the promotion of the Museum forward, the first step focused on the development of the brand and related brand guidance. This ‘brand evolution’ was to ensure the Museum had a clean and fresh look to encourage higher visitor numbers, event attendees and trading customers. The project was headed up by the Commercial Manager (now Head of Fundraising and Marketing) working closely with a local creative studio to produce the guidelines and then, with the Museum’s designer, bring the marketing and fundraising materials to life using the new brand.

Once the brand guidelines were finalised in the Summer of 2019, we could get to work producing the marketing materials required for our income generation and development.

We prioritised the development of new Friends of the Museum leaflets and used the time to overhaul our related offer to include enhanced benefits and visitor engagement. The new leaflet has been a fantastic aid in recruiting new Friends.

In addition, we have produced stationery including compliment slips and business cards and a Gifts in Will leaflet, a vital step in the right direction for our Fundraising Strategy. The biggest impact our brand is going to make will be in Spring 2020 when our new website launches and during the Summer when the Museum attends events across the UK.

Christine Bernath, Assistant Director said: “Since the production of the brand guidelines and subsequent design work the Gurkha Museum’s marketing has taken a positive turn and continues to benefit the income generation and promotion of our Museum. We are excited to continue to produce material, including our new website, with these creative and engaging brand guidelines.”