What is Brand New St.Helens?
"Brand New St.Helens" is the umbrella term for the destination marketing of "St.Helens plc", via an integrated new range of promotional branding, materials, themes and activities.
All of these are intended to communicate an effective, distinct and readily intelligible series of positive messages that showcase St.Helens to identified target audiences, local and external.
Although led by the Council's Economic Development Team, it is important to note that Brand New St.Helens is about promoting "St.Helens plc" – i.e. the Borough and its many assets rather than the Local Authority and its functions.
Why Brand New St.Helens?
St.Helens has undergone a visible "post-industrial revolution" in recent years. This is characterised by dramatic improvements to the Borough's infrastructure, environment, cultural and leisure offer, and overall economic performance.
Capitalising above all on our prime regional connectivity midway between Liverpool and Manchester, the result has been a major uplift in St.Helens’ appeal as a profitable business base, desirable residential location, and credible visitor destination.
This radical transformation continues apace, propelled by the City Growth Strategy and its vision for St.Helens as "a vibrant, modern place for enterprise and a regional location of choice".
Yet, in the absence of coherent and consistent messages and materials, and given the competitive context of destination marketing, the Borough’s image and perception have lagged behind the impressive new reality.
The time was therefore ripe to deliver Brand New St.Helens, in order to communicate convincingly why St.Helens makes a sound choice as a place in which to live, work, visit and invest within England's Northwest.
How was it derived?
The branding, themes, and materials are all based on the findings of extensive market research.
Local residents, businesses, and partner organisations, plus external stakeholders, marketing professionals, visitors, and others, were all polled using a variety of methods, including desk-based research, focus groups, in-depth interviews, and an online questionnaire.
The purpose was to establish current perceptions and levels of awareness about St.Helens and its particular business, tourism and lifestyle assets, while gauging the quality and effectiveness of previous promotional materials and messages.
These findings were fed into the creative process and you can see for yourself their interpretation and application in the details contined within the rest of this site!