

Marcopolo Mints, made by Rowntree for British Satellite Broadcasting in 1990. The mints were given out by British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) in lieu of change-of-address cards when BSB moved from their temporary facilities to Marcopolo House in Battersea, South London in August of 1990. BSB’s new marble and glass building, designed by postmodern architect Ian Pollard, was named after BSB’s satellites, Marcopolo 1 and 2.
Marcopolo Mints, made by Rowntree for British Satellite Broadcasting in 1990.
The mints were given out by British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) in lieu of change-of-address cards when BSB moved from their temporary facilities to Marcopolo House in Battersea, South London in August of 1990. BSB’s new marble and glass building, designed by postmodern architect Ian Pollard, was named after BSB’s satellites, Marcopolo 1 and 2.
Commissioning Rowntree to make these custom mints was typical of BSB’s flamboyant marketing strategy, and in their own small way, the mints are exemplary of what critics described as BSB’s ‘gold-plated best-of-everything approach’.
Public-service-minded BSB and commercial competition Sky Television were forced to merge in November 1990 to form BSkyB. Marcopolo House was sold, and BSB’s five channels were largely scrapped in favour of Sky Television's channels.
Details
- Category:
- Television
- Object Number:
- 2010-5052
- Materials:
- foodstuff and paper (fibre product)
- type:
- marketing
- taxonomy:
-
- credit:
- National Media Museum, Bradford
- copyright:
- National Science and Media Museum
Cite this page
Rights
We encourage the use and reuse of our collection data.
Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero
Descriptions and all other text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence
Download
Download catalogue entry as json
View manifest in IIIF viewer
Add to Animal Crossing Art Generator
Download manifest IIIF
Our records are constantly being enhanced and improved, but please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information shown on this website.