Brand development

 Ensuring the heart and soul of the Estuary is reflected in its visual identity.
 
 

As we champion cultural innovation in our region, we have taken our own innovative approach to Creative Estuary’s brand development to ensure the heart and soul of the Estuary is reflected in its visual identity.

After a rigorous competitive tender process, creative agency Playne Design were appointed in March 2020 to develop the Creative Estuary brand. Working with a range industry partners they will deliver a cohesive and compelling brand vision, visual identity, and narrative, informed by extensive stakeholder consultations, audience mappings, comparator research and workshops.

In the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, the team took a brand-new approach to obtaining the vital community and stakeholder feedback in the consultation phase.  In order to find virtual solutions to the pandemic restrictions, we reached out to various international branding agencies and educators to test and source the best available platforms for online consultation. We are pleased to have sourced software that can seamlessly enable interactions, online discussions and virtual workshops with creative industry professionals, local residents, artists and commercial developers.

The team has also devised a digital public engagement exercise to build an in depth understanding of the Estuary ahead of the final brand development. The #MyEstuaryStory campaign will invite people from across the Thames Estuary region to share stories, images and videos about how living and working by the Estuary impacts their lives (particularly in light of the 2020 lockdown). The campaign will provide a wealth of unique perspectives and visual assets showcasing all parts of the area, whilst also boosting local awareness of the project’s ambitions.

This is brand development as it has never been done before, and the methodology and learnings will help to shape branding exercises across the sector into the future.

The Creative Estuary brand is due for delivery in Autumn 2020.

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