The challenge
The challenge
The Thames Gateway is a large region stretching 40 miles from
London’s Canary Wharf, to Southend in Essex, and Sheerness in Kent. The sheer
scale meant that the challenge was complexity. Complexity of physical
environments, from urban centres near London, industrial sites along the
estuary, to remote countryside. And complexity of the myriad of local
organisations from 3 separate local authorities responsible for delivering and
promoting the region
Resolving a fragmented marketing story
Organisations delivering the regeneration included government departments, local delivery bodies, and multi agency partnerships – headed up by a consortium of thee Regional Development Agencies, London, South Essex and North Kent. With different organisations using different messages to promote their ‘part’ of the region – and often in competition with each other – the marketing story was highly fragmented.
Our task was to resolve this confusion and create an overarching proposition with a coherent message, and to communicate why the Thames Gateway is attractive for business, and what makes it different from competing regions. This unified voice was needed to drive and coordinate all stakeholder communications promoting the Thames Gateway.
Creating a sense of place from a virtual location
The Thames Gateway has been described as a concept, rather than a real place or location. While it gravitates around the Thames Estuary, incorporating parts of Kent, London and Essex, there are no natural geographical boundaries to help define it as a distinct sub region. In addition, much of the development exists as a vision for the future, but not yet a current reality.
The proposition needed to bridge this gap by making the region as real as possible for potential investors. To do this, we needed to build a sense of the Thames Gateway as a distinctive location with its own unique personality, and establish the qualities that the region could uniquely own.
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.