Philadelphia Art Museum Might Rebrand Its Botched Rebrand
The institution set up a task force to evaluate the controversial new brand identity as it parts ways with its chief marketing officer.
The Philadelphia Art Museum (PhAM) might be looking at rebranding its rebrand in light of Chief Marketing Officer Paul Dien's forthcoming exit from the institution next month. The museum confirmed to Hyperallergic that Dien, who oversaw the museum's polarizing reinvention, will step down from his position on February 1, just weeks after Daniel H. Weiss was appointed as the new director and CEO.
After 87 years of operating as the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), PhAM rolled out its new brand identity early last October, sparking an explosive public response. Many poked fun at the new name, calling the museum “PhArt,” and criticized the institution for enlisting a Brooklyn-based design firm over a local one for the project. Some said that the symbolic griffon logo and associated typography were more evocative of a sports team than an art museum. However, others embraced the change and praised the new design's digital-forward flexibility.
In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Weiss said that the museum is weighing whether to keep or alter its new brand identity, and that he has set up a task force comprised of board and staff members who will evaluate the rebrand's effectiveness and public reception.
“The question is whether we’re in the territory of a rebrand that is counterproductive to our ambition or not,” Weiss told the publication, explaining that the aforementioned task force will “take a look at how it’s playing, what works, what doesn’t work, to do some analytical work around that, and get a sense of how our various constituencies are perceiving it.”
When the museum unveiled its new name and logo, Dien gave an interview to the Inquirer in which he stated that the rebrand was a response to public interpretations of the institution.
“We have so much research that shows there is this brand perception that we’re the castle on the hill,” Dien said in an October interview. “And so my job right now is [to ask], ‘How do we come down the steps and meet people where they’re at?’”
Dien did not immediately respond to Hyperallergic's inquiries.
Sasha Suda, the museum's most recent director and CEO, also told the Inquirer at the time that the museum's reinvention would “bring people in and help put us more clearly on the map.”
The rebrand unfurled only four weeks before the museum terminated Suda from her post “for cause.” Some media coverage initially tied Suda's ouster to the rebrand controversy, especially after a few museum board members insinuated that she hadn't briefed them about the new name's rollout date.
Following Suda's legal complaint against the museum alleging wrongful termination and multiple employment contract violations, PhAM filed a motion to move the complaint out of court and into the hands of a confidential arbitrator, accusing Suda of misappropriating funds to increase her salary. Suda’s lawyer denied the allegations in an emailed statement to Hyperallergic in November.
