How much does Island mentality invade the High Street. By this I mean are we too inward looking and should we be looking for new occupants of the High Street from a wider range. After a couple of days in France it occurs to me that there is very little trade between UK High Streets and High Streets on the continent. The only exception is the French or European market but if these are a success is there something more that could excite people.

Blog 17.2.12

There has been a fair amount of coverage in the news on High Streets over the last couple of days. An interview this morning with the minister for housing on Radio 5 Live and another article on Radio 4. Both programs though painting quite a bleak picture concluded that a successful High Street in the future needs to embrace change, a sentiment shared by this Blog.

Understanding the customer is the first rule of business and this is often overlooked on the High Street. City Dressing has initiated a simple research tool by which an empty shop can display a variety of 4 potential units via our virtual shop graphics and the public can vote on what they prefer by pressing a button. The data generated will make it easier to attract the right shop and more customers.

Blog 3 

Place branding

You can compare the High Street to a large company in respect to branding. Whereas a company will spend 5-10% of its revenue on marketing and branding the High Street invests under 0.1%.The models of ownership are obviously very different on the High Street but this should not mean so little of the revenue generated is allocated to creating and maintaining a viable brand.In this context the High Street has to compete with large commercial brands, not only in the form of super markets but also shopping centres and retail centres.We live in a media world where our decision making is constantly challenged by advertising. All advertising has to compete with our perceptions and these perceptions are derived from our experience and more importantly the experience of others or word of mouth. For a long time the High Street has relied on this experience as traditionally this is where we shopped. These days are over as the connection no longer exists and there is more pressure from the internet and mobile internet. For this reason the High Street nationally as well as locally needs to develop a stronger brand. By brand I am not referring to a strapline or logo but a sense of place and a sense of what it can offer. It also needs to look after the experience people have when visiting the High Street. A good experience will lead to a lot more positive advertising via word of mouth than a similarly good experience in an out of town centre because we still have emotional ties to our High Street.So what is the experience? For a start it is real not manufactured. Similar to going for run outside or going to the Gym this is real life where as a shopping mall is artificial. Secondly it should be fulfilling socially as more than anyone else the High Street is where we meet. There are also many negative aspects to the High Street we need to manage from parking to run down properties but to attract the footfall back I advocate a strong brand based around positive experience.Next week the new retail or retail theatre and how this is affecting the High Street and our experience plus the importance of events.

Empty retail:

I have just returned from East Belfast where we a launching a new initiative that looks at the retail history of the area to recreate a vision of what the street might have looked like if all the original traders were still present. The aim is to demonstrate retail diversity give the street alot more colour and advocate a wider range of uses for the buildings.

 Next week I will talk about Place Branding and the High Street.

Transform your streets and public places with temporary branding solutions.

Create effective communication strategies using preexisting infrastructure.

Leverage off street furniture and lamp columns to create additional revenue for the city.

Under many names White Light, Light Night or Le Nuit Blanc, these festivals aim to celebrate the fantastic and bizarre after hours culture of our city. City Dressing can transform your City at night.

Studies of human behaviour demonstrate that humans respond to recognisable patterns. We are extremely adept to picking up logos and responding to clear branding. It is vital that City Dressing creates recognisable patterns across a city so all elements can be shown to be part of a whole.

Good design and use of an effective colour scheme are the keys, even across a range of different media.

Follow Edinburgh's example and employ 'Brand Communicators' to launch city centre activities and positively promote your brand. A Brand Communicator embodies everything that is positive about your city and sets to communicate this directly with the public.