In my class visit to London this September, I was once again in awe of the city that I last visited 5 years ago – London is always everything it promises to be – multicultural, vibrant and full of history, vintage architecture and art embellishing the walls of beautiful museums. There is nothing subtle about it.
But this blog is not about that. This is about the museum of brands: a major contrast from all the other museums Europe has to offer, the museum of brands is small and humble, but it offered a BIG experience.
The museum was started by Robert Opie, a man who was fascinated by packaging of different products and decided to begin saving the wrappings of items he used - and decades later, this museum was born! It houses the most vast and extensive collection of brand packaging, advertisements, news clippings and merchandise that I’ve ever seen.
The museum has a small but FULL exhibit called the Time tunnel and walking through it was like going through a trajectory of culture and discovering human beings' interactions with brands, from the first ever Lifebouy packaging to the early days of LEGO Group and McDonald's to more recent products by Apple.
It brought to life how brands and people connect in a complete loop: Brands shape culture, culture shapes people and people shape brands.
Here were these everyday items, the kind that don’t get more than a mere few seconds of our mind space – like Cereal boxes, tooth paste, Lego blocks, shampoo, magazines. In isolation, they’re just products. But together, they speak volumes about the past and are instrumental to the culture we develop for ourselves and future generations. They impact society because little by little, they become a part of our habits, our traditions, and out lifestyle at large.
Lifebouy soap played a role in eradicating diseases just the way P&G’s LikeAGirl is now helping reverse a gender stereotype and Coca cola is pushing for inclusivity.
They tell us about how we have evolved, discovered and created and through that, how our society has changed. You can see reflections from the industrial revolution, the wars, the emancipation of women, the development of new technologies.
I don’t know if this is equally fascinating to everybody or if I am stating the obvious, but I like to think that I am in the business of impacting our world’s beliefs and not just selling a product.