Imperial War Museum rebranding because younger people can’t relate to world wars
Imperial War Museum rebranding because younger people can’t relate to world wars
Max StephensSat, September 26, 2026 at 11:46 AM UTC
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The Imperial War Museum has been accused of ‘turning its back on the past’ by planning a rebrand - Construction Photography/Avalon
The Imperial War Museum (IWM) is expected to spend £1m on a major rebrand that highlights modern conflicts because younger visitors do not relate to the First and Second World Wars.
The IWM has been accused of “turning its back on the past” for hiring a consultancy firm to create exhibitions and displays that will appeal to “contemporary audiences”.
The changes have provoked upset and consternation among staff, who believe the plans undermine the museum’s future.
It follows the highly criticised decision by the museum in February 2025 to close its gallery housing the world’s largest collection of Victoria Crosses (VCs).
The museum is planning a swathe of new displays showcasing conflicts that are “within many of our visitors’ living memory”, according to a report from its three-year plan for 2026-2029.
These will include the Cold War, the Falklands War, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as temporary exhibitions “exploring rarely told stories and topics”.
‘Refreshed visual identity’
In a separate report justifying the rebrand, the museum’s executives said that there was a “growing public misunderstanding about what the IWM does and why it exists”.
The report added: “In part, this reflects the growing number of people with no connection to someone who lived through the First or Second World Wars, or who was involved in the post-1945 conflicts”, according to the report titled IWM Corporate Plan 2025-2028.
A well-placed source said £500,000 of the museum’s budget has been earmarked for the rebrand, referred to internally as Vision and Purpose (V&P).
But the total sum is expected to approach £1m as it includes the cost of hiring a director to lead the project on an £80,000-a-year salary, and fees to the consultancy firm Johnson Banks, The Telegraph has been informed.
Johnson Banks, a London based design and brand consultancy, has been awarded a contract of £165,000 to help give the IWM a “refreshed visual identity and tone of voice”.
The firm has previously rebranded the charities Shelter and Christian Aid.
The museum is planning a swathe of new displays showcasing more recent conflicts - Universal Images Group via Getty Images/Prisma Bildagentur
Staff at the museum fear that the rebrand will harm the organisation, which is already grappling with a predicted deficit of £1.2m for next year.
One senior employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “I am concerned for the future wellbeing of a national institution which has a duty to ensure its collection and the stories its collection tells is maintained for future generations.
“My concern is that the senior leadership is putting this duty at risk.”
Many staff reportedly viewed the IWM’s decision to close the Lord Ashcroft Gallery, which displayed more than 200 VC medals, and a smaller number of George Crosses, as an act of “self-harm” that was “managed very poorly” by senior leaders.
Lord Ashcroft, the billionaire businessman who lent his £70m collection of medals to the museum in 2010, accused executives of neglecting VC heroes in favour of transgender history after the IWM launched a self-guided LGBT tour with subjects including drag shows in prisoner of war camps and Enid Mary Barraud, a land girl who preferred to go by the name John.
The IWM denied Lord Ashcroft’s accusation, saying there was no connection between the gallery closing and the LGBT tour.
A spokesman said the museum was proud to have displayed Lord Ashcroft’s medals for the past 15 years and it was “delighted the collection has a new home at the National Army Museum”.
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Lord Ashcroft at the IWM where his collection of VCs were on display until last year - Paul Grover
Staff remain concerned about what the rebranding – or the “programme of work”, as the IWM describes it – entails.
According to a survey distributed to museum staff, a copy of which this newspaper obtained, more than half (52 per cent) of those surveyed disagreed or felt neutral about the statement: “The V&P project makes me feel positive about IWM’s future”.
A staggering 68 per cent of staff felt the same when asked if the rebrand made them “feel positive about my role”.
The IWM clarified that the survey was completed by less than 20 per cent of their staff.
Lord Ashcroft, 80, said: “The IWM’s decision to close the Lord Ashcroft Gallery and return my VCs and GCs remains baffling.
“I should perhaps not be surprised that the IWM continues to turn its back on the past. Spending money in the pursuit of younger visitors means nothing unless you have something to offer young people.
“In my experience, the heroic actions of those who have gone before remain endlessly fascinating. It is sad to see a great institution so diminished.”
The Telegraph can also reveal that the museum is cutting 10 per cent of its full-time workforce, approximately 50 employees, in an attempt to save £2.6m in the next three years.
Caro Howell, the museum’s director general, warned in an email to all IWM staff on Sept 16 that the organisation was under significant “financial pressures” and invited staff to take voluntary redundancy.
The email reads: “From today we are opening a Voluntary Exit programme which will allow staff to leave IWM with a compensation package, and support those who feel this could be the right moment to look for new opportunities outside IWM.”
Staff reportedly feel aggrieved at the cuts, given that the expenditure on salaries, benefits and pensions for the museum’s leadership has risen by a combined 17 per cent.
The IWM’s latest annual report reveals that the compensation package rose from £765,000 for the five members of the executive leadership in 2024 to £890,000 for its seven members in 2025.
The IWM said this extra expenditure was necessary to cover the cost of the two additional hires.
Ms Howell has a salary of £160,000 and last year received a personal bonus of £16,668, according to the report, with her total compensation reaching £230,000.
World Wars ‘at the heart’ of IWM
A spokesman for the IWM said: “Telling the stories of the First and Second World Wars is, and will continue to be, at the heart of IWM’s mission.
“The Vision & Purpose project is about ensuring those stories and contemporary conflicts continue to connect with future generations.
“This will help us communicate more clearly why IWM matters and how the stories and lessons of conflict that we share remain just as relevant today. We want everyone, from veterans to families and schools, to feel that IWM is for them.”
The spokesman added: “The IWM has launched a voluntary exit programme as part of wider work to ensure the museum remains financially sustainable and able to deliver its public mission for generations to come.
“Our Vision & Purpose project is also an important part of our wider strategy to strengthen IWM’s long-term financial sustainability by reaching new audiences, deepening engagement for current audiences, and creating greater opportunities for visits and income generation.”
Source: “AOL Breaking”
