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The Smithsonian
“It’s not enough to make or do 
things that you can sell. Nor is it necessarily even enough to make or do or sell things in innovative ways…It’s what you do with that innovation – how you manage and utilize your intellectual property assets in conjunction with all the other assets of your company…that determine whether you win or lose.”
– Kevin Rivette and David Kline
Rembrandts in the Attic: Unlocking the Hidden Value of Patents
(HBS Press, 2000).
The Smithsonian is showing other museums how to execute this concept as a key institutional strategy. Taking advantage of the museum’s intellectual assets – mapping the knowledge within the institution – requires someone to sort out what’s worth producing. In the early 1990s, the Smithsonian created SI Business Ventures (SBV) to mine intellectual capital for commercial gain. Curatorial reaction to publishing at the Smithsonian still runs the gamut form those entrenched in the old museum mindset to those who recognize the benefits of knowledge marketing. SBV staff let curators curate while the uncover new opportunities and identify the right partnerships to launch new products.
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Colonial Williamsburg
Branding the politics, culture, and lifestyle of the mid-eighteen century Virginia? By adopting an almost limitless definition of what a knowledge product can be, it has redefined conventional museum marketing and forged a brand, now-synonymous with America’s revolutionary age. The knowledge products of Colonial Williamsburg contributed heavily to the organization’s success at explaining the colonial American experience.
Unlike most museums, Colonial Williamsburg visitors can take home what they see, an experience that repeatedly reminds them about who they are and abut their personal connection to America’s founding story. From its beginnings in 1930, retail was directly connected to the brand. Colonial Williamsburg’s licensing program is now the oldest, largest, and most lucrative museum-licensing program in the world.
John Rockefeller is credited for originating it.: informed that the refurbished Raleigh Tavern would have to use modern commercial tableware,, Rockefeller commissioned Wedgwood to reproduce china from fragments excavated on-site. Then he suggested that “the purpose of education might be furthered by the sale of these wares” to the public. The first catalogue was mailed in 1937 – “to maintain contact with visitors to Colonial Williamsburg.” Colonial Williamsburg now offers over 4,000 licensed products for sale via on-site stores, mail-order catalogue and online.
