INSURANCE MUSEUM

Opening the door on the world of risk

The insurance profession has been around for over 300 years, and you would think it would have a focal point to celebrate its history, showcase its present, and promote its future. Something like an Insurance Museum.
This is the vision of ex-CII President, Reg Brown; “If the bankers have got a museum, why haven’t we got one? We are as important to the country, the chancellor, the exchequer and the people of this country as the bankers and we deserve our very own world class visitor centre.”
Challenge

Our challenge was to build a rallying point in the living heart of the insurance profession in London, to educate, inform, promote and present the profession to the world.

OB Brand Consulting were tasked to develop the entire museum concept, test feasibility and create a strategy to ensure an Insurance Museum could be delivered.

Solution

Our involvement included consulting with the (re)insurance market and key stakeholders to help shape the concept, brand and creative strategy to bring the idea to life.

We developed the value proposition for the museum, describing its purpose, position and messaging. As part of our project delivery tasks, we’ve created a two-phase programme for the museum, first, an online virtual gallery, then secondly, a physical environment, as well as building a highly effective awareness and support programme across the market.

A major component in our delivery, was also to create and manage an extensive fundraising campaign. This was supported by detailed business plans, online resources, and targeted content to relevant audiences.

Result

OB have created a comprehensive brand story, deployed across social media, PR, events to reach out to the entire market, generating immense interest and support.

The Insurance Museum is now a widely recognised brand and initiative, gaining very high profile backing from across C-suite at key market entities, as well as the City of London Corporation, Lloyd’s, the CII, ABI and BIBA.

To find out more information, to pledge your support or to get involved, please contact our team for full details or visit the website – www.insurance.museum

The new IM branding

With the awareness, recognition and momentum that the Insurance Museum (IM) brand had built up, it was important to maintain a strong visual link to this heritage, whilst creating a brand identity and language that will position the IM in the museum space, engaging target audiences.

The new identity, still emphasises the earlier IM identity, but has been re-engineered in an Escher-like treatment to provide a maze-like effect to the logo.

This is both reflective of the ‘complex world of insurance’ that the IM will bring to life, but also represents a map or ‘tour’ route that you might take around a museum.

This attractive identity will lend itself to supporting the IM’s iconography and commercial activity, such as merchandise and other opportunities that are being explored.

The memorable lime green and warm grey colours have been retained to further maintain existing brand awareness.

Cleverly, the logo mark styling also nods to the “IM IN” campaign graphic, that we used in the early IM phases, and proved very popular.

We have now built out further foundations for the brand, with the redevelopment of the Insurance Museum website, which is enabling supporters to better track IM activity and ways in which to support this valuable initiative.

The first online exhibition

The Insurance Museum’s first online exhibition Fire! Risk and Revelations launched on 7th September, to coincide with the anniversary of The Great Fire of London – the event that was instrumental in highlighting the need for fire insurance, back at the end of the 17th century.

The online exhibition will consist of four fire galleries – telling the story of fire insurance from its birth, back in 1667 with the development of the insurance fire brigades, through to 1929. One gallery will tell a different stage of the story, each being supported with an engaging mix of interviews with experts, historical objects to view, animations and activities to download.

Fire! Risk and Revelations is just the first in a series of exhibitions to be launched by the Insurance Museum. With further support and funding from the industry, the plan is to produce further galleries, a pop-up museum with educational facilities and ultimately, a permanent museum to be based in EC3, in the heart of the City of London.

“I have said that the appointment of OB was a stroke of genius. We have made incredible progress which we would not have made without their amazing efforts.”

Reg Brown – Chair, Insurance Museum Initiative and Insurance Museum Charity