Research & insight
Research & insight
Understanding the region
Several field visits helped us to get to know the Thames Gateway. These involved meetings with local businesses, the three Regional Development Agencies, and a wide range of stakeholders from the education community to private developers. Combined with a complete audit of current communications materials, our research identified several key themes that described what could be attractive about the Thames Gateway:
- Space to expand and grow
- Affordability of premises
- Close proximity of London and mainland Europe
- Better quality of life than London
- A culture of innovation and doing things differently
We then needed to create an overarching proposition – a clear message about what would uniquely position the Thames Gateway as a competitive region for investment.
Identifying the right audience
It was clear that while local organisations were promoting the region to businesses a local level, there was no mechanism for targeting international businesses and foreign direct investment – a huge missed opportunity.
For this audience, the proposition needed to work in competition with other UK and international locations, and work at a top level to funnel potential interest down to local organisations. This meant focusing on the bigger picture – creating a clear sub region to ‘sell,’ and locating the region geographically so that an international audience would instantly understand where it was.
Find out more
If you would like to find out more about our expertise in creating brands for locations, please call Bridget Ruffell on 0207 013 4650, or get in touch via our contact page.