Preserving memory through branding: museums brands as vectors for advocacy, promotion and public programming

This chapter examines the role of museum brands as the connective tissue of several museum activities, including advocacy, promotion and public programming. Albeit broadly examined with reference to businesses, branding is rarely looked at in the museum context. By providing a review of the literature on museum branding, supported by extracts from interviews with museums managers conducted in the 2008-2018 period, the authors emphasize how the role of brands has progressively become more critical in the museum context and how brand management processes are increasingly developed in order to support museum activities. The chapter emphasizes how museums are not only institutions aimed at preserving their collections, but also organizations that should build an active relationship with their publics. Brands are, therefore, described as relational tools that can help museums to manage the relationship with their different stakeholders, including donors and funders. Managerial implications and future directions are outlined