Insider Article

15.10.2003

As cities struggle to re-define themselves in a world where image is everthing, Rachel Bristowe speaks to the north west design companies helping to transform their identities.

Long before Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and the tile-free Arndale existed to provide the perfect shopping experience, or loft apartments became passé, Manchester had already started plotting its rise to second city status.

According to Steve Nicholas, partner at Manchester-based design agency Creative Lynx, the Central Manchester Development Company (CMDC) was the catalyst for regeneration in the city, and ten on decline in inward investment has pt the pressure on others to repackage their product.

'Manchester was one of our first rebranding projects. We produced annual reports and marketing materials for CMDC to attract investors. Developers took a gamble back in the early 1990s' he says.

'At that point there were only 200 people living in the city centre and a lot of the imagery used to promote Manchester was very grubby. Photographers jan Chlebik and Ian Lawson changed the outside view of Manchester'

Creative Lynx has had its nose to the grindstone for 17 years. It has worked on successful rebranding projects for East Manchester, Warrington, Preston (pictured above), Speke and Runcorn & Widnes.

'Branding is a funny word. It doesn't just denote the look but something deeper. It's the whole offering. Essentially our job is to match the look with the offer,' says Nicholas.

'There's not much difference between branding a city and a product. It's all about identifying your market - what is going to appeal to them? When you're aiming at end users you're trying to create a lifestyle - just like Coca cola or Nike.'

Cath Titherington, founder of fledging marketing, advertising and design agency Stormhouse based in Chorley, says the amount of people you're required to please does make rebranding a city much more complicated than a company.

'When it comes to rebranding a city as opposed to a company we are very conscious that there are many more people to approve our proposals. When we co-ordinated the Preston City Bid campaign we had to embark on a comprehensive period of consultation with a number of representatives from the public, private and voluntary sectors,' says Titherington.

'Following their endorsement of the campaign, we had the task of garnering support from the people of Preston too. Whereas when we undertake work for a business, we usually only work with the marketing director or the board of directors,' she says.

The rebranding of Ribble Valley Borough Council's cultural services department is one of the company's recent account wins and Titherington envisages attracting this kind of work in the future.

A six-year project for Widnes Waterfront, a new branding campaign for MCCMC, a rebranding project for Carlisle College and its very own rebranding exercise are also keeping Creative Lynx busy says business development executive Sue Crossley.

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