Creative brief: Corinium
                     Museum 
          Brand identity - renewal
              and enhancement 
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                    Contents
                    1.     Summary.......................................................................................................................................3
                    2.     Corinium Museum.........................................................................................................................3
                    3.     Project Need..................................................................................................................................4
                    4.     Aim................................................................................................................................................4
                    5.     Corinium Museum Vision, Purpose and Aims................................................................................4
                    6.     Target audience.............................................................................................................................5
                    7.     Current marketing material...........................................................................................................5
                    8.     Project specification......................................................................................................................7
                    9.     Website..........................................................................................................................................7
                    10.    Training.........................................................................................................................................8
                    11.    Copyright.......................................................................................................................................8
                    12.    Access...........................................................................................................................................8
                    13.    Budget/timescale..........................................................................................................................8
                    14.    Fees, expenses and payment........................................................................................................8
                    15.    Submission of project proposal.....................................................................................................8
                    16.    Contacts........................................................................................................................................9
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           1.    Summary
           The Corinium Museum has been awarded funding from the Arts Council England Resilience Fund to 
           renew and enhance the museum brand identity.
           The rebrand is part of a larger project entitled ‘Beyond Corinium’ which aims to radically transform 
           the current museum website, create a strong museum brand identity, identify the most effective and 
           efficient ways of maximising the existing building spaces to improve commercial capacity, and 
           develop the workforce to enable the delivery of a new commercial strategy. To do this we will build a 
           new Museum website making it responsive across multiple devices and incorporate e-commerce 
           (memberships, retail, bookings), volunteer platform and dramatically improve access to our online 
           collections. We will employ the services of a branding agency to produce an innovative striking 
           brand; use a business and planning consultancy to produce a strategic plan for the existing building 
           spaces; and train the existing workforce to use the new online systems for e-commerce, volunteer 
           management, collections database, and promotion and marketing for the on-going implementation 
           of this commercial strategy at the end of the project. 
           The Corinium Museum has also embarked on an exciting new project entitled ‘Stone Age to Corinium
           – Discover the Archaeology of the Cotswolds’ and has been successful in securing first stage support 
           from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Stone Age to Corinium aims to create a museum that is more 
           relevant to today’s communities, maximising on the building spaces, enhancing the visitor journey 
           through reinterpretation and improved access, and working with new partners to produce a vibrant 
           programme of archaeology related events and activities, which will help to make the museum more 
           resilient and sustainable. The project will create new Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Early 
           Roman interactive galleries. Objects that are currently in storage will be conserved and put on display
           for the first time, including rare stone and bone tools, rock art, beakers and other grave goods. This 
           will help us to write a complete history of the pre-Roman occupation of the Cotswolds. 
           2.    Corinium Museum
           The Cotswold Museum Service is managed by Sports and Leisure Management Ltd along with the 
           Leisure Centres in Cirencester, Bourton on the Water and Chipping Campden. Together we form the 
           Cultural and Leisure contract for the Cotswolds. The day to day running of the Corinium Museum is 
           managed within the Community Leisure Charitable Trust. The collections and building are owned by 
           Cotswold District Council. 
           The Museum holds large and internationally significant collections of archaeology, social and rural 
           history.  It operates two major sites:  the Corinium Museum in Cirencester and the Resource Centre 
           (reserve collections store) at Northleach, ten miles north of Cirencester. The Service also runs a 
           Visitor Information Centre at the Corinium Museum and the Rural Cinema Scheme. 
           The Corinium Museum has arguably the finest and most extensive Romano-British collection relating 
           to a town and its hinterland in the world. It holds large and internationally significant collections of 
           archaeology, social and rural history and is recognised as a major archive of outstanding 
           archaeological material being used by researchers from all over the world. The Corinium Museum 
           forms the major part of the only museum service in the Cotswold District and is the focus for advice, 
           training, and scholarship. The Museums Service is fully Accredited by Arts Council England.
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           3.    Project Need
           In the current economic climate, museums are experiencing a reduction in funding from a variety of 
           sources and need to address issues of economic sustainability. The Corinium Museum Service 
           recovers approximately 50% of its funding through admission charges, lifelong learning programmes, 
           venue hire, shop retail, and Visitor Information Centre services. All of these elements will benefit 
           greatly from a clear brand identity and message. 
           Branding is a very important part of the marketing process, and one that we need to make a major 
           priority. We need to create a clear brand identity which evokes a feeling about what the museum 
           stands for and the way it behaves (the values it promotes). Everything that the visitor experiences is 
           also a manifestation of the Corinium Museum brand - from the exhibitions they attend, to the 
           members of staff that they speak to, to the gift they buy in the shop. The Museum’s highest income 
           stream is through admissions and we want to see this continue to grow. A refresh of our visual and 
           verbal identity (tone of voice) will help us with brand development and management. 
           The Beyond Corinium project offers exciting opportunities to become more resilient enabling the 
           museum to make a huge step-change by increasing income through an updated website capable of 
           e-commerce, e-bookings, generating new income through corporate hire, temporary exhibitions and 
           a vibrant programme of activity in our building spaces, whilst improving the long term sustainability 
           of our audiences through a volunteer platform for engagement, and an enriched digital experience 
           improving visitor satisfaction and a strong museum brand, all of which will grow and diversify our 
           audiences. 
           4.    Aim
           We aim to define the Corinium Museum brand both internally and externally. We want to create a 
           striking brand underpinned with a clear mission, which will strengthen the Museum’s identity and 
           enable people to align themselves more easily to the Museum and its purpose. The re-brand will 
           include everything from naming, logos, signage, fonts, wayfinding, interpretation and everything in-
           between. 
           5.    Corinium Museum Vision, Purpose and Aims
           Vision
            “To be a leading archaeology Museum that continues to evolve.”
           Statement on Purpose 
           The key purpose of Cotswold Museum Service is:
           “To collect, preserve, and interpret collections from the Cotswold District for public engagement.”
           Our Values:
           These core values underpin everything we do as a Museum.
           Excellence: We strive for excellence across all areas of our service.
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