Insight Report: #BRANDLONDON

INTRODUCTION

THE WORLD’S MOST VISITED CITY, LONDON HAS IN RECENT YEARS ENJOYED STELLAR SUCCESS THAT IS NOW COMPROMISED BY AN UNREGULATED FOCUS ON WEALTH

DISCONNECTED FROM THE CAPITAL’S RICH CULTURAL IDENTITY, THIS THREATENS TO UNDERMINE ITS BROADER ECONOMIES

INSIGHT REPORT: #BRANDLONDON

VOLUME ONE | OCTOBER 2015

PART OF THE EVOLVE GROUP

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 3

A WORLD SHAPED BY CHARISMATIC SUPERCITIES 4

WHAT MAKES A 21ST-CENTURY CITY SUPERBRAND? 4

UNIQUE ASSETS – WORLD-LEADING DIVERSITY AND A PROFUSION OF CULTURAL NARRATIVES 6 - 7

SOFT POWER, STRATEGY AND SYNERGY – THE NEW RISE OF A VETERAN HIGH-ACHIEVER 8

CONNECTIONS AS CATALYSTS FOR GROWTH ACROSS SECTORS 9 - 10

A STYLISTIC PALETTE THAT SPEAKS TO THE WORLD 11 - 12 A WEALTH OF HERITAGE ANCIENT AND MODERN – SO WHICH WAY NOW? 13 - 14

HOW TO JOIN UP SOLUTIONS IN AN EVER MORE STRATIFIED CITY? 15

INNOVATIVE RESPONSES TO THE GLOBAL PROBLEMS OF OUR TIME 16 - 17

LOOKING OVER THE EDGE - LONDON’S LATEST CULTURAL CHALLENGE 18

CITY-TO-CITY NETWORKS - A TRANSFORMATIVE 21ST-CENTURY TOOL 19 - 20

PEOPLE 21

PLACES 22

IDEAS 23

CREDITS 24

CONTACT DETAILS 25

By Rupert Mellor, Head of Publishing, creative.union

Formerly the award-winning editor of The Times’ culture and youth sections metro and meg@, Rupert Mellor has since contributed freelance commissions tonewspapers including Financial Times, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Wall StreetJournal (Europe) and Sydney Morning Herald and magazines around the world. Inparallel roles as communications consultant and copy writer, he has collaboratedwith creative.union over more than 15 years and worked with clients includingLloyds TSB, Laing O’Rourke, Orange, Greenpeace and Arts Council England.

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WITH WORLD CITIES WIELDING MORE PEOPLE, INFLUENCE, WEALTH, CULTURE AND PRODUCTIVITY THAN EVER BEFORE, DOES THE UK’S CAPITAL HAVE THE STRENGTHS, SMARTS AND CONNECTIONS IT NEEDS TO BUILD ON ITS DAZZLING RECENT RECORD?

INTRODUCTION

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Is it an ecosystem? An endlessly complex machine? When the progressive theoretical physicists Luis Bettencourt and Geoffrey West of New Mexico’s Santa Fe Institute set out to define the dynamics of a city in 2013, the analogy a slew of data sets led them to was that of a star, or sun. Sharing the scientists’ conclusions at July’s New Cities Summit in Jakarta, Greg Lindsay, Senior Fellow of the New Cities Foundation further explained, ‘[Cities] are what [Bettencourt] called social reactors… where we take social networks and condense them in space and time, and something magical happens. We see massive profusions in growth… jobs created… development happening’

For the first time, more of the world’s population now lives in cities than rural areas, and the power and influence of the city, whose essence Bettencourt and West characterised as less an agglomeration of people than an agglomeration of connections between people, have never been greater.

Above this new landscape towers an elite stratum of supercities, global hubs which magnetise talent, investment and visitors, and produce the planet’s highest and most progressive concentrations of services, products, policy, culture and profit.

A WORLD SHAPED BY CHARISMATIC SUPERCITIES

A WORLD SHAPED BY CHARISMATIC SUPERCITIES

For the first time more of the world’s population now lives in cities than rural areas

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‘I’ve not seen any listing in a very long time that doesn’t have London and New York fighting it out for the top slot,’ says Jonn Elledge, Editor of New Statesman’s urban policy website CityMetric of the world’s supercity rankings. ‘Everywhere else’ – regular rivals include Shanghai, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Singapore and sometimes Melbourne and Sao Paolo – ‘is quite far behind.

‘Economic and political clout and location are all key, but soft-power factors like our cultural institutions, global media like the BBC, The Guardian and Mail Online, universities and research facilities also contribute, and in leading cities the coexistence of all of these produces a network effect that adds up to a certain “world city” status.’

Right now London is enjoying an extraordinarily golden moment. With the 2012 Olympic Games crowning

meteoric rises in the sectors of culture – Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum refers in his paper Studio of the World: London as a Design Centre for the journal London Essays to the city as an ‘early warning station for creativity’– education, gastronomy, the third sector and, 2008’s global financial crisis notwithstanding, business, the UK capital is riding a palpable wave of confidence and high achievement.

In 2013, London topped the Anholt-GFK Roper City Brand Index, since its introduction in 2006 the definitive evaluation, via a global survey, of cities’ images and reputations.

WHAT MAKES A 21ST-CENTURY CITY SUPERBRAND?

WHAT MAKES A 21ST-CENTURY CITY SUPERBRAND?

‘ I’ve not seen any listing in a very long time that doesn’t have London and New York fighting it out for the top slot’

JONN ELLEDGE, EDITOR, CITYMETRIC

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It’s a city whose possibilities play out against a rich tapestry of narratives. An ever-unfolding clash of history with modernity, a restlessly inventive creative frontier and a crucible for political and artistic progress, London is also the most highly functioning large-scale multicultural community on Earth, as evidenced by the 300 languages spoken within its sprawling borders. Its traditions of freedom, tolerance and equality continue to be updated on the city’s canvas, with Marc Quinn’s fourth plinth sculpture of 2005, Alison Lapper, and 2012’s unprecedented celebration of the Paralympics two examples of a trailblazing dialogue around perceptions of disability.

UNIQUE ASSETS – WORLDLEADING DIVERSITY AND A PROFUSION OF CULTURAL NARRATIVES

UNIQUE ASSETS – WORLD-LEADING DIVERSITY AND A PROFUSION OF CULTURAL NARRATIVES

‘It’s a place of great opportunity,’ says James Drury, Editor in Chief of the website Londonist. ‘People have been drawn here for hundreds of years, because London’s very welcoming to different lifestyles and ideas. So whether you want to create new art, or start up a business, or try a different haircut, London’s pretty cool with that.’ Elledge, meanwhile, is among the many commentators who note that the UK’s broader political climate today has, particularly with regard to arguments around immigration, ‘pulled us away from that openness to a certain extent’.

Culturally, London blends classical riches with a resolute irreverence, a rock’n’roll edge that continuously refreshes its offer with an alluring unpredictability. In a 2011 survey of overseas visitors, 78 per cent cited museums and galleries as one of their primary reasons for making the trip.

300 DIFFERENTLANGUAGES SPOKEN

78 PER CENT OF OVERSEAS VISITORS CITED MUSEUMS AS A KEY DRAW

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UNIQUE ASSETS – WORLD-LEADING DIVERSITY AND A PROFUSION OF CULTURAL NARRATIVES

‘London’s very welcoming to different lifestyles and ideas’JAMES DRURY, EDITOR IN CHIEF, LONDONIST

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The world’s most visited city for five of the last seven years, London can trace its current upsurge back more or less to New Labour’s coining of ‘Cool Britannia’ in 1997. The inauguration of the city’s mayoralty in 2000 marked a quantum leap for the city’s cohesion and current mayor Boris Johnson’s convening, four years ahead of the Olympics, of 30 advisers from diverse businesses to help shape a new city brand a further gear shift.

One of this move’s most significant outcomes was the formation of London & Partners, the city’s first official single promotional company, and an amalgamation of the former agencies Think London, Study London and Visit London into a unified department, whose work on the 2012 Olympics showed London in a new light, and which wasted no time parlaying the associated gains into highly visible legacy assets.

SOFT POWER, STRATEGY AND SYNERGY – THE NEW RISE OF A VETERAN HIGH-ACHIEVER

‘While some of our peers in newer cities like Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Singapore have budgets of tens of millions and dedicated venues to play with, our approach is to work closely with selected projects that animate a bigger story,’ says Iain Edmondson, London & Partners’ Head of Major Events. ‘Events need a certain scale to say “London”, and the cycling event Ride London, which started in 2013 has been my biggest collaborative project to date, to bring together the closing of 100 miles of roads, working with Surrey County Council, public spaces like the National Trust at Box Hill and thousands of volunteers to deliver an event that lets tens of thousands of cyclists experience London in an exciting new way, and show the world another side of the city.

SOFT POWER, STRATEGY AND SYNERGY – THE NEW RISE OF A VETERAN HIGH-ACHIEVER

‘ Events need a certain scale to say “London” ’ IAIN EDMONDSON, LONDON & PARTNERS

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CONNECTIONS AS CATALYSTS FOR GROWTH ACROSS SECTORS


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‘But the connections that make great things happen aren’t always that immediately visible,’ he continues, after making tantalising mention of a new, large-scale festival of light that may soon join the city’s events calendar. ‘The NFL American football games that Wembley Stadium hosts three times a year may not be the biggest deal in the world for, say, tourism, when we have 19 million international visitors across the 365 days of the year. But owners of NFL teams are now interested in spending their money internationally, and Shahid Khan, who owns the Jacksonville Jaguars has been mooted as a potential buyer of Tottenham Hotspur FC. And that club is looking to invest in a new stadium. So that could catalyse a major regeneration opportunity for a whole area of London that was badly affected by the 2011 riots.’

Joined-up thinking is clearly now on London’s agenda. Projects involving Transport for London showcase some shining examples, with master designer Thomas Heatherwick’s reinvention of the iconic Routemaster bus an instant (if functionally not untroubled) hit with the passengers who clamber daily inside its cute curves. And the smart, modern stations and carriages of the ‘Ginger Line’, London Overground’s recent network extension, offer a rare oasis of considered restraint among the garishly clashing liveries London train passengers have learned to expect at

the hands of a throng of competing private providers, while its slick connection of once obscure London neighbourhoods fuels anticipation of Crossrail’s transformative potential. Smoothing the daily contact untold thousands of Londoners and visitors have with the workings of the city, such canny and handsome connections of design, function, and proudly loved tradition could upgrade the broader transport system too. And with Jeremy Corbyn’s re-nationalisation proposals allowing us all to think the of-late unthinkable about rail networks once more, is the time ripe for a new discussion about the aesthetics of shared infrastructure?

Imminent, massive-scale London regeneration projects whose opportunities will span broad ranges of sectors include HS2 which will remake Euston station and its surroundings, and Old Oak Common, the Crossrail hub south of Willesden Junction, which is expected to create between 50,000 and 90,000 jobs. Further afield, urban development has never been so expansive. Former Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts asserted on a 2013 visit to Mumbai with Prime Minister David Cameron that ‘London is the world’s greatest centre for the master planning of cities and industrial zones, with expertise in transport systems, structural engineering and architecture.’ With experts predicting that brand-new municipalities will double the world’s tally of cities by 2060, it’s a claim London-based engineers, planners and city makers of all kinds would do well to be ready to substantiate.


‘ London is the world’s greatest centre for the master planning of cities and industrial zones’ DAVID WILLETTS,FORMER MINISTER FOR UNIVERSITIES AND SCIENCE

Joined-up thinking is clearly now on London’s agenda

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Free to visit since 2001, the city’s national museums make up the heart of a rich and ever-expanding spectrum of established institutions and temporary ventures that both keep London’s historic cultural wealth alive and breathe unprecedented life into arts and expression, both among locals and visitors. The Victoria and Albert, the world’s first design museum, has become a beacon of how such generosity drives payback, with physical and online shops doing excellent business, and successive paid-for special exhibits breaking all attendance records. Central London filming restrictions relaxed in the

A STYLISTIC PALETTE THAT SPEAKS TO THE WORLD


Noughties, plus generous tax breaks since for filmmakers have harnessed the power of cinema to dual effect, both capturing inward investment and immortalising the capital’s cityscapes for new global generations of moviegoers – and potential visitors. Breaks for video games developers have also brought rude health to that sector, making the UK’s Europe’s biggest games industry.

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London’s styles and stories also provide a springboard for a broad portfolio of commercial brands. In fashion, Rimmel’s ‘London Look’ campaigns leverage the dangerous glamour exuded by the city’s fabled rock’n’roll It girls, calling in Kate Moss and Georgia May Jagger for their artfully insouciant close-ups.

Burberry meanwhile retargets traditional tailoring quality – while coolly signalling it hangs with junior Beckhams, offspring of Sting and the UK’s most sought after models and movie stars – and with stores in more than 50 countries is one of a brace of luxury labels which have defied the recession to do booming business all over the world in recent years. Paul Smith’s Savile-Row-goes-Pop boutiques meanwhile revitalise old-school Anglo-Saxon sartorialism, and the incomparable high priestess of London-lensed mischievousness Vivienne Westwood continues to collide the capital’s courtly traditions with mud-splattered paganism, and refinement with randy rawness in her unmistakably Albionesque creations.

A time-honoured London pastime, tippling also reveals some city-specific trends. Beefeater Gin, for decades hingeing on images of the Tower of London’s scarlet-skirted sentinels, recently invited their customers to submit images showing their take on the city’s life to form new branding in its ‘My London’ campaign, while new artisan spirits brands such as City of London Distillery evoke venerable guilds associations, in East London Liquor Company’s case opening a handsome stripped brick, beaten-copper trimmed bar and shop to hammer home its craftsmanlike authenticity. Fuller’s brewery meanwhile, taps into honest-to-goodness pint-supping conviviality the way London taverns have always served it, still based in the company’s handsome brown-brick Chiswick building that dates back to 1828.

Rimmel’s ‘London Look’ campaigns leverage the dangerous glamour exuded by the city’s fabled rock’n’roll It girls

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For London there is much, then, to play for, and the city may be as much under threat from some of its apparent runaway successes – statement modern architecture, services for the super-rich – as from its obvious weaknesses – inequality, insufficient housing, spatial segregation. Even stars fade and die, and those steering London’s brand have some high-stakes decisions to make about its next steps. Keen strategy and smart collaborations look indispensible if London’s advantages are to be maintained and built upon.

The built environment, changing in London at an unprecedented pace, is rife with challenges. With more than 230 high-rise buildings due to go up in the coming years,

thrilled gasps at the once singular additions of landmark towers such as the Lloyd’s Building and the Gherkin are increasingly changing to panicked gulps as London’s historic skyline seems to begin to disappear beneath a forest of prestige but geographically

non-specific projects by starchitects from all over the world. (An instructive contrast can be seen in the work of the similarly illustrious late couturier Alexander McQueen, whose world-conquering success never diluted the authentic London and British contexts stitched into his masterful designs.)

A WEALTH OF HERITAGE ANCIENT AND MODERN – SO WHICH WAY NOW?


‘London’s historic skyline seems to begin to disappear’

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They seem an expression, too of the inequality – the most pronounced, says cultural commentator Ekow Eshun, in 200 years – that has become an offence to more and more ‘ordinary’ Londoners. And while in rare cases they may be obliged to lurk behind a tokenistic facadectomy – a historic shell preserved by law or public feeling – anonymous, anodyne new apartment blocks threaten to make all but the most celebrated London streetscapes uniformly coherence-free.

‘Then there’s the “blandification” of the high street, ‘says Drury. ‘This seems to represent the triumph of multinationals or large developers over smaller independent businesses, because they have the financial clout to just drop another Costa, estate agent or Tesco Metro. I think it’s time councils were more assertive about what should be allowed. I’m really quite heartened at the moment by seeing some of them now using planning regulations to restrict certain types of businesses from ending up in their high streets. So Southwark is now not allowing any more gambling shops and

pawnbrokers to open for example, and Wandsworth is protecting 121 of its pubs to try and prevent them from being turned into yet more flats.

‘To my mind housing is the biggest problem there is in London. I’ll be interested to see the outcome of New London Architecture’s current competition project which is seeking creative solutions to it and will exhibit shortlisted entries in The Building Centre in Bloomsbury later this year. I wonder if there is an opportunity for housing associations and councils or other organisations to take more of a positive and forward-thinking role together, to come up with more innovative solutions to where people are going to live.’

‘ Then there’s the “blandification” of the high street’ JAMES DRURY, EDITOR IN CHIEF, LONDONIST

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It’s not hard to argue that brand London has until now been business-driven to a degree which is no longer appropriate to the realities of life in the city for the many. Notable recent moves to project London’s identity through its day-to-day residents – unforgettably in the form of the Olympics’ 70,000 ‘Games Maker’ volunteers – showed how powerfully this approach can connect the city with both its residents and audiences across the country and world. These might well be looked to for inspiration, as more and more Londoners tire of the increasingly encroaching symbols of the elites that – untouchably – share the city with them. Manifestations such as Kensington and Knightsbridge’s ‘ghost mansions’ – colossally expensive addresses, even whole streets largely deserted by their globe-trotting international owners – and ubiquitously soaring house prices and rents more and more are points of friction.

With physical and mental space so crowded, answers have to lie in collaborative solutions. London’s professionals are getting better at mingling and co-working within their respective disciplines, says Drury, ‘but rare would be the networking event where a psychiatrist might meet a web developer.’ Or indeed urban planner and sports consultant, or retailer and theatre director, or landscape designer and video artist, or programmer and landlord…

N1’s newest landmark The Francis Crick Institute promises to champion multidisciplinary collaboration between biologists, chemists, physicists, engineers, computer scientists and mathematicians. And London would be well-served if this silo-swerving spirit were to infect the whole city. Its challenges increasingly need sustainable, joined-up responses that unite industry sectors, audiences, service providers and sponsors.

HOW TO JOIN UP SOLUTIONS IN AN EVER MORE STRATIFIED CITY?

HOW TO JOIN UP SOLUTIONS IN AN EVER MORE STRATIFIED CITY?

With physical and mental space so crowded, answers have to lie in collaborative solutions

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It’s happening elsewhere. In Curitiba, Brazil, then-Mayor Jaime Lerner led the development in 1974 of the revolutionary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, a highly efficient network of ‘metronized’ buses using bus-only lanes that simultaneously eased chronic mobility issues and boosted the city’s sustainability agenda. 23 years on, similar systems are in place in 84 cities, and its adaptation in the Colombian capital Bogotá has also addressed unemployment by guaranteeing tens of thousands of residents timely passage across the city. (‘In terms of transport,’ Bogotá’s former Mayor Enrique Peñalosa has said, ‘an advanced city is not one

where even the poor use cars, but rather one where even the rich use public transport.’) Other sector-straddling solutions the visionary city leader oversaw were schemes

that rewarded bags of trash with bags of groceries, and a parkland grass-trimming service delivered by sheep. Another opportunity in his sights has been finding ways for office buildings to become multi-use – ‘if we want to have a sustainable world… you cannot have empty places during 18 hours a day.’

INNOVATIVE RESPONSES TO THE GLOBAL PROBLEMS OF OUR TIME


Curitiba’s Bus Rapid Transit system is now in place in 84 cities

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The kind of voracious development that has characterised the London property market in recent years has inspired collaborative solutions to the associated problem of displacing promising start-ups and creative-industry studios in Sydney and Paris. And with London’s creative industries growing at three times the rate of the economy generally, it’s a problem that richly deserves a solution. ‘London is going to lose 30 per cent of its affordable work and maker space in the next five years,’ says Matthieu Prin, Researcher for creative economy specialists BOP Consulting. ‘So this is a big problem. But it’s happening in many very expensive cities. In Sydney,

‘ London is going to lose 30 per cent of its affordable work and maker space in the next five years...’MATTHIEU PRIN, RESEARCHER, BOP CONSULTING

the city is working with a Shanghai-based developer on a project called the Greenland Centre which will provide space in the centre of town for creative professionals focused on delivering Sydney-specific products and services.’ Prin also refers to a current project in Paris, whose centre long ago lost the kind of informal cultural life that is so hard to replace. The city council there is now collaborating with creative industries to support a new network of ‘Fabriques de la Culture’, affordable workspaces that will introduce artists and makers to new local audiences and help regenerate their neighbourhoods.

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‘In London there is a similar problem with the loss of live music venues,’ continues Prin, who project-manages BOP’s World Cities Culture Forum, a global knowledge-sharing network of cities who want to artistically and economically empower culture in their respective locations. ‘London has always been very strong in alternative and underground culture. Known as the birthplace of punk and the home of the rave movement, it has a cool, edgy informal scene that is famous around the world. And that seems to us to be under threat because of the way the city is developing. City Hall is becoming more in tune with this issue, and we have seen some new developments which are encouraging – for the first time, a new kind of lease agreement has been introduced. Tenants moving into the

new residential buildings next to the Ministry of Sound nightclub in Elephant and Castle must agree to clauses that mean they are not allowed to complain about the noise from the club.

‘But more broadly, we are concerned that London may lose its edge. The World Cities Culture Forum annual summit will take place in London later this year, and this is one of the main issues we will debate, because it’s a problem for all of the cities we work with worldwide. And it’s complicated. You can do deals with developers to guarantee a certain amount of artists’ studios, or a cultural venue, but that doesn’t necessarily lead to an exciting or culturally conducive environment. You want to make sure your city doesn’t become sterile, like a city-sized Canary Wharf.’

LOOKING OVER THE EDGE – LONDON’S LATEST CULTURAL CHALLENGE

LOOKING OVER THE EDGE - LONDON’S LATEST CULTURAL CHALLENGE

‘ You want to make sure your city doesn’t become sterile, like a city-sized Canary Wharf’MATTHIEU PRIN, RESEARCHER, BOP CONSULTING

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The great news is, the World Cities Culture Forum is just one of many global networks dedicated to city-to-city collaborations that address the common challenges of our unprecedentedly urbanised age, making more and more examples of innovative partnership accessible to planners, policymakers, business and thought leaders every year. ‘These kind of exchanges started about 15 years ago,’ says Prin. ‘An organisation called United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) led the way, and the C40 environmental group has been very effective.’ (Working independently of their countries’ sustainability agendas, the group is on target to reduce their members CO2 emissions by 248 million tons by 2020.) ‘What is great about these forums is that they can sidestep all the diplomatic sensitivities that operate at a national governmental level and get on with

CITY-TO-CITY NETWORKS – A TRANSFORMATIVE 21ST-CENTURY TOOL

CITY-TO-CITY NETWORKS - A TRANSFORMATIVE 21ST-CENTURY TOOL

cooperating. Last year, for example, we worked with Moscow, which was a mutually informative and helpful interaction with real benefits for many citizens, while that kind of policy exchange at a national level between the UK and Russia would currently be impossible.’

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If Mayors Ruled the World, and this October his cherished half-fantasy of a Global Parliament of Mayors becomes a reality, convening for the first time, and welcoming leaders from some 120 cities worldwide to Bristol, but first of all to London.

‘From a City Hall perspective,’ says Mike Clewley, Cultural Tourism Officer for the Greater London Authority, ‘we have seen time and time again that when you put creative thinkers together and give them opportunities to collaborate, everyone can win. For us it’s about nurturing those relationships, and ensuring that that reflects on our city’s brand, that London is a place that brings great people together and makes great things happen. I keep in mind an old African proverb which says, “If you want to travel quickly, travel alone. But if you want to travel far, travel together.”’

Citymart’s global procurement model, ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, New Cities Foundation, Bloomberg’s Mayors Challenge and What Works Cities initiatives are all players in this burgeoning new area which has been described as ‘networked glocalism’. And more are flocking to the table.

American political theorist Benjamin Barber has long been proposing the thesis that, given cities’ new power and prominence, it is now mayors rather than presidents and prime ministers who are best-positioned to solve the world’s most pressing problems, together. Unbound by the diplomatic caveats of sovereign states whose political systems were largely designed centuries ago, used to putting ideology aside and being held to account by their constituents as pragmatic problem-solvers, they operate within highly participatory living models which must realise democratic action every day. While national leaders rarely reach 50 per cent in trust ratings, mayors – those women and men who are visible to their citizens, and are swiftly out of a job if they don’t solve civic problems – regularly score approval figures of 75 or even 80 per cent. It’s an idea Barber explains in his 2013 book

CITY-TO-CITY NETWORKS - A TRANSFORMATIVE 21ST-CENTURY TOOL

‘ We have seen time and time again that when you put creative thinkers together and give them opportunities to collaborate, everyone can win’ MIKE CLEWLEY, CULTURAL TOURISM OFFICER, GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY

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bluemarlinbd.com

Lisa McWilliam, General Manager of brand design agency Blue Marlin and self-described ‘global seeker’, looks forward to co-created urban development.

‘For me, London’s most exciting quality right now is the freedom entrepreneurs are feeling to experiment. In terms of pop-ups and food markets and quirky outdoor events, it’s not who you know or how much money you have behind you, but whether you have the courage and creativity to have a go. And the audiences are loving it and responding with really positive energy. That spirit is shaping the city in intriguing new ways, it’s like a huge test bed. Other cities do it, but London’s so multicultural that the pop-up platforms amplify all that intriguing diversity as nowhere else.

‘People have emotional relationships with cities whether as residents or visitors, just as they do their favourite brands, and I look forward to cities harnessing social media

as commercial companies have to put their own brands in people’s hands. Imagine linking Londoners’ adventurous, creative ideas via direct, live connections with governing bodies geared up to make the city and its services more responsive. And fun too, for example having people’s responses to the city digitally painting iconic London settings, or landmarks communicating with people through their phones.

At the same time people would connect with each other through their points of view and feelings about the city. London has a history of adapting to change, and recreating itself, and with the notable exception of the property sector, it’s becoming more and more democratic. Co-created urban development would be a great next step.’

PEOPLE

PEOPLE

‘ London’s most exciting quality right now is the freedom entrepreneurs are feeling to experiment’

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london.gov.uk/culture

Mike Clewley, the Greater London Authority’s Cultural Tourism Officer explains how the Airbnb effect is transforming experiences of London.

‘Of the millions of people who visit London every year, 90 per cent only make it to tourist attractions that are in the top 20 – the British Museum, Tate Modern, the London Eye… And for some time we at the GLA have wrestled with how best to encourage guests to explore beyond Zone 1. But online services and social media are now creating a shift. With more than 40 million guests served, Airbnb is a big part of this change. The concept really identified the desire rising numbers of travellers have for more authentic experiences of their destinations, and wanting to “live like a local”. Plus, when people research places ahead of their trips, they may now be guided by friends’ Instagram and Facebook pages as well as traditional tourism

information sources, so places one person stumbles upon by accident or finds through contact with Londoners may inspire others to visit.

‘Around 90 per cent of Airbnb guests say they are seeking local experiences, and the company works with around 9000 properties in London now. And about 70 per cent of these are outside the areas where most hotels are concentrated. So guests are staying in Leyton and Haringey and Acton and Brixton, in neighbourhoods rather than commercialised districts. If their hosts are live-in, they’re also very likely to ask them for recommendations, so suddenly there is tourist spend within those local economies. So now we’re looking at ways to help this kind of traveller connect with less-known landmarks and experiences as well as great local restaurants, bars and businesses.’

PLACES

‘Around 90 per cent of Airbnb guests say they are seeking local experiences’

PLACES

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Director of urban regeneration, placemaking and independent retail consultancy Mark London, Jenni Carbins talks flexible spaces that help young creative companies flourish.

‘Since the global financial crisis, the City has for me ceased to look like London’s future. It’s all about creative and tech companies. And it’s landlords and developers who are shaping the city, whichever ones have the foresight, vision and financial capacity to develop their own microbrands and micropositioning. Argent’s masterstroke at King’s Cross was to move in Central Saint Martins.

They’ll be making nothing from that, but it guarantees they will have these new, fresh, young, creative talents moving into the area every year. In perpetuity. Appear Here is another company I love, they connect landlords

and creatives, a little bit like an Airbnb of pop-up workspace. They’ve started doing destinations too, like Pop Brixton, and by working with Transport for London they have transformed Old Street Underground Station. About 150 tiny little microbusinesses got their start in there last year.

‘The zeitgeist today is all about flexibility. I do a lot of work with retail, and staying dynamic and ready to change is key to helping today’s small companies make their mark. And London’s make-up, its diverse connected villages are a great inspiration when it comes to creating new destinations. I’m working with Here East currently, the new incarnation of the London 2012 Press and Broadcast Centre. It’s a huge new home for all kinds of makers, and its mix of university and college departments, broadcast facilities, creative start-ups of all kinds of independent food, drink and retail businesses, all served by unrivalled tech support, is going to create some really unique dynamics.’

IDEAS

IDEAS

‘ Staying dynamic and ready to change is key’

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CREDITS

A BIG THANK YOU TO THE TALENTED PHOTOGRAPHERS FEATURED IN THIS INSIGHT REPORT

BRO. JEFFREY PIOQUINTO, SJ FLICKR : WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/90412460@N00/13190111314 4

ROBERTO ZAMPINOWWW.ROBERTOZAMPINOPHOTO.COM 12, 14, 17, 18 & 20

Published by creative.union and evolveagency ltd. Publication date 8th September 2015.

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creative.union is a pioneering strategic research and insight consultancy with a 20-year heritage in public engagement, events, publishing and cross-sector collaboration with clients spanning arts, creative industries and commerce. We would like to give special thanks to our new sister agency, Evolve for partnering with us to make our cross-sector events and insight publishing series possible.

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Insight Report: #BRANDLONDON

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