Most place marketing looks like it’s been assembled by a committee with a peculiar fondness for airport security queues, printer troubleshooting and customer service call hold music.
You know what I’m talking about. Safe, super sensible, every word triple-checked. Stripped of all life and personality.
Every idea is filed down until it has no prospect of offending anyone. Or excite them. Or make them do anything at all. That’s council comms.
BIDS SHOULDN’T BE ANYWHERE NEAR IT.
You’re not here to push paper or tick boxes. You’re here to get people through the doors of your businesses. To give them a reason to visit, spend and return. That takes energy, personality and big kahunas.
THAT’S WHAT WE DID WITH OUR PALS IN STOCKPORT.
No stock imagery. No “vibrant, thriving town centre” copy. No playing it safe in the middle ground.
We built a campaign that felt like culture, not comms. It was story-driven. We let the business owners speak how they felt like speaking on that day.
One cafe owner even told us on camera that when he first arrived in Stockport he thought it was “rough as a*se.” Did that make the final cut? Absolutely.
And people responded to the authenticity and honesty of it all.
Because when you’re honest and direct, it creates an emotion for the viewer. They either like it enough to visit, or they don’t. And in the case of Stocky P, they did in their droves.
What every BID should take from this:
- If you sound like the council. Stop talking. Re-position.
- If it sounds like it’s been signed off by 10 people, it’s not good enough.
- Be a proud champion. Not a proud administrator.
- Make the content people actually want to engage with. A true representation of your towns culture will beat corporate nonsense every day of the week.
- Have confidence to push it, and ask for advocacy from the businesses you represent.
