If you chose your supporting agency based on sharing the same postcode, don’t be surprised if you find their work a bit boring.
There is comfort in choosing local. It feels right. It feels safe.
You can bob in for a brew and a natter at the drop of a hat. You can bump into them at the same events. They’re a neighbour rather than a strategic partner.
However, safe people rarely get on trains, in cars and into your town, off-the-cuff for adventure.
Local agencies often come shackled by the burdens of your town’s history. Assumptions and ideas that were true 20 years ago and have quietly gone unchallenged.
You end up protecting a version of a place that doesn’t exist anymore. Playing it too safe. Saying the same old tripe. Getting the same drab results.
We didn’t know Stockport before we started. No baggage. No pre-conceptions. Just natural curiosity.
So we do the work. Proper research and conversations with the businesses. Loads of time in the town. And what we found wasn’t what you’d expect from the outside.
If anything, it was at least a million percent better. Stockport is a town full of independence. It has a proud history of creativity and grit and hard work. It’s a town full of character and stories worth telling.
Fresh perspective means you can see what others cannot. What would excite us as an outsider to come into a town like Stockport will likely translate to their target audience: new people.
Where we get our “insider info” from is the boards we partner with. And that’s the trick. We’re not here to dictate to you what’s brilliant about your town. We’re here to listen and partner to develop campaigns that resonate with both locals and new visitors alike.
And that’s how we put 10,000 extra shoppers on the streets of Stockport and delivered a nationally recognised campaign “On the Up!” which delivered a stunning 2 million views.
What to take from this:
- Fresh eyes spot what familiarity misses.
- Local knowledge still matters. Just not on it’s own.
- The old narratives need challenging.
- Safe work doesn’t drive footfall.
- Your audience isn’t local.
