YES Stockton Borough Council

YES STOCKTON BOROUGH COUNCIL

Future Vision for Stockton’s Ambitious Regeneration programme.

What do you do when M&S, Debenhams and New Look are all gone? Knock down the shopping centre and replace it with a riverside oasis. The Guardian wrote could a ‘Visionary’ plan of Stockton-on-Tees spark a high street revolution? YES, was the response.

Industry

Public Sector & Non-Profit

Services

Copywriting

Design

Digital

Marketing

Merch

Project management

Social

The brief

We were asked to create a localised campaign to heighten awareness within communities around the transformational regeneration program taking place to engage businesses and communities invested in the town’s future as part of a collaborative partnership with Stockton BID and Stockton Brough Council.

Approach to Campaign

We purposefully designed YES as the name of the campaign. Yes, is a confirmation or an affirmative, a positive reply to the council’s plans for ‘Powering the Borough’s Future’ to improve outcomes for residents and business community.

The Design

Our design aim was to engender societal optimism ‘Bright Futures’ looking forwards not backwards. To consider what’s possible with a future of opportunities within Stockton Borough Council’s bold proposition to replace a shopping centre with a Riverside Oasis. The YES design captures the attention with an equally bold creative to match the ambition of the plan. The campaign invites communities into the conversation, to become active players in the place making transformation of Stockton Town Centre.

“The government asked for ‘transformational’ proposals for our high streets,” says councillor Nigel Cooke, cabinet member for regeneration. “If this is not transformational, I don’t know what is.” If the plans go ahead, the project will see an ailing shopping arcade ripped up and replaced with a riverside park three times the size of Trafalgar Square, providing grandstand views across a bucolic scene of rowing, sailing and waterside promenading along the Tees. As retail continues to retreat, might our future high streets embrace the great outdoors?

Tactical Execution

YES, was executed across the place of Stockton Town Centre featuring on digital screens, bins and hoardings. Pin badges and drinks coasters were distributed across indie venues. Town businesses displayed window graphics, posters and postcards invited future stakeholders from small start-ups to community enterprises and beyond to be of the opportunity.

Testimonials

WHAT CLIENTS SAY

The rebrand by OOK has transformed our business and client income. They’ve created Alchemy Culture a new service income and ‘Talk Cancer Teesside’ a partnership with Cancer Research to support employers deal with cancer at work. We’re delivering impactful work while still making a profit, because of working with OOK.

Jo Davies, Managing Director Hr Alchemy

Max Freer’s experience and knowledge in agency, brand and marketing is really inspirational to us. She’s like a big sister. We’ve collaborated with OOK on a bunch of really cool client projects that’s delivered some epic results in particular Humans of the High Street that went viral.

Lou Toner COO Wander Films

I appointed OOK to work with my in-house marketing team to help Additional Lengths with the brand launch of our UK flagship store. Northing was left to chance. Their attention to detail, experience and expertise all resulted in a super successful brand launch. I would highly recommend working with OOK.

Victoria Lynch, Managing Director Additional Lengths & Creator of Remi Cachet

Max Freer is a ‘Brand Rockstar’. An exceptional Brand Marketeer to see in action. She has vision, creativity who consistently delivers on projects.

Sarah Heward, Marketing Manager, Blend Marketing

Max and her team created a strategic place brand campaign Keep Our Town in Focus to resist a major out of town development that threatened localness, livelihoods, jobs and security in Sutton Ashfield & Mansfield. The campaign gave local people an active voice to channel a volume of objections which led to the planning application being called in by Secretary of State and ultimately the applicant withdrawing the scheme. The ultimate result was achieved

Mark Robinson Co-Founder Ellandi & Chair of the High Streets Task Force Board

We turned to expert Brand Marketeer Max Freer to rebrand social allies. I had so many ideas yet struggled to put them on paper. Max helped un-pick our brand, company culture from beginning to end and put it all together. Her ideas are amazing and the way she works is even better. She listens to the brief so clearly and has really helped us come back to life, building new services for the agency and being an overall saint. What fabulously, talented and inspirational woman!

Jess Tucker, Managing Director Social Allies

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