Amplifying Arts & Culture Engagement
At this year’s AMA Conference, our creative director, Paul Sheffiled and Wandsworth Council’s Hannah Hiett took to the stage for their session - 'Amplifying Arts and Culture Engagement with Digital and Brand Strategies'.
The goal was to share the journey on how we took over the biggest promotional spotlight in the UK, the Piccadilly Screen.
But, don’t be too sad if you missed it, you’ll get all of the key takeaways in this blog.
London Borough of Culture
The Mayor’s London Borough of Culture award was launched in 2017 with the aim of bringing Londoners together and putting culture at the heart of local communities. From April this year, Wandsworth is the London Borough of Culture, and they're working closely with thousands of local people and organisations to deliver a year-long programme featuring hundreds of cultural events and creative initiatives.
Discover
While Wandsworth Council were busy pitching to become London Borough of Culture, we were starting our work on their brand and digital presence, with our first workshop with their team in January 2024.
Before we consider designs, it's important to fully understand the requirements of the project. We research the behaviours and goals of the audience to craft a structure that provides value at every stage. Captivating users and enticing them into action.
A key element of this process was mapping Audience Types, with two types of mapping used, aiding us in understanding the Wandsworth Council team and their needs for what would become Welcome To Wandsworth.
- Stakeholder mapping - list all individual groups and map interest over influence
- Empathy mapping - the top 3-5 groups map their feelings, pain points and goals
That's when... they won the bid!
It was time to find opportunities to scale up, matching our work to their new position as the London Borough of Culture for 2025.
Getting Creative
We began our creative process, developing a brand that would stand up to the dynamic and vibrant borough it was set to represent. During this process, we were sure to remain close to the Wandsworth Council team, incorporating their valuable opinions and getting buy-in from stakeholders throughout the journey.
Refinement
The next months came quickly, with rapid development and refinement of their bold new brand. From brand ideas and concepts in April and May, to naming in June and having exciting ideas in July, it was a whirlwind of creativity that allowed us to have sign off by September.
Our key takeaways from this process:
- Prioritise Accessibility - it is important that everyone can engage with any brand developed by our team
- System vs Custom Fonts - consider how it will be used, and whether their IT team will be happy with the choice
- Usability - ensure partners can use the brand with ease
Launch
In November 2024, we were ready to launch the brand and to do it, we set up a series of events.
An iconic moment came in February, when we lit up London with the colours we’d selected for Welcome To Wandsworth, taking over the Piccadilly Screen!
A Summer of Festivals
Our collaboration on the Summer of Festivals campaign allowed the brand language we had created to tell different stories. Throughout the campaign planning process, we referred back to their vision and values - Power of Culture to Spark Joy, Connect People, Transform Lives and Supercharge our Health and Wellbeing.
Interested in our other work with festivals? Check out our blog here.
