Of all our national museums, it is the National Gallery of Canada that has had
the most use of and, I think, success with banners. They use two kinds.

First, the exterior court of their museum has a number of flagstaffs, placed in
groups. These have very long, colourful banners  which are in place all year
round and do a lot to brighten up the exterior of what is, in any case, one of
the most striking buildings in Canada.

Second, large banners are also used, on the side of the building, to advertise
their current "flagship" exhibition. The Gallery's public building is
immediately adjacent to a traffic circle (occupied by a strikingly modern
monument to Canada's UN peacekeepers). Much of the daily traffic between
Ontario and Québec in this area flows through this circle. The banner is
mounted in a position to ensure maximum visibility to motorists (and the many
pedestrians) using the circle.

I don't know whether the gallery has done much research on public reaction to
the banners, but I suspect the banners advertising the exhibitions do much to
draw attention. I must add, however, that the Gallery also gets a lot of media
coverage and has an effective advertising campaign, at least locally.

The Royal Canadian Mint, just down the street from the Gallery, also uses long
banners on flagstaffs, year-round.

Our museum lurks in the background, between the two of these. Actually, we hide
in the woods, as our National Capital Commission planted rows of pin oaks some
years back along the street which have grown much taller than they were
supposed to and now effectively block the public view of much of the museum
from the street. Our plan is to replace these by low growing shrubs, put in
better signage than the current (yecch! ptui!) standard government of Canada
office building sign we now have. We will also use banners - very long, narrow
ones hanging from the roof almost three stories down to the ground on either
side of the main entrance.

Much more prominent will be one enormous banner covering most of the face of
the end of our wing which is the part of the museum closest to the street. It
will be a two colour panel incorporating a graphic of members of a Second World
War infantry section, grubby and tired, being debriefed by their platoon
commander. It's a closeup view of four heads and shoulders, two of them (sigh!
gasp! oh no!) smoking politically incorrect cigarettes - which we do NOT
propose to airbrush out. I think it will catch the attention of the public.

I'd be interested in hearing of other museums' experiences with banners.

Harry Needham
Canadian War Museum