Somerset House—a grand 18th-century building standing proud along London, England’s River Thames—isn’t just a historic landmark, it’s a cultural powerhouse of a brand, celebrating twenty-five years of artistic innovation, creative business building, and community engagement.
And make no mistake: staying relevant for a quarter-century among the world’s most discerning creative community is no small feat. How did Somerset House transform from a relic of history into a roaring case study in cultural and brand relevance? And what can leaders learn in the process?
From Relic to Relevance
Originally built in 1547 by Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset, and later refined by Inigo Jones, Somerset House stood for a very specific kind of power: aristocratic, exclusive, untouchable. It evolved over centuries, rebranding itself in different ways—Denmark House, royal residence, Pipe Office, Office of the Duchy of Cornwall. And I have no doubt that each reinvention created another layer of establishment DNA.
Fast-forward to today: under visionary British arts administrator and Director of Somerset House, Jonathan Reekie, who took the reins in 2014, Somerset House hasn’t just refreshed its cultural program, it seems to have blown up the old playbook.
Reekie approached Somerset House’s latest re-invention through a brand-centric leadership lens. And unlike most leaders, Reekie didn’t feel shackled by its historical setting or 16th century past or its existing brand guidelines, but instead liberated by it. He reimagined the entire institution, shifting it from a passive venue for exhibitions and art collections into an active platform for innovative artists, rule-breakers, and community building.
The launch of Somerset House Studios was a masterstroke—a permanent experimental studio, the first of its kind in any UK arts center. Suddenly, the halls echoed with fashion rebels, digital artists, queer creatives, political agitators, and climate activists. Somerset House was no longer about showcasing culture, it was about creating it.
The key lesson here? Brand heritage shouldn’t hold you back or chain you to the past—it should catapult you forward. And by taking an inside out approach, Jonathan Reekie didn’t just modernize the building, he modernized Somerset House’s entire ethos.
Culture Is a Collaboration, Not a Commodity
You’ve heard me say it before: strong cultural currency is everything. But a deeper truth also exists—to build a pioneering brand that doesn’t just reflect culture but reshapes it, you can’t just chase cachet, you can’t just leverage culture, you must cultivate trust and create conditions.
One example of this commitment to cultural leadership was Somerset House’s decision to host the first-ever UK museum show devoted to the work of Wayne Thiebaud (1920–2021), now recognized as one of the most original and influential American artists of the 20th century. Rather than relying solely on the expected canon of European modernists, Somerset House introduced British audiences to Thiebaud’s exuberant explorations of American culture, further cementing its role as a platform for artistic innovation and global cultural conversation. Another was breaking away from the ‘academic exhibition’ model with the break out CUTE exhibition—a shrine to Hello Kitty and a celebration of all things cute in contemporary culture.
Somerset House stopped behaving like a museum brand full of a collection of paintings and started acting like a movement.
From my experience, when brands move beyond the conventions of their own category and adopt the codes of others, they often gain greater cultural relevance and desirability. Think about the disruptive brands that inspire us all and do exactly that. Apple plays in tech but behaves like a fashion brand, Nike sells sportswear but moves like a social movement, Aesop offers skincare but channels the aesthetic of a design studio… I believe that the most compelling brands don’t stay in their lane — they step into many others.
The Reekie Rulebook in action:
Let your audience lead.
From skateboarding festivals to digital art raves, Somerset House handed over the mic to communities long overlooked—and allowed for its brand’s culture to rise from the ground up.
Invite brand complexity.
Reekie didn’t sanitize or soften the brand but he leaned into tension. From exhibitions interrogating race and class to public programs grappling with climate change and surveillance, Somerset House became a magnet for the conversations audiences crave but most institutions are too afraid to address.
Stand for something.
Somerset House Studios isn’t just a residency program, it has become a home for creators who resist commercialization and artists who challenge the status quo, and for voices that refuse to be muted.
The result of the Reekie rules? A brand built not on perfection, but on participation. As I emphasize in The Kim Kardashian Principle, the brands that will matter tomorrow aren’t the ones projecting an image of perfect—they’re the ones showing their vulnerabilities and flaws, and in turn creating space for people to be real.
Your People Are Your Brand Amplifiers
At Somerset House, brand reinvention isn’t just a top-down strategy—it’s baked into the team. Jonathan Reekie knows that his employees are his loudest, most credible brand ambassadors and as a result, his team is a living, breathing embodiment of the diversity, creativity, and complexity—a vibrant community in itself—that Somerset House champions.
Reekie’s leadership philosophy? Listen deeply, respond boldly and amplify the voices too often left out of the narrative, empowering his team to make change in each area they operate. For instance, Ebony Rhiney-James, Director of Marketing & Communications led the recent rebrand at Somerset House by partnering with London based branding agency, North—she anchored the brand in art, equity, and innovation.
While other institutions cling to outdated hierarchies, the leadership at Somerset House has been brave enough to tear them down—merging historic architecture and its beautiful setting with community-led participation. Today, the same royal corridors that once housed Queen Henrietta Maria, bureaucratic offices like the Pipe Office and the Office of the Duchy of Cornwall are now hubs of imagination, equity, and storytelling. The building’s history and its array of fountains remain—but it’s no longer a mausoleum. It’s alive.
The brand’s commitment to community engagement is equally radical with Somerset House Studios becoming a haven for not only a community of designers but queer, marginalized, and futurist creators. The public programs seem deliberate in their intentions and the major exhibitions don’t just entertain, they interrogate, celebrate and redistribute visibility.
Interestingly, a recent McKinsey study found that companies with diverse executive teams are 36% more likely to outperform financially. Harvard Business Review agrees: diverse teams are smarter, more innovative, and better at reexamining facts.
At Somerset House—and for any brand serious about staying relevant—diversity isn’t a trend, it’s the strategy. And as collaboration accelerates online, Somerset House is riding the wave. Through platforms like LinkedIn, it has become a networking powerhouse—linking emerging artists, global thinkers, and future cultural leaders in creative dialogue.
Programming Without Purpose Is Just Noise
I’ve previously spoken at length about the power of brand purpose, especially amongst Gen Z.
Under Jonathan Reekie’s leadership, inclusivity is the foundation that shows up in funding, in leadership, in every curatorial decision. As a result, Somerset House is a sanctuary for queer creatives, disabled thinkers, global diasporic artists, and digital provocateurs are prioritized—not showcased as afterthoughts. It’s a home of cultural innovators and it listens to that innovative thought.
How does this brand experience play out? Pay-what-you-can nights, community-led curation and public festivals that turn the gates wide open. In doing so, the Somerset House brand not only stands for the redistribution of power but redefines what cultural legitimacy looks like.
And as I’ve said before, Gen Z demands this level of authenticity from brands and leadership. An Edelman study states that 92% expect brands to take a stand on social and environmental issues and 90% prefer to purchase from brands that align with causes they believe. And a study by Whiplash 303 states that 72% are willing to pay more for brands that support these causes.
And as I’ve said before, Gen Z demands this level of authenticity from brands and leadership. According to Edelman, 90% of Gen Z expect brands to be involved in addressing social and environmental issues, and 63% say they will only buy from brands that align with their beliefs. Another study by Whiplash 303 echoes this: 72% of Gen Z are willing to pay more for brands that support the causes they care about.
Legacy is Something You Build, Not Something You Inherit
There is no doubt that Somerset House didn’t just preserve history; it prototyped the future. Today, it stands as a hotbed of disruption—from digital surrealism to algorithmic installations, from bold interrogations of AI surveillance to urgent explorations of climate justice. It hasn’t tiptoed around complexity but invited it in.
But the real lesson for leaders?
Brand reinvention is a long game. At Somerset House, it’s happened through the patient cultivation of visionary artists, the championing of talented, Black-led businesses, and the unapologetic celebration of queer creativity among other bold moves. It’s never a headline or a hashtag., and I believe Jonathan Reekie would agree, it’s a relentless, values-driven commitment to taking risks, pushing boundaries and building something that didn’t exist before.
So how does a 16th-century brand birthed in King Edward VI’s empire become one of the most future-forward cultural institutions on the planet? It stops preserving the past—and starts empowering the present.
Because if you ask me, that’s not just how you witness history, that’s how you make it.
Named Esquire’s Influencer of the Year, Jeetendr Sehdev is a media personality and leading voice in fashion, entertainment, and influence, and author of the New York Times bestselling phenomenon The Kim Kardashian Principle: Why Shameless Sells (and How to Do It Right).