City seeks new image

FIVE groups have been shortlisted to create an identity for Nottingham. The new symbol will promote a unified image for marketing the city.

Twelve consultancies took part in a credentials and proposals pitch for the project following a study by London group Fishburn Hedges on Nottingham’s image for The Nottingham Partnership Forum – an organisation funded by the city council and private and public sector organisations.

The shortlist is Manchester’s The Chase, Nottingham’s PR Principles and Cross Hill, the city council’s in-house design studio and Fishburn Hedges.

The London consultancy found that although Nottingham is seen positively, it lacks a clear identity. The main task will be to re-assess the Robin Hood theme and symbol, which have suffered from over-exposure as a marketing tool, and concentrate on Greater Nottingham as a modern, stylish location. The new marque will be used in the city’s marketing activities and eventually in its own right.

“We have to find a way of promoting what we have to offer in order to attract wealth-generating activity in competition with all the other UK and European regions which are being heavily marketed. This cannot be done effectively on a piecemeal basis,” says chairman of the forum’s image working party Alastair Eperon, who has led the initiative.

Nottingham faces a similar issue to London, whose identity by Beresford’s was unveiled this month, in building a better understanding of what the city is and what it has to offer, says Eperon.

The shortlisted groups will be paid 1000 for a creative pitch, with visual work due by 15 April.