In 2011, I helped lead the large task of creating more consistency within the branding and collateral for The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, while maintaining the integrity of the message for the museum. The individual departments affected included Historic Studio B, Membership, Group Sales, the Museum Store, Visitor Services, Two Twenty•Two Grill & Catering, Events, Education, Programming, and all advertising. Each division was assigned a specific color and appropriate headlines. I established consistent fonts and treatment of images that allowed for frequent updates to keep content current. This look was translated into ads, various on-property signage, billboards, brochures, and on the website, among many other applications. It was the first successful approach at creating a unified look, while still allowing room for individuality.
Headlines were created to reflect country music songs, phrases or culture. The tagline "Country Music Lives Here" was chosen as the main headline for the museum and was woven into all of the branding to create some general consistency, often as the subhead, or within the body of the text.
An example of the approach to headlines can be seen in the Membership advertising and collateral, which used the phrase "See the Light. Join Up." Once a patron became a member, they received a membership card with the phrase "I Saw the Light" which was a nod to the famous Hank Williams, Sr. song.
Above is an example of the branding guideline that was created.
