Question 3..

Somehow my whole question 3 got deleted when I posted this blog so I'll retype it here...

3. Shop / Cafe

Describe how the shop and cafe extend or compromise the brand? Do products (merchandise) reinforce the brand?

~ Thank goodness that there was a cafe in the museum because I am always hungry. It was also pretty tiring walking up and down the stairs and in and out of all the exhibits, so having a snack break was definitely needed. As I walked into the cafe, I thought the title wall and the text was incredibly intriguing as well as in relation to the content of the museum. The text of "Cafe" was the same as the Science Museum logo which was scientific and futuristic looking, definitely catching one's eye. So with such an interesting entry way and text face I thought the food and drinks were going to be that interesting. But boy was I wrong. The food and drink choices were incredibly bland with only a few choices here and there. I definitely think the cafe compromised the brand because in my mind it was completely contradictory. The brand was so intriguing and interesting whereas the food was bland and boring. On the other hand, I think the shop definitely extended the brand. The shop had the same font as the logo of the museum as well as the cafe and the merchandise did not upset at all! It definitely fit with the content of the museum and reinforced the brand. The shop had many little trinkets and souvenirs which represented different things within the museum. For example I saw DNA kits as well as many plastic toys (representing the Plasticity and DNA exhibits). So although the cafe was disappointed and did not live up to the brand's expectations, the shop definitely did and I would consider going back to the museum just to look around the shop once again.