Re-branding the High Street

The Deloitte Consumer Review "Reinventing the role of the high street" just released states that "while many have proclaimed the ‘end of the high street’,  the high street will continue to be an important place where innovative, consumer-focused businesses will grow and thrive."  

BUT make no mistake the High Street is changing – and its changing reality will need to be announced with some skill to townsfolk across the UK.  What they have previously experienced will transform inexorably from the retail focussed day-time only space to an increasingly 24/7 environment, where health, education, leisure, and public service delivery will nestle alongside the downsized  commercial premises of retail.  A substantial change is coming to towns and cities across the UK – an unprecedented change for over five hundred years.

High streets have been for centuries, along with the market places which they have traditionally served and the hostelries which have interspersed them, the vibrant, beating heart of a town.  This transformation of public space will need to be well managed and those responsible for planning and commissioning need to be strategic in their response and sure footed in what will be a fluid environment full of  opportunity to those alert to new technologies and changing consumer needs and behaviours.

A crucial part of seeing growth rather than decline in the high street will be an innovative approach to building community and consumer commitment in the centre of our towns.  With the high street moving   ‘Beyond Retail’,  high streets will have to develop new strategies and new 'branding' methods to enhance social interaction, develop new narratives connecting community history with cultural  and commercial opportunity, whilst  thinking hard about how services old and new can be announced to and efficiently accessed by residents, visitors and an increasingly diverse local population.  There is an unprecedented opportunity to dust down forgotten treasures, establish some new narratives around community identities and build foot-fall beyond the traditional confines of fresh fruit and vegetables. 

This is where there is a wonderful opportunity for local councils, town centre managers and local businesses to employ the services of film makers and story tellers with dvd, apps, and pod casts.   This is what is so exciting about the work which we are part of at Ibixproductions assisting the imaginative repositioning of the high street and a town’s unique take on its history and future possibilities. Whether it be helping towns think through how they can develop commercial potential through the Arts, with festivals,  dance, music, history, sculpture, or increased public access to forgotten legacies, our work at Ibixproductions is never short of challenge but always full of a wonderful sense of community pride when the work is done and the people come.

The work of rebuilding the high street is a genuinely public task.   At IbixProductions we are privileged to be at the creative end of delivering the stuff of dreams and turning them into reality.  Our film making is steeped with local reality, talent and an appreciation of the rich legacy of the community in people, building and stories.  See some of the work which we have already undertaken in this area on www.ibixproductions.co.uk.  It is the imaginative space which is built for people to celebrate their high street and their town as a vital, dynamic place – which is every bit as important as the bricks and mortar but so often neglected.  It is the stories which we tell ourselves which encourage us to be  proud to call our town home, a place where we are delighted to spend our time and pleased to build enduring supportive relationships.  It is this space which is an essential component of a thriving town and a vibrant high street, and which is a real privilege to be part of building.  

Highlighting the High Street

A couple of years ago Mary Portas published her review of Britain's High Streets commissioned by the Department of Business and Innovation. In it she noted

“Our high streets can be lively, dynamic, exciting and social places that give a sense of belonging and trust to a community. Something which, as the (August 2011) riots clearly demonstrated, has been eroded and in some instances eradicated.

“I fundamentally believe that once we invest in and create social capital in the heart of our communities, the economic capital will follow.”

In the midst of the seasonal rush to High Streets up and down the country, what is the evidence of the  improved 'social capital' creation  which MP called for, and which the Government placed budgetary assistance behind with a number of small towns bidding across the country to access.

Mary Portas' Top tips for development

Some of h Mary's top tips for development included:

1. Putting in place a "Town Team": a visionary, strategic and strong operational management team for high streets
2. Empowering successful Business Improvement Districts to take on more responsibilities and powers and become "Super-BIDs"
3. Creating 'The New Local'

Not as simple as it sounds.  As MP herself pointed out, you can’t just make 'a couple of small changes and then sit back.' Everybody needs to seize the opportunity for transformation and work together to create the future rejuvenated high streets local people, businesses and government want to see.

' High streets should be seen as a civic not a private space. A shared resource in which people come together to create value and share experiences.'

         The Portas Review  

Starting the Bigger conversation

The Portas review reminded local councils, retailers, BID groups across the UK to start a conversation about what was needed and what local people are now looking for in their high streets - in retail opportunity, social engagement, leisure and refreshment, information hub and a focus of local identity and pride.

If we are going to be able to put the 'heart back into our high streets, inspire that connection between local people and their home town, and instil pride in belonging to a unique place' as Portas called for then the conversation needs to be broad and wide ranging.  Communities frequently require aspirational assistance, to not only envisage what their high street might be in the future, but the nuggets of gold which are present within it at present.

 

Engaging your community with your vision for change

And that is where Ibix Productions has been drawn into work most recently with Royston Bid first company, to develop a positive story of the high street leisure offer, in particular the offer available to local people in their night time economy.  This focussed our narrative to include the diverse ways for people to enjoy relaxing in Royston, including a short promotional film which contextualised the 'High Street' and its 'food, drink and leisure offer'.

With footage culled from the rolling heathland of the Gallops where King James 1st once rode out to hound and hare, to the folk club and live music scene of the town situated in rooms abutting a sixteenth century public house, the narrative of a market town with a proud history and a wonderful range of eateries, public houses and entertainment spaces was told.  With names redolent of its agricultural trading centre past, the ' Old Bull', 'Boar's Head' 'Chequers', 'Green Man', 'White Bear' all having their stories to tell.  All evoking  centuries of civic engagement, food markets, business dealing, and today centres for  hospitality, relaxation, private networking and social enterprise.
 

Take the Plunge and build the vision

Take a look at what we have done in conjunction with the Royston Bid First team - and see if it isn't something your town might usefully undertake as part of its envisaging of the future.  As the great Dame of the High Street put it

High Streets up and down the country are not just about retail but are  'multifunctional and social places' offering  'a clear and compelling purpose and experience that’s not available elsewhere'. (Portas Review 2011)

In  other words your High Street in your town is quite unique - here's to getting your unique contribution into a compelling vision through Film - be in touch!  
 
If you want to read more about Mary Portas' vision for the High Street see here.
If you want to find out more about the IbixProductions team see here