SomeOne adds modern humour in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard campaign

With over 500 years of maritime history, the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, which is nestled within the city’s HM Naval Base, hosts one of the world’s most important naval collections. Needing its main attractions to be brought to life, the museum called on London-based branding agency SomeOne, who opted for a radically humorous solution.

Noticing what visitors often say when they see the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard’s exhibits for the first time, SomeOne’s team saw the opportunity to centre the project around the word ‘ship’. For instance, deploying copy such as ‘Tough ship’, ‘Oh ship’ and ‘Ship got real’ worked as a means of striking an appropriate balance between historic storytelling and modern humour.

Simon Manchipp, founding partner at SomeOne, explains, “While the battle of Trafalgar may have occurred 220 years ago, and the Mary Rose was commissioned in 1510, the stories of what happened onboard are as visceral and compelling as ever. We saw first time visitors’ jaws drop — and heard what they said. So, we used their language to form a provocative and contemporary new campaign.”

Other striking design elements include a colour system tailored to each ship (HMS Warrior, HMS Victory, The Mary Rose and HMS Alliance) and bold typography to match. Elsewhere, the addition of lively animated visuals further challenges sector norms.

Matthew Sheldon, CEO at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, adds, “HMS Warrior is not shy, the battle of Trafalgar was not polite — and neither is this new work. When people come aboard our ships, they definitely get the wow factor. This is the first campaign I have seen that really conveys this feeling.”

The campaign is set to run throughout the UK across print, press and digital.