Invitation to Tender: Museums Re-brand

Who Middlesbrough Museums which consists of  Dorman Museum  Captain Cook Birthplace Museum

When Initial response submissions by – Sunday 2 May 2021

Pitch interviews (by invitation) – Week commencing Monday 10 May.

Agency appointed by – Friday 14 May

Revised brand agreed by – Friday 28 May

FEE £5,000 (inclusive)

Submissions Email - [email protected]

Post – JR Bowes Dorman Museum Road Middlesbrough TS5 6LA

Questions JR Bowes Middlesbrough Museums Manager [email protected] 01642 728 123

WHAT WE NEED… We need you to create a new branding, to reflect Middlesbrough Museums! We are one museum service with two visitor attractions situated across two of Middlesbrough’s popular parks.

 Dorman Museum, Albert Park  Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, Stewart Park

While both of these visitor attractions tell a very different story they are part of the same service with the same team operating both sites. We recognise our current brands have no visual relationship connecting them as part of the same wider visitor offer and service.

We intend to focus the future use of our branding on Middlesbrough Museums to be a universal voice for both museum attractions, this will include the websites and social platforms to be merged in to one. When focusing on a particular venue to promote a specific activity/event/exhibition we will utilise the venue logo.

We need to develop the corporate ‘master’ brand for Middlesbrough Museums with a style that can also be incorporated across our two unique attractions branding.

MIDDLESBROUGH MUSEUMS

CAPTAIN COOK DORMAN BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM MUSEUM

You will help us to develop the brand identity and positioning for the Museum service, establishing comprehensive brand guidelines including personality, visual identity, typography, colourways, and the use of names and logos.

Our brands must work together as a package, with different considerations for each:

Middlesbrough Museums does not currently have a visual brand, this master brand will be used across the whole service and will appear on uniforms and printed material that is universal across both sites.

The Dorman Museum logo was designed over 20 years ago, this brand is now considered to be dated and requires a refresh as part of this rebranding work.

The Captain Cook Birthplace Museum logo has not aged over time, we would like to continue to use this logo while reconsidering how it can be better presented to be more in keeping with the rebrand. Over time we have found this logo to be too linear and would like to create an option of an alternative layout of this logo so that it can be better used.

CURRENT LOGOS

ABOUT US Dorman Museum The Dorman Museum was purpose built museum in 1904 and was founded by Sir Arthur Dorman of the engineering company in honour of his son George Lockwood Dorman who died of enteric fever in the Second Boer War. The museum permanent exhibits focus on natural and social history as well as a large collection of Linthorpe Art Pottery. In 2014, a newly refurbished gallery dedicated to the internationally renowned industrial Victorian designer Christopher Dresser was opened and showcases works produced directly from his designs, as well as those produced by others that were influenced by his work.

Exhibitions Highlights Earth in Space – A look at how our planet has become and continues to be affected by cosmic, geological and biological forces.

Four Corners – The origins of the museum's collections and the persons behind the objects. Natural sciences, ethnography and archaeology are shown together according to their countries of origin. Linthorpe Art Pottery – A small pottery in late 19th century Middlesbrough produced some of the most collectible art pottery, which became so popular that even Princess Alexandra purchased a turquoise Linthorpe Art Pottery vase. Much of the output was designed or influenced by Christopher Dresser and in its short 10-year life the pottery produced over 2000 different mould shapes, as well as winning two bronze medals and one gold medal at several national and international exhibitions. The Nelson Room – A 19th century collection of mounted birds and eggs amassed by renowned local ornithologist Thomas Hudson Nelson who wrote The Birds of Yorkshire (1907), and has been maintained in its original Edwardian setting since it was bequeathed by Nelson's wife in 1918. Town in Time – The town of Middlesbrough was granted a charter in 1853 but its history stretches back thousands of years. Town in Time features two galleries crammed with artefacts and stories about the town and its people.

Captain Cook Birthplace Museum The Captain Cook Birthplace Museum opened in 1978, on the 250th anniversary of the birth in the same spot of British naval explorer and circumnavigator Captain James Cook. The museum explores the life of Captain Cook from his origins of Middlesbrough and focuses on his 3 voyages and the work and surveys he undertook. The museum itself comprises some of the modest Cook-related collections outside of the ownership of the major national and international collections and also displays a strong collection of objects from indigenous cultures.

OUR AUDIENCE We currently track and better understand our audiences using Audience Spectrum.

Audience Spectrum highlights that our key audiences are Trips & Treats, Facebook Families and Dormitory Dependables, See a summary of each profile below:

 Trips & Treats - Comfortably off and living in the heart of suburbia their children range in ages, and include young people still living at home. With a strong preference for mainstream arts and popular culture like musicals and familiar drama, mixed with days out to museums and heritage sites, this group are strongly influenced by friends and family, or led by their children’s interests. Positioning cultural events as fun, family friendly, accessible and light-touch educational is likely to engage them.

 Facebook Families - Cash-strapped group living in suburban and semi-urban areas of high unemployment. Nevertheless, they do go out as families: cinema, live music, eating out and pantomime. As digital natives they are also keen on social networking, spending much of their leisure time online. They are likely to be attracted to free- and flexible –family friendly offers. Local activities with a more popular or community focus, such as music and festivals, or open days with drop in activities that do not require advanced booking may be particularly effective, especially if promoted through local networks on and offline.

 Dormitory Dependables -Predominantly older families and singles, with a large proportion of households with children. Most live in suburban or small towns and show a preference for heritage activities, alongside popular and more traditional, mainstream art. Many are thriving well off mature couples or busy older families; lifestage coupled with more limited access to an extensive cultural offer mean that culture is more an occasional treat or family outing than an integral part of their lifestyle.

We recognise our core audience are family groups, but we have potential to grow our older / silver audience. While at two ends of the scale the brand needs to be able to clearly differentiate to target families by being ‘friendly’ and also entice the silver audience with a more respectable tone whilst still retaining the strong and positive brand throughout.

THE DELIVERABLES As a service, we’re going through a period of business change. The successful agency will accompany us on this journey and will need to understand the complexities involved. The proposition for Middlesbrough Museums rebrand must be clear, relevant, motivating, credible, sustainable and differentiating. To achieve this, you must resolve potential contradictions in the development of the new brand to appeal to our current audiences and appeal to potential new target audiences. The following deliverables for each brand element must work as a package; differentiated but also complimentary and ultimately part of the same brand family:

Middlesbrough Museums ‘master brand’ Work with the museum team to create a compelling brand proposition for Middlesbrough Museums. Develop the brand guidelines, detailing the proposition and visual identity:

 Brand values and personality

 Brand toolkit / design guide

 Logo – including application in digital formats

 Typography

 Colourways

 Poster / signage design layout templates

 Digital assets

 Corporate application e.g. letter headed paper

Dorman Museum Redesign the branding from the current logo, taking in to consideration of how it will work, fit and be used with the Middlesbrough Museums ‘master brand’. Captain Cook Birthplace Museum Edit the current logo to be used in alternative layouts, the overall rebrand will need to also incorporate how this existing logo can fit and be used with the Middlesbrough Museums ‘master brand’.

PROCESS We would like to invite you to submit

 Initial creative concept/response - your vision for the museums rebrand and how you will address the requirements within this opportunity.

 Recent portfolio - At least five examples of work created demonstrating your creative superpowers.  Costings for the project - How you use the budget.

 Timeline - How long it will take you to commence and anticipate to complete the work.

 People - Tell us about the team that would work with us if appointed, their roles, and how long they’ve been with you.

Initial concepts will then be reviewed by a panel on Monday 3 May, if we like your idea we will invite you to pitch your idea further to us exploring the options of how it can be developed to meet our needs. We will invite up to three agencies to meet the team and show us:

1. Your brand proposition for Middlesbrough Museums. 2. Two initial visual identity concepts.

The agencies who are invited to pitch and are not successful will be paid £500 to reflect the work involved in going through the pitch process.

VISIT If you would like to visit either of our two venues to gain inspiration or find out what is unique about Middlesbrough Museums please contact;

JR Bowes Ian McCarthy Middlesbrough Museums Manager Operations & Technical Manager [email protected] [email protected] 01642 728 123 01642 358 105