This month, our team visited the augmented reality go-karting experience, Chaos Karts. The experience merges traditional go-karting with a projected and interactive environment—think of a Mario Kart-style game but in real life. For 20 minutes, we were all able to live out our fantasies of throwing fried eggs and other projectiles at each other without causing any lasting damage (except for a bruised ego or two).

Chaos Karts is the brainchild of Little Lion Entertainment, the company also behind the neighbouring Crystal Maze LIVE Experience. They have made a name for themselves by bringing different forms of nostalgic media to life in the ever-growing ‘immersive experience’ market. Over the last 10–15 years, this sector of the cultural industry has expanded beyond recognition, thanks to industry leaders such as Punchdrunk (The Drowned Man, The Burnt City), Secret Cinema (Back to the Future, Stranger Things), and Immersive Everywhere (The Great Gatsby, Peaky Blinders). However, this trend has been predominantly London-centric. Little Lion Entertainment has bucked this trend somewhat by using Manchester as a launchpad and permanent base for several of its projects.

Previously, immersive experiences in Manchester had been limited to short runs and experimental projects hosted by organisations such as Manchester International Festival (now Factory International). However, with the recent opening of the Museum of Illusions on Manchester’s Market Street and Little Lion Entertainment bringing another nostalgic IP to life this March with the Pac-Man Live Experience, it’s encouraging to see experience makers realising the potential that cities like Manchester can offer to this industry.

At CTConsults, we support our clients with digital transformation strategies, highlighting the benefits of adopting digital tools and practices to enhance the day-to-day running of cultural experiences. It’s exciting to see industry leaders like Little Lion Entertainment pushing the sector to embrace its own digital transformation—moving beyond popular but relatively passive experiences (Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience and David Hockney: Bigger & Closer) to more interactive and responsive experiences like Chaos Karts and Pac-Man.

Think ‘New Forest’, and you might think ponies, outdoorsy holidays in a National Park, or even the ancient practice of commoning. But you probably don’t think ‘cultural cluster’ or ‘creative hub’. But you’d be wrong. 

We’re working with partners in the New Forest to develop a cultural strategy, and we’re doing it a little differently than usual – there’s nothing common about the New Forest! Building upon our experience of mentoring the cultural sector in Blackpool to create their cultural strategy, we’re now doing something similar in the New Forest to help them define their shared values and ambitions for culture.  

The ‘usual’ process involves commissioning consultants. They research, engage, develop – and write – a cultural strategy and action plan with and for the cultural sector and the communities they serve. That can work well. But in the New Forest a more co-designed approach is needed. It might take a little more to build trust and confidence, agree on aims, develop a collective vision and tone of voice amongst diverse stakeholders. But the outcome will be cultural partners feeling true ownership of an authentic plan they can get behind. This is a great start for what comes next – delivery (the important bit, after all).

In Blackpool, we did just this; with a strategy development group comprising officers from the Council, the Grand Theatre, and Leftcoast. The writing group involved the BID, the College, House of Wingz and Aunty Social CIC. There were editors from Abingdon Studios, The Old Electric and Blackpool Social, and a wider steering group including Showtown, Blackpool Illuminations, the Winter Gardens and the Libraries Service. (Of course, we also consulted with plenty more organisations and individuals throughout.) This group committed hours, days, and weeks to this process. This was a big ask for freelance / non-salaried individuals, so we ensured that they were paid for their time. In Blackpool, we learnt that working in this way takes just as long (if not longer) and costs just as much (if not more) than the ‘usual’ method. But it was the right way for that cultural community to go.

So when the New Forest approached us about mentoring them, we were able to prepare them for the commitment they needed to make. Fortunately, they had secured the funds to pay for significant community consultation (conducted by the ever-lovely Chris Rolls of Collective Sense). They already have a well-established cultural network in Folio, and we had previously worked in the Solent region, so had a headstart on regional intel. 

Prior to beginning the writing process, we provided an ‘Insights and Evidence Report’: lots of data analysis and research to be the ‘quant’ to sit alongside Chris’ ‘qual’ work. Now there was a solid base to begin. And this week, Amy and Andrew have been ‘in residence’ at the extraordinary SPUD. It was great to work with the nominated strategy development team in situ, and with the wider Folio group, to determine their future ambitions. 

Given the context – and uncertainty – of devolution on the horizon, and how that will impact New Forest’s distinctive cultural identity, it’s vital that this sector uses this time to carefully map out the future it wants to see. A shared cultural strategy – written by the sector, for the sector – can protect it from the vulnerabilities of political decisions. Now that they have agreed on a shared direction, our job is to continue to provide objective, strategic perspective and oversight.  

The New Forest’s Rights of Commoners includes the right to common pasture and to collect wood for fuel. What if there was also a Right to Culture, to use cultural participation as fuel for inspiration and more? We’re excited by the opportunity to help frame the future of culture in this remarkable place, by protecting and sharing its unique heritage through creative experiences for residents and visitors alike. 

Honorary mentions: we loved the Monkey Brewhouse – top pies and pints from their micro-brewery! (A keg may have made its way back to the office with us.) The Forest Deli in Sway served us a delicious lunch. And Amy snuck to Coombe Stables for a (mounted) pony-spotting safari in the open forest. When in Rome.

We’ve been attending City Nation Place’s events for a number of years now – usually the UK conference, and this year the Global conference too.

After working closely with Martin Boisen to develop York’s place brand, we have been developing our place branding practice in the UK in collaboration with our urban design and place-making chums HemingwayDesign. We were originally inspired by the positive impacts place brands have had in many European cities through a shared values-based approach. No logo, no problem. No cute strapline, that’s fine. This was clearly about uncovering what a place actually stands for, believes in, and how that is distinctive from the next town over. We wanted to see more of that practice in the UK, so we took on the challenge. We look to create a place brand as a decision-making tool, enabling places to improve their programmes and planning through their shared values. We’ve seen how this creates a ‘positive feedback loop’, where over time a place demonstrably improves and shifts perceptions. The places we want to work with is judged by its actions, not its words – although this naturally follows.

Whilst this practice is pretty well embedded across Europe, in the UK we’ve found a mixed picture. Some clients want to do some nominal consultation and rush to marketing outputs. They might launch the place brand when it doesn’t need to be launched. Some lead agencies want true co-design but can’t quite let go of control to put power into the hands of their partners, stakeholders and communities. It’s a ‘first past the post’ mentality in a ‘proportional representation world’. As a nation of places we’re moving, but we can move more, and faster.

And we have some great clients who absolutely ‘get it’. FutureHumber is making waves with their many partners – and has already helped to secure £ms of government investment for the Humber region, just a few months after finalising their place brand. York continues to hold its nerve and say ‘yes’ to the ‘right’ investment, and is confident in saying ‘no’ where they don’t align with their values. Solent has worked hard to define its place ‘alliance’, and is finding more routes to build a growth partnership based on a shared vision.

Places are complex, fluid organisms. So, place branding is not easy, and it shouldn’t be – to develop, activate and maintain. But we still champion avoiding shortcuts when designing your place brand. That’s what provides longevity, sustainability and genuine impact, long after any (metaphorical or literal) ribbons have been cut.

We’re delighted to announce our partnership with City Nation Place, bringing our data-driven insights and culturally-led perspectives to a fantastic global place brand conversation. You’ll see us chipping in on their monthly provocations ‘Ask the Experts’, and a couple of articles on the website across the year. We look forward to listening, contributing, arguing and learning within this great CNP community.

Joining us from America, Rachel brings over 15 years of diverse experience in product marketing and attraction operations. With a strong background in leading product messaging strategies and user segmentation tactics, Rachel has effectively boosted user engagement and conversion rates. Her expertise extends to driving year-over-year growth and enhancing customer satisfaction in visitor attractions. Rachel’s unique combination of tech and visitor attraction experience enables her to seamlessly integrate innovative digital strategies with operational efficiencies, enhancing overall performance. Through strategic planning, collaboration, and a commitment to continuous improvement, Rachel consistently delivers impactful results across various industries.

Windermere

Meet Windermere, our Barketing Specialist. With over 5 years of experience and an ever-wagging tail, she excels at inspiring mid-day games of fetch and ensuring plenty of pets and cuddles. Windermere’s presence brings joy to our office and keeps us on our toes.

At CTConsults, we often discuss how to better integrate all the different elements of our practice – our place brand work, cultural strategy, digital transformation programmes and destination marketing. This month, our Culture Club helped our team see how all of these things fit together, and what impact that has on a place. 

Stockport has been on a cultural transformation journey for some time now. It’s even been hyperbolically hailed as ‘the new Berlin’ by some – but it is fair to say that Stockport is having its moment in the sun, and it’s all thanks to ‘the powers that be’ allowing and enabling cultural activity to lead the way – and it is refreshing to visit somewhere where creatives loudly applaud local politicians for their support. 

We started our trip at GRIT Studios, where the visionary John Macaulay (co-founder of GRIT alongside his wife Sophie) toured us around the building which had previously been derelict for a decade. Now it’s filled with over 20 creative practitioners (with over 120 more on the waiting list), who are making, selling, teaching, collaborating and community-building accompanied by the sounds of the neighbouring scrap yard and boxing gym. It’s not an especially salubrious part of town – but GRIT’s residents have been decorating the surrounding streets and working with local residents to do so. This creates ownership, improves safety, and improves place reputation. We saw how a former patch of overgrown land was cut back (revealing, amongst other things, a machete) and now is the location of a community allotment where locals are growing produce. GRIT’s resident mosaic artist Tracey Cartledge was preparing a piece that had been co-created with local primary school children. Elizabeth Nicholls has just won Stockport’s Young Volunteer of the Year for her work running art clubs with young people. 

The weekend prior, John and team had produced Stockport Paint Jam – a street art festival with 50 UK artists working together to turn streets of Stockport into an outdoor gallery, creating a ‘Cultural Corridor’ from the town centre to GRIT. This builds on ‘La Boca to La Stocka’, possibly the largest co-created mural in the UK. Five artists from La Boca in Argentina travelled to Stockport to work with 12 local artists and over 200 local residents. La Boca is famous for how its artists turned around its misfortunes through mural art, and Stockport has ambitions to do the same. The mural is a beautiful tribute to two cultures coming together with shared beliefs and values.

Finally, we ended up at Foodie Friday. This initiative has helped to revitalise the Market and Underbanks area, thanks to work by CTConsults’ associates Paprika Food Consultancy and Joe Barratt. We have often used Foodie Friday as a case study in our ‘place’ work, showing how local authorities can use cultural placemaking to boost the local economy. Now Stockport Old Town is home to a whole host of independent retail, hospitality and experiences – and of course we stayed for a few beers as well. 

So what’s next for Stockport? Well, for a start we want to look at how CTConsults and creativetourist.com can support the continued development of the town centre. How can Stockport retain authenticity in future regeneration programmes? How can it celebrate heritage and be a cultural tourism destination, continue to grow residency rates in the town centre, and avoid ‘gentrification’? These things take time – well over a decade, in the case of Stockport. But now our whole team understands why it is important and how it can be done well.

We’re looking forward to working with partners to support the next stage.

As Pride Month comes to a close and businesses and councils begin to remove their default rainbow backgrounds from their logos and the flags zigzagging through the streets, adding a tick in that inclusivity check box, it’s important to reflect on our approach to Pride. Is it still the powerful symbol of justice and equality it once was? An ode to the Stonewall uprising in the 80s? Or has it become just another static commodity in a marketing plan?

I grew up in Manchester City Centre, a place celebrated for its industrial heritage and renowned football clubs. However, Manchester also boasts a rich LGBTQIA+ community history, from underground bars to groundbreaking activism.

Growing up as bisexual in Manchester during the 2000s, I knew which language and behaviours to adopt depending on where I was and who I was with. There were only a few streets where the queer language was spoken, and you could act (as my nana might say) “out of sort.” Today, Manchester City Centre is home to dozens of cafes and bars proudly displaying the Pride flag year-round, representing a safe space where everyone, regardless of sexuality, can feel comfortable.

But how did we get here and how do we move forward with LGBTQIA+ representation? 

The 19th century laid the groundwork for Manchester’s LGBT scene, with closeted meeting places like the basement of the Temperance Hotel on Oxford Street providing sanctuary for those who dared to express their true selves. These spaces, shrouded in secrecy, became the birthplace of a community.

As the 20th century dawned, Manchester’s LGBTQIA+ community began to emerge from the shadows. Despite the infamous police raids of the 1950s and 1960s, resistance simmered beneath the surface. Venues like the New Union Pub on Canal Street and the drag ball culture of the 1960s offered glittering escapes from the harsh realities of discrimination. 

I could reel off numerous events in Manchester’s past which has built up this colourful history and brought together the community that stands today: The North West Homosexual Law Reform Committee founded by Allan Horsfall in the 60s; The University of Manchester’s ‘Manchester Gay Alliance’ founded in the 70s; Manchester City Council’s ‘Equal Opportunities Committee’ in the 80s and in 1985 the birth of Manchester Pride month. Whilst these are important to note for Manchester specifically, around the country each area has had its own story. 

There are plenty more examples across cities, towns and villages and it’s important to understand the stories and the battles the communities have faced to get to where we are today. Whilst these policies, groups and buildings are the backbone to the fundamental steps in equality, some of the biggest impacts to the LGBTQIA+ movement have been from the media. Queer as Folk, set in Manchester, was the first representation of the gay community as ordinary ‘folk’, people felt represented and understood. Since then its creator has gone on to produce ‘Cucumber’ and ‘It’s a Sin’, continuing that representation of the LGBTQIA+ community in the media. This new age media was highlighting not just the discrimination in society, the Aids epidemic of the 1980s, the camp or drag, they focused on the day to day lives of people working and socialising within society. Our offices on Stevenson Square are moments away from where these iconic shows were filmed.

Taking into account this rich and varied history – from reform acts to drag acts – the landscape that I saw growing up in the 90s and 2000s is now one which celebrates our diverse society. But there is much more to be done, and Pride month is not an investment opportunity for businesses. Pride month should be celebrating the daily, weekly, monthly investment businesses have put into supporting everybody regardless of identity, age or sexuality. A flag means nothing if the person waving it doesn’t understand its meaning. 

It is up to businesses individually to work with the LGBTQIA+ community inside and outside of their organisation to understand what they can do to be more inclusive. I, like many on our team at CTConsults, feel comfortable speaking about who I am and my experiences. That is something to be celebrated this month, along with the support we give to businesses in and around Manchester, owned by or for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, whether attending events or simply buying a coffee. Here are our team’s recommendations for LGBTQIA+ owned businesses in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, which we regularly support:

“I nominate QueerLit, which can now be found in Social Refuge on Great Ancoats Street. A brilliant selection of books (I recommend Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, set in Manchester) in a space which is a cafe by day and bar by night. They also run events such as free queer co-working on Fridays, book launches and board game nights.

Honourable mentions: Joy by Sophie for your aesthetic needs, and Holier Than Thou for the sharpest needles and shiniest jewellery – both offer gender affirming treatments.” Amy, Place Consultant

“My choice is Travelling Man – they host lots of inclusive events and have a focus on community!” Ryan, Digital Products Manager

“My nomination is Feel Good Club. LGBTQIA+ founded and run, with their venue providing a beautiful friendly environment for coffee, brunch, lunch, and drinks. By night they host events aimed to spread joy and positivity, with a weekly line up that includes everything from cabaret, spoken word, comedy and storytelling.” Cionna, Strategic Project Manager

And big shout out to Scott and everyone at Siphon, who keep us all caffeinated with their delicious coffee! 

“It all starts with the realisation that all encounters with [place] take place through perception.” 

Prof. Mihalis Kavartzis, “From City Marketing to City Branding”

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: places don’t need brands, places are brands. Your brand is the mental image that people hold about your place. That already exists – but place branding allows you to gain control over it.

How does that work when your ‘place’ is a huge region, with undefined borders, four local authorities crossing two counties, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, the UK’s busiest port complex and so much more…? This is the challenge Future Humber (the country’s oldest and biggest bondholders scheme) took on, wanting to redefine and reposition perceptions of the Humber region as a major driver of the UK economy and decarbonisation agenda. 

CTConsults worked with Hemingway Design and local partners Pace Communications to define Humber’s core values:

Revolutionary – embracing the spirit of the estuary: bold, dynamic and ever-evolving.

Resourceful – redefining what it means to be an ‘Industrial Powerhouse’: resourceful, reliable, radical, and working together for change.

Real – unapologetic industrialists and enthusiastic environmentalists: responsible, sincere and vital.

Remarkable – self-starting and standing as a beacon of industrial modernity: leading with a community-focussed, creative and can-do attitude. 

These four values combine to create Humber’s place brand filter, a practical tool against which strategic planning decisions across the region should be measured; be that a housing development, new business location, community programme or major event.

The values were launched at Humber Business Week to c.300 stakeholders, with some great film footage and a full toolkit. You can read more, watch the films and download the toolkit here:

https://www.futurehumber.com/humber-place-brand 

No one single person or organisation owns a place brand; it belongs to the place. We are now supporting Future Humber with their partners through the implementation of their place brand values, as they support stakeholders to adopt joined-up behaviours and decision-making processes. Now it’s time to take collective action to shift perceptions of Humber. 

As part of Volunteers’ Week, Sean Graham, our Digital Project Coordinator, reflects on recent experiences of using his skills to support his local community. 

Our offices are in the heart of Manchester city centre. A place where ‘Baby’ (the first electronic stored-program computer) was born, where Alan Turing developed the ‘Manchester mark 1’. Manchester has a close connection with the birth of Technology and continues to lead the way in the world of digital technology. More recently, the discovery of Graphene and its potential in revolutionary technology by the two researchers Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov who subsequently won the Nobel peace prize for their discovery. 

‘Baby’ is a far cry from the technology we use today. Digital technology now controls how everybody manages their day to day lives. But is it truly accessible to everybody?

I recently started volunteering at ‘PCrefurb’ a local charity in High Peak. It began as a volunteer group refurbishing donated IT equipment to give to people in need, and that work continues. With funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, they have recently been able to develop spaces where people can go for help with digital skills, from the basics of learning to use a device to setting up a website.

On the first day, I sat down to observe – sitting at the side of a couple that managed to log into their laptop on their 4th attempt. In conversation, they informed me that they only wanted to develop their digital knowledge so that they could create an email address, which they needed “to apply for anything these days… and maybe check the news and weather”. I sat with them for an hour whilst I tried to explain what Outlook was, what the ‘Start’ button was used for and what ‘Files’ were and so on. The language of digital was mostly foreign to them; ‘Accounts’, ‘Files’, ‘Emails’ – they vaguely understood bits of the conversation, but whether they retained any of the information and could go on to practise any of that knowledge was another thing. 

Coming away from that hour, I thought about two things; whether all systems could be suited to people of different digital maturities, and whether I could have explained it differently? 

Most of the people I interact with live on the same digital landscape and speak the same digital language, so prior to the session I had naively expected that everybody lives there too. A landscape where your name includes an ‘@datacollectingcompany.com’, your cash is immaterial and photos, videos and emojis are how we communicate. Going back to basics with a digitally adrift community, made me reassess the approach I took when introducing the world of digital to others.  

Businesses and governments are starting to look into the accessibility of digital technologies, whether that’s captions on images, audio on videos, voice control etc. Fáilte Ireland (Ireland’s tourism board) for instance has been working with tourism businesses to develop the accessibility of their websites (https://supports.failteireland.ie/courses/accessible-tourism/). What isn’t addressed to its full potential is the development of accessible hardware and software for those who don’t understand the terminology and usability of digital technologies. One solution suggested by my couple during that hour would be the ability to have tailor-made digital maturity settings, so that people could add to their software based on their needs and objectives for purchasing the piece of hardware. 

It is important to remember that not everyone is at the same level of understanding when it comes to digital technology, and how we communicate with people needs to be inclusive of age, language, different abilities etc. Businesses and companies are starting to do their bit to support business websites to be inclusive but more can be done. In order to move forward, maybe it would be worth stepping back.

Amy and Andrew have been spending time in Hartlepool, where the team are working on developing a place brand with our friends HemingwayDesign. 

Coming in as outsiders, it’s no real surprise to see the impact of Hartlepool’s decades-long struggle to respond to the loss of its shipbuilding industry – nor other familiar challenges such as high retail vacancy rates in the town centre contrasting with out of town retail parks, or anti-social behaviour. Like many places, Hartlepool definitely needs an injection of energy and resource.

What other places don’t have though, is a National Museum in its town centre (National Museum of the Royal Navy), a marina, two ports, a film studio, a prestigious art school, and a gallery which has recently secured a touring exhibition in partnership with The British Museum. How can these assets be joined up to present an image of Hartlepool of a rejuvenating town, led by creative industries as much as its port industries?

In Hartlepool, strategic funding from national government has been distributed amongst a wider array of projects than in most places. For example, meeting both conservation and accommodation deficits by renovating the Wesley Chapel into a boutique hotel, or buying all the units on a high street parade in a conservation area, ready to turn into a Film Production Village. These decisions have been difficult to communicate to the public – perceived as benefiting private developers more than the public. Multiple small projects are less sexy than one big signature project, and much harder to convey in an ‘elevator pitch’. And so, Hartlepool’s potential transformation is perceived as ‘lesser’ than the likes of nearby Stockton or Darlington, where big ticket projects are providing the ‘wow factor’, and easy headlines.

When viewed collectively however, Hartlepool’s regeneration programme can be truly transformational. The projects all have well-evidenced need and demonstrable impacts. They build upon existing strengths and assets in the town, rather than parachuting in an ill-fitting solution. They protect and find new futures for the town’s impressive built heritage. They will provide long-term, sustainable, commercial benefits for the town. Slow and steady wins the (Tall Ships) race. 

Speaking of tall ships and ‘wow factors’ – last year Hartlepool hosted the world-famous Tall Ships Race. For four days, the town was buzzing with magnificent spectacle which celebrated the town’s shipbuilding heritage and plugged into its creative future. A town of 88,000 population hosted another 330,000 visitors and generated over £12.5m for the local economy. 

“The joy of delivering something that was so phenomenally amazing for such a small town is something that will live with me for all of my days. It’s changed my life, and I don’t say that lightly.” Stakeholder comment

Place brand works best when the priority is not what is said about a place, but how it feels – to live, work and visit there. Our job now is to help Hartlepool inform strategic decision-making which builds its legacy; and align all stakeholders to the vision, and continue that ‘Tall Ships feeling’ of joy and pride all year round. 

#placebrand #culturalregeneration #hartlepool