Leeds City Council
"When we put the creative development of the Leeds City Region Development Plan out to tender the word "strategic" wasn't part of the brief. However, Rare brand strategists helped us see the long-term value we could - and did - build in to what began as a simple document presentation exercise."- Rob Norreys, Leeds City Council
The Client
Regional policy unit of Leeds City Council, acting on behalf of Leeds City Region.
The Challenge
Create a brand identity and document style for the Leeds City Region Development Plan and ensure the document was received with maximum impact by its high profile audience of central government and other stakeholders.
The Solution
City regions are part of a government initiative to regenerate the economies of Northern England, based on the premise that local economic activity falls within the region around major cities, transcending artificial council boundaries. Early in our strategic review it became clear that that a well presented document alone was insufficient to position the Leeds City Region as a dynamic, diverse and internationally competitive economy. The Rare brand team proposed the creation of a brand identity that would serve and unite the 11 constituent councils that comprise the city region. Speed, momentum, diversity, talent and vision would be key drivers of the identity.
The Creative
Using the headline "Eleven Partners, One Vision" Rare created a creative theme that placed people at the heart of the document's visual identity. For the brand identity we create a stylised logo that represented the graphical shape of the region coupled with the strap line "Intelligence driving growth". The brand utilised overlapping circles in a range of vibrant colours to create a bright, modern feel to evoke the essence of the city region. Coupled with a range of strong imagery, and a variety of typographical treatments, a high impact, quality document suite was created, and extended to display materials, websites and other activities.
The Results
The visual appeal of the document played its part in Leeds City Region being recognised as the region with the most potential to grow at a rate to rival any other major European city region and to it receiving the backing to become the first UK city region to form a formal partnership agreement between its council members. The region is now working on its first annual agenda.
