A group of 10 undergraduate students, one postgraduate student and Student Experience Leader Lola Olumuyiwa-Biala made a visit to the Museum of Brands in London on Thursday 23 March to explore the history and evolution of brands in the UK and learn about sustainable packaging both now and in the future.

A very interesting 1.5 hours (which wasn’t enough time!) was spent exploring the museum’s Time Tunnel learning about early brands such as Cadbury and Pears Soap. The group explored how branding in the UK is linked to social history and how the advent of self-service supermarkets fuelled an explosion not just in the choice of brands but also the use of the tagline to position products. Other displays included the UK’s current top 100 brands, the use of colour in branding and packaging in the future.

After lunch the group took part in a museum-led workshop thinking about sustainable packaging and exploring how some brands have evolved their packaging to be more (or less!) impactful on the planet.

Overall it was an excellent visit, both fun and interesting for all, and which sparked much discussion about branding in the student’s home countries compared to the UK. The group also enjoyed very much getting to know students from other areas of marketing and other levels of study.

We hope to make a repeat visit next year…don’t miss it!