Tote bags and bright logos are fine. We just prefer an approach to branding that gets beneath the skin of a place to create a much deeper and broader appreciation of town revitalisation.
Local pride and visitor appeal
Here we look at the role of branding that gets ‘beneath the skin’ of a place as part of the wider revitalisation of town and city centres. This includes examining the links to the Government’s Levelling Up focus on boosting ‘pride in place’ by first making local people feel good about where they live. This then provides a platform for extending the appeal to new audiences. We will illustrate this by drawing on our knowledge of Lowestoft and the ongoing regeneration and branding work in the town.
Place branding’s role in Lowestoft
In Lowestoft there is an opportunity for a clear brand to reflect the existing qualities and current progress across different areas of the town. This can help boost pride in place and attract new audiences. There is an intrinsic value in the quality of Lowestoft’s built heritage and natural surroundings. Local partners led by East Suffolk Council, are also actively addressing challenges in renewing the town’s role and identity in the face of changes to the local economy, the use of town centres, and evolving tourism trends.
The three elements of place branding
Place branding theory points to the ways that its different elements can be part of the solution in a town such as Lowestoft. These begin with clear communication of the message about the past, present and future of the town. Arguably more important to place branding where a town is ‘evolving’, is the ‘construction’ element that demonstrates a commitment to ongoing improvement or ‘product development’. The third element of place branding is the ‘cooperation’ necessary between the relevant parts and partners in a place -otherwise known as ‘placemaking’ or leadership.
1. Communicating the story
At the People & Places Partnership, we would always advocate that communication is a central part of wider regeneration good practice to engage different audiences. This includes bridging some of the gaps between the perceptions and realities of a community and sharing an evolving story as part of branding that gets ‘beneath the skin’ of a place.
Creating a clear narrative
A clear narrative is provided by the Lowestoft Story commissioned from Thinking Place by East Suffolk Council. This sets out the overarching place ambition for the Suffolk seaside town. This new narrative seeks to provide a blueprint for communicating the town’s ambitions and what sets Lowestoft apart from other places. In doing so, it ‘gets beneath the skin of the place’ by identifying two broad contributory themes that combine facets of the town’s identity. These are authentically already important in the place alongside new ingredients for the Lowestoft experience. Such a story can be pitched at different audiences, including residents, in the appropriate ways. Everybody needs to be able to recognise it as authentic
Identifying the story’s sub-plots
The first theme or sub-plot for the Lowestoft story, not surprisingly acknowledges the town’s historic maritime links as “harnessing and celebrating the energy of the sea”. Importantly it provides a progressive message that incorporates a focus on the growing off-shore energy industry that is fuelling the economy, and the changing face of tourism that has come to be about the ability to interact with the elements.
“Exploring the eastscape” is a second unifying, and arguably a more orchestrated, theme. It reflects the proximity of the town’s expansive beaches, historic town centre and surrounding rural environment through to the Broads National Park. It makes a big play on celebrating Lowestoft’s status and symbolism of being the most easterly point in the UK where the sun rises first. As the story goes, “this allows us to be morning people, up first with the sun and encourages a healthier lifestyle of walking, cycling and being active.”
Accompanying design toolkit
Alongside this ‘story’, East Suffolk Council commissioned the Lowestoft Toolkit which provide guidelines that we would more usually expect as part of place branding. These cover in detail the Font, visual identity, visual language and the photography elements of Lowestoft’s fresh branding. And yes, they could inform the design of an on-message tote bag, and other linking visual elements.
Examples of this place branding work can already be seen in application across multiple platforms in Lowestoft from hoardings, the town investment plan, the Think Lowestoft website, new beach hut colour schemes, marketing material and social media channels.
2. Constructing an improved place
Construction is defined as product development or real actions / policy initiatives that support the brand claims (e.g., development of infrastructure, events and the creation of icons or other symbolic actions).
Realising the brand
Within the wider revitalisation of Lowestoft there are already a wide range of initiatives that can capture the imagination and represent the realisation of the new narrative and brand.
- First Light Festival is a new multi arts event which take place on the South Beach for 24 hours over the summer solstice, and includes music, dance, science, well-being and sports.
- 72 contemporary beach huts, known as Eastern Edge, have been installed as a replacement for 58 concrete beach chalets that were closed in the summer of 2016 due to safety concerns.
- 166 beach huts have been repainted using the Lowestoft place branding colour scheme.
- The iconic and unused East Point Pavilion has been extensively refurbishments to create an open, light and modern space for residents and visitors to enjoy.
- A high-quality landscaped park has been created that celebrates Ness Point’s location as the most easterly point in England, including new play facilities, space for cultural events, and improved pedestrian and cycle links to the High Street and town centre.
- Plans are progressing to renovate and re-open the historic Town Hall as innovative heritage hub, gallery space, wedding venue, co-working space, café and additional community event space.
Town Deal regeneration prospects
In August 2022 a £24.9m programme to transform Lowestoft received final Government approval of its Town Deal, enabling work to progress on five major regeneration projects. The five projects are:
- The Station Quarter, involving the restoration and re-use of the former Post Office and front of the railway station
- The Cultural Quarter, involving improvements to the theatre and the creation of a new cultural facility with associated eatery, and the redevelopment of a former multi-storey car park to provide a new leisure offer.
- The Historic Quarter which will focus on the redevelopment and refurbishment of the Town Hall along with enhancing the historic passageways known as ‘scores’.
- The Seafront Vision involving redevelopment of fountains, greenspace and public realm to complement the recently refurbished East Point Pavilion.
- The Port Gateway project which will support the development of the Lowestoft Eastern Energy Facility (LEEF) as a hub for the offshore renewables sector.
3. Cooperating for the common good
Cooperation is about finding common ground between stakeholders in community, private and public sectors to determine what makes a place unique and attractive to make sure that institutions, companies, and residents, “live the brand”. Such cooperation is key to facilitating branding that gets ‘beneath the skin’ of a place.
Increasing opportunities for town-wide cooperation
As part of the People & Places’ follow-up work to initial revitalisation research and planning, we worked with local stakeholders to understand the needs and opportunities for greater cooperation across different organisations, programmes and areas of Lowestoft. We created a recovery and revitalisation checklist as a self-assessment process for key partners charged with turning-around Lowestoft town centre and the adjoining areas of the Old High Street and Kirkley. It uses the checklist template provided in the Local Government Association’s revised Revitalising Town Centres Toolkit.
Coordination through new place board
In terms of partnership working and governance, the creation of the Lowestoft Place Board created the opportunity to provide a strategic oversight of the whole of Lowestoft including the three centres, surrounding business and residential areas. The Board has representation from key partners including public, private and the third sector. The Place Board’s governance structure provides opportunities for increased strategic influence. It also provides coordinating mechanisms for project delivery of regeneration projects across the town, including town centre and culture/heritage-led strands. Such cooperation needs to be worked at as much as the reconstruction of the town, to create a unified approach that is kept under constant review. Having a Place Board has allowed for the creation of the Town Investment Plan as a collective submission to government. This enabled Lowestoft to be successfully awarded Town Deal funding and confirmed the pivotal role of the Place Board in pulling everything together.
Engaging local place ambassadors
Alongside such strategic-level coordination, the Lowestoft Ambassador Programme has been launched as part of the grassroots communication and coordination of the town brand. The Ambassadors are stakeholders in the town who are passionate about what Lowestoft has to offer as a place to live and do business in. The programme covers the public, private and third sectors, with members charged with “selling” Lowestoft as a place to invest and live in. The Ambassadors’ role involves challenging outdated perceptions and misinformation about the town. They serve as a positive voice within the community to articulate a more vibrant and optimistic narrative. The Ambassador programme holds events that promote the work going on within Lowestoft. This raises awareness of what is happening as well as identifying opportunities for involvement and collaboration. It helps ensure that key stakeholders “live the brand” and cascade down the communications and spirit of cooperation.
Tracking place branding progress
At the People & Places Partnership we are great believers in tracking progress. Its how the revitalising town centres toolkit works. We conduct a baseline survey; identify issues and solutions with stakeholders; assist in coordinating, constructing and communicating change; and follow-up by monitoring changes in perceptions and te use of the town centre.
It would be revealing to revisit Lowestoft as the revitalisation of the town progresses to tack changes in perceptions of place and joined-up partnership working -both of which contribute to a boost in pride of place. For the time being it is good to pick-up on indicators of a changing place branding sentiment such as a Daily Telegraph travel feature headline that that compares Lowestoft to its neighbouring and well-regarded neighbour: “Move over Southwold – there’s a new jewel in Suffolk’s coastal crown visitor destination”.
Find out more about People & Places’ approach
Email services@people-places.net to receive a copy of our good practice guide to “place branding beneath the skin“.
Read about the approach of think ‘local first’ in place branding as well as an earlier case study of Blaenau Ffestiniog that uses the Welsh town’s distinctive and authentic identity.
Other related posts include a detailed look at good practice in reviving historic town centres and an outline of four guiding principles for transforming public spaces.
The revitalising town centres toolkit, prepared for the Local Government Association, provides comprehensive guidance on leading a local town centre revival.
Contact service@people-places.net if you’d like to talk about place branding in your town or perhaps work with us to host a free introductory webinar for local stakeholders.
