Faced with the fear that Coventry and Warwickshire’s voice was not being heard, Coventry City Council joined with local private sector organisations to write a narrative for the area. This case study forms part of our place branding toolkit. This case study forms part of our place branding toolkit. This case study forms part of our place branding resource.
Leading organisations, including Coventry City Council, Coventry University, Warwick University and Jaguar LandRover (which has its headquarters in the city) came together to form the Coventry and Warwickshire Place Board, and to develop a new place narrative in March 2012. The introduction of a new narrative emerged from concerns that Coventry and Warwickshire's voice was not getting heard above those of other places; there was no simple story explaining what the area is about and is trying to achieve as a place, and that there was no shared sense of ambition. The council also recognised that ‘place shaping' was key for building confidence, boosting inward investment and giving partners a story to tell about their area.
The place narrative was developed through a series of workshops and focus groups with key partners and residents to explore the identity and features of their local area. Discussions concentrated upon the qualities of the city and its surroundings, its challenges, assets and potential for the future. This provided a clear steer for the narrative which was finalised by the Coventry and Warwickshire Place Board. Workshop and focus group research was conducted by an independent research organisation that was commissioned by Coventry City Council.
The narrative has been promoted through the introduction of the Coventry and Warwickshire Champions scheme. The scheme unites businesses, organisations and individuals across the area to help advance Coventry and Warwickshire and raise its profile. Champions are proactive advocates for the area who want to help influence how the area is perceived and portrayed, and recognise the difference they can make by championing the place professionally, publically and with pride.
As a result, the place narrative is not seen as just a council narrative, but one that belongs to the place – Coventry and Warwickshire.
Place narrative
"Coventry and Warwickshire is famous for its track record of innovation, enterprise and learning and for welcoming people from across the world to make their home here, in the heart of England, where diversity and creativity has always been welcomed.
With great connections to the rest of the country Coventry and Warwickshire has also become a prime location for events, conferences and celebrations – making it a great place to live, study, invest and visit. No wonder Coventry and Warwickshire has a host of Champions ready and willing to stand up and tell the world about it all."
The new place narrative was very well received by all internal and external stakeholders. Specific briefing sessions were held for council teams that would be directly involved in sharing and promoting the new place narrative (including inward investment, design and communications teams), presentations were delivered for senior managers and key information was made available to all staff through the council intranet.
The establishment of regular Champions meetings, in some of the most impressive venues in the area attracted around 200 people to come along and hear about new local developments and successes. News and stories that arose from Champions meetings was then cascaded to other external stakeholders locally, regionally and nationally.
Work is ongoing to maintain the focus upon a positive place narrative, with Champions meetings taking place every two months, and continuing to attract high numbers of local stakeholders, high profile keynote speakers and ongoing positive local media coverage.
Although the council initially led the work to launch the new narrative, the council is able to work with senior managers from key organisations including the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, Peugeot Citroën Automobiles UK and the Ricoh Arena, whom are also members of the Coventry and Warwickshire Place Board, to ensure that proactive place narrative promotion continues.