SS GREAT BRITAIN TRUST

Increasing footfall and energising staff

The SS Great Britain Trust is a Bristol-based charity who manage Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s renowned iron-hulled steamship, the SS Great Britain.

They approached us to help them refresh their brand for modern audiences, increase their annual visitor numbers and enable them to share Brunel’s legacy with the world.

Modernise and grow

CHALLENGE

With visitor numbers slowly dropping for two years, the team asked us to refresh their brand identity and create an Organising Idea that could inspire and enable employees and volunteers to bring Brunel’s legacy to life.

WHAT WE DID

– Brand strategy
– Brand values
– Brand identity
– Employee Engagement
– Physical collateral
– Digital brand guidelines

RESULTS

+12.5% increase in visitors between 2016 / 17

STRATEGY

We began by reviewing the existing research, design assets, competitors and customer segments to build a strong understanding of the Trust. From there, we worked with their whole team, from senior leaders to employees and volunteers, to identify what they wanted to achieve, how and, most importantly, why. Their mission became clear: to preserve the SS Great Britain and Brunel’s legacy, and to help as many people as possible enjoy discovering them.

The SS Great Britain Trust is responsible for sharing the life and legacy of Isambard Kingdom Brunel with the world.

FutureKings helped us tell our story, align our team and make advocates of everyone who passes through our gates.

Without them, achieving our five year strategic plan wouldn’t be possible.

SALLY CORDWELL
Deputy CEO, SS Great Britain Trust

Engage and embed

CAPTAINS OF DISCOVERY

It became clear that to step onto the SS Great Britain is to step back in time and become a ‘Captain of Discovery’.

As an Organising Idea, it celebrates their collective passion for preserving and sharing Brunel’s fascinating story, while encouraging and empowering each team member to see themselves as leaders who play a vital role in the museum’s success.

To ensure the whole team bought into this, we involved all of them from the start and helped them engage with the new brand using discovery days.

For the brand identity we created a guiding design principle: ‘This is Victorian. This is now’. We combined authentic Victorian hand-drawing and lettering with playful photography and a bold colour palette (inspired by the ship’s red hull and black gearwheel) to achieve an authentic but contemporary look and feel for the brand.