William Smith, Brand Licensing Manager at Imperial War Museums, on telling stories and finding partners

William, thanks for joining me! You’re the Brand Licensing Manager for the Imperial War Museums. How do you describe the museums?
The Imperial War Museums was founded in the midst of the First World War with a mission to preserve and tell the stories of those in the UK – and throughout the Commonwealth – during times of conflict. We continue to do this right up to the present day, with over 100 years of experience.

And we’re talking about museums plural, are we not?
Yes! Beyond our original site on Lambeth Road, South London, the museums now span five branches. They include the Churchill War Rooms – the underground nerve centre from which Churchill oversaw operations during the Second World War… There’s HMS Belfast – at its permanent home on the River Thames near Tower Bridge in London. We have Duxford – the airfield in Cambridgeshire which played a vital role in the Second World War, and we have the IWM North site in Manchester. As well as permanent displays, we have a dynamic programme of temporary exhibitions, events and educational activities.

Fantastic! Let’s talk about some of those displays. What kind of things do you hold?
The museums cover conflict from the First World War to the modern day. While there are – of course – tanks and planes and so on, we’re a social-history museum. We tell people’s stories during times of conflict… What’s surprising – and probably many people don’t realise this – is that, as part of this, we have over 16,000 works of fine art… One of the most significant collections of British art anywhere!

Is that right? That is a surprise – to me at least; you’re right.
Right? You can see a selection of these in our Blavatnik Art Gallery at our London Branch. It opened in 2023 exhibiting around 500 artworks. For the first time, you can see our diversity art collection alongside our era defining film and photography collections. The new gallery is a great addition to the existing galleries, where you can see artworks, vehicles, planes, personal items, uniforms and ephemera that all help tell the stories that matter the most – and at a time when it seems as pertinent as ever.

I hear you! You mentioned some temporary exhibitions as well?
Yes, as well as our permanent installations, we have temporary exhibitions that explore a specific topic in more detail. For example, we have a current exhibition – Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict. This aims to build public awareness and empower anyone affected by the topic. We’re also opening War and the Mind at IWM North in September… That explores war’s many psychological dimensions. Also, through IWM’s 14-18 Legacy Fund, 20 artworks have been commissioned inspired by the heritage of conflict. These commissions have been put on public display across the UK between 2022 and 2025, not specifically at IWM sites.

Amazing. I’ve visited your London site a few times to research different projects… Nevertheless, a lot of what you’re saying is news to me! In terms of licensing, then, what’s the potential of this collection?
From a licensing perspective, the potential is huge! From the wealth of items in the collection which our licensees can access to the support we offer… From the knowledge of our curatorial staff that shape and review a project, to the level of authenticity that you get with working with one of Britain’s most respected voices on conflict… The collections can provide a wealth of inspiration for projects.

And something I always think is worth mentioning, when talking about museum pieces, is that every object tells a story…
Oh, absolutely. Many of our collection items come with fantastic back stories – from the long service history of HMS Belfast, including its contribution to D-Day, to our N3200 Spitfire, based at Duxford… That was recovered from the sands of a French beach more than 45 years after being shot down. It’s now a regular fixture at Duxford and is regularly seen flying over the site during air shows.

It flies? After all those years in the sand?
Amazing, isn’t it? We use it a lot in brand licensing, and there’s a fascinating story there – it really resonates with our fans… The Spitfire was flown on its maiden voyage during operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940. Sadly, it was shot down and the pilot – Squadron Leader Geoffrey Stephenson – was captured. He spent the rest of the conflict as a prisoner of war. The MK-1 Spitfire itself wasn’t recovered until strong currents revealed it in the sands in 1986. After that, the plane was lovingly restored and donated to the IWM in 2015.

Astounding – truly! I imagine that a Spitfire is enormously popular with licensees… Why do you think that is, though?
Oh, Spitfires hold an almost undiminishable appeal with the public. Ours has that great story behind it which helps. There’s also the fact that it’s one of only around 78 surviving flying Spitfires. Such is the popularity of the N3200, we often use it to develop concepts with our licensing partners… It’s seen the launch of a pen, gin, model kits and – shortly – a watch.

Another great item is the MI9 Technical Facsimile, an illustrated book of various escape gadgets created by MI9 to help Allied personnel evade capture and escape from prisoner of war camps. From silk maps designed to be concealed in garments and tiny radio receivers hidden in cigar boxes to cleverly disguising uniforms… Very few copies of this book were ever produced – and even fewer survived.

Ah! How interesting! I’ve done some interviews on our sister site, Mojo Nation, with people who have insight into how Waddingtons Games worked with MI9 during the war. People can read about silk maps and hidden equipment in Monopoly boards here and here.

But this is a very rare overview of that kind of equipment?
That’s right. It’s believed to have been produced in February 1942 for an American mission to Britain. IWM recently published a copy of this book under the title Most Secret. This is the first time it’s been made widely available. It offers a rare look into the most highly classified and clandestine world of British espionage.

That sounds amazing! I’ll get my father a copy of that; very much his cup of tea…
You really should; it’s a fascinating read with an introduction by one of our curators, Sarah Paterson. Speaking of good reads, we also publish a fascinating book – John Singer Sergeant Gassed… It’s an exploration of the history of a monumental painting; one of our most famous and requested artworks. The six-metre-long painting underwent extensive restoration before taking centre stage in the new Blavatnik Galleries. It depicts the aftermath of a mustard-gas attack on the Western front during the First World War.

Wow. Haunting. Tell me about some of the licensing partnerships you’ve done in the past…
We’ve worked with a lot of great partners over the years. The ones that work best are where they really appreciate the great mix of resources available to them to really shape the proposition, and the voice of authority that comes from working with us. To name but a few, we have a long-standing relationship with the Royal Mint… Working on campaigns around the major anniversaries of the First and Second World Wars, for example. Retro 51 did some premium writing instruments, including one themed to that N3200 Spitfire, and their latest design is an homage to our Matilda Tank, on display at IWM North… AVI-8 worked with us on a range of precision time pieces. We also worked with developer Frontier on their First World War real-time strategy game The Great War.

I think they’re terrific examples, William – that’s a wide range in just a few products. What kind of deals would you like to make in the future?
It would be great to work with more software companies on upcoming titles focusing on war and conflict. We understand that, like films, these are a depiction of conflict, but they’re a very effective way of connecting with different audiences… A lot of these audiences are keen to see these games be as accurate as possible, and through our curatorial teams we can offer a lot of support in shaping these projects, especially if brought onboard from the early development stages.

We’re also very interested to hear from companies that can see how our vast collections can be used to inspire collections of products. We did a fantastic range of toiletries with SLG some years back, by way of example. That was a huge success in Marks and Spencer. It’d be great to be able to do something like that again.

Fabulous, thank you. And along similar lines, what kind of person or organisation makes the ideal partner for you? Are there any values that the Imperial War Museums hold that you like to see reflected in partners?
One of the things we value as an organisation is authenticity. That’s a quality we look for in our partners, but it’s also something that I think many of our partners come to us for. They’re looking for authentic stories to help make their products resonate with their customers and to bring our audiences to their brands and products.

What’s your own background, William? How did you come to be doing this?
I’ve worked in product development and management for most of my career, with some time in commercial roles. A central part of all these roles was the role of licensing and adding value to the proposition, through the use of popular licenses. After many years working on that side of the development cycle, made the switch to working on the licensor side with the Imperial War Museums.

Great stuff. Well, you’ve certainly whet my appetite to find out more, William. Let me wrap things up with this… What’s the one question I could’ve asked you today but didn’t?
If people want to reach out to you, what’s the best way to do it?

Ha! Perfect! And what’s the answer?
They can reach me at [email protected] or [email protected]. I’d be happy to discuss any potential project or collaborations.

Fabulous! Thanks for making time, William. Great stuff.