Near the beginning of our trip to London, we visited the Museum of Brands, and I had no clue what this place was about until we were introduced to the Time Tunnel. According to their website, the Time Tunnel “explores the remarkable story of how our consumer society has evolved since Victorian times. It’s a journey of discovery that puts our favorite brands into their historical context.”
The self-guided tunnel tour broke down into time periods, eras, and decades while giving us historical context to further understand the changing of branding and marketing. This trip through our branded past looked at how our daily lives have altered based on the time period and what new inventions have been created to affect our wants and needs.
Unfortunately, they did not allow photography, but I jotted down some notes I noticed as I walked through the Time Tunnel. Holidays, especially Christmas, coronations, war and post war, and the moon landing were all major factors for branding. Candy, dishware, magazines, clothing were all branded to center around these major events. When Elizabeth II had her coronation in 1953, EVERYTHING had some royal on it. Mint boxes with her face on it, cufflinks with crowns, she was plastered everywhere holding that scepter. Even years after she was crowned queen, royalty is a huge brand in the UK and will probably stay popular until they don't have a royal family.
Cadbury has been around a long time. They were the first brand I recognized in the beginning of the tunnel during the early years of 1824. They also haven't changed their logo very much since then. They've kept that purple and cursive branding throughout the many years.
In the 1940s, radio's were used for everything marketing and branding because that was the best and most efficient way to reach out to viewers. I noticed that the attention grabber of "free" items on the cover of magazines started around this time as well. Women were used to advertise everything on magazine covers. Smoking, alcohol, home, fashion, and food are only some of the products they helped sell.
In the 1950s, there was a shift to color and more "fun" products during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II because people had more time for leisure now that the war was over. Another shift in branding because of war. However, in the 1970s, it was color galore. Everything was branded with bright, happy colors because it was the time of the hippies! After the hippies, products started morphing from 2D to 3D. Products were now popping out of the magazine.
It's interesting to see how brands change throughout time, especially now that "retro" is back, and we're seeing a lot of brands market their products with logos from last century. If you're interested in history or even getting catapulted back to your childhood, I highly recommend walking through the Brand Museum's Time Tunnel! 10/10 of course.
After the Museum of Brands, we found our way over to Camden Market. Now, what is Camden Market you ask? Well their website describes it perfectly, “Camden Market is a diverse community of creative sellers, street food traders and independent stores next to the Regent’s Canal. Open every day, we have over 1,000 places to shop, eat, drink and dance in our historic Central London location.” Camden has something for everyone. Events they hold range from food, art, film, music, sport/fitness, to vintage. Some events on their website are the Birdcage Cabaret, Gin School and Gin Making, Big BBQ, Silent Disco Battle, and a soda party for Citrus Saturday.
We were there around lunchtime, so we had to hit the food stalls. We were overwhelmed with all the delicious smells and sights as there were more than 20 different stalls that looked like mini food trucks. There were all kinds of food from Mexican, Indian, American, Chinese, German, and Italian, and of course I ended up going to the Mac ‘n’ Cheese bar. I couldn’t resist! I wanted to try it all, but I didn’t have money for much.
Another fun spot for London-goers, and another 10/10 experience with yummy food!
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