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New High Street Blog 1 PDF Print E-mail
With all the negative stories going around about the High Street I want to  start by being positive. Firstly our High Streets are an incredible asset. Any trip to other non European first world countries (I have jut returned from South Africa) will show how relatively heartless and uninspiring their ‘High Streets’ are. Secondly the High Street has always transformed itself to cater for the needs of each generation.5 years ago the main criticism on the High Street was that they all look the same or more accurately the retail choice was very similar. We now have the opportunity to correct this.100 years ago the High Street was the main meeting place for the local community. Can we recreate this?The aim of this blog is to share my ideas and hopefully generate more ideas for the High Street. I am not in a position to offer a critique of the High Street and nor do I have vast retail experience to help existing retailers but I hope my experience will offer a new angle.Firstly a quick resume. I trained as an artist, spent 7 years working in exhibitions and conferences organising events and then 4 years working on event branding before setting up City Dressing as a new disclipline looking at temporary branding in city and town centres. City Dressing existed for 5 years in a major London agency working with both the public and private sector before going completely independent last year. The company is credited with a number of initiatives from sponsored lamp column banners to the virtual shop graphic and is presently instrumental in setting up the POP UP partnership to help encourage new retail and new uses for empty shops, voids and spaces. This background leads me to consider city centres and brands competing for customers and city centre assets as media assets. This approach can help open up new uses for these assets as well as new revenue streams. It is also important in breaking down barriers between users of assets and the public and private sector.The aim of any initiative is two fold to increase commerce and to increase footfall, both are mutually exclusive.
 
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