Stockport Council
Brand positioning for an ambitious local council
Created at
Future
Deliverables
Brand positioning
Project
Ambitious Stockport, creating opportunities for everyone
Sector
Public Sector
Project information
Background
Stockport Council serves more than 291,000 residents, delivering everything from housing, education and adult social care to waste collection and Council Tax services. Alongside these essential services, the council has been leading one of the UK's most ambitious regeneration programmes, attracting significant investment, delivering new homes, commercial developments and public infrastructure to unlock Stockport's long-term potential as a thriving place to live, work and invest.
The creative challenge
The council's Senior Leadership Team had a bold vision for Stockport's future but lacked a clear, unifying brand proposition that reflected its ambition. They needed more than a communications campaign; they needed a strategic narrative that could inspire over 8,000 employees, build confidence among residents, support inward investment and strengthen the identity of a borough undergoing major transformation. The challenge was to create a distinctive place brand that captured both ambition and inclusivity while providing a platform that could influence everything from regeneration and property development to everyday public services.
Creativity with character
Every successful branding exercise begins with listening. Through stakeholder interviews strategic workshops and sessions with the Senior Leadership Team I explored the council’s ambitions for Stockport’s future. As ideas were challenged and refined two themes consistently emerged ambition and inclusivity.
From that insight I created the positioning and rallying cry: ‘Ambitious Stockport creating opportunities for everyone.’ More than a tagline it became the strategic foundation for the council’s brand giving the organisation a simple memorable and enduring way to articulate its purpose.
This positioning was applied across the verbal identity visual identity styling principles and brand assets ensuring it could work consistently across every audience and touchpoint. From landmark regeneration schemes and investment in commercial and residential development to local business engagement and frontline services the identity communicated with clarity and confidence across all levels of the organisation.
Adding character and personality to how a council communicates meant uncovering the defining truth that gives a place organisation or property development its own identity then expressing it through messaging and design people genuinely believe in.
Stockport embedded the positioning throughout its culture using it to guide how it communicates makes decisions and delivers change. Today it continues to reinforce a simple promise at the heart of one of the UK’s most ambitious regeneration stories creating opportunities for everyone.