Nurturing community in Stratford
The brief
Project Aim: Encourage residents to re-engage with their local area (Stratford, London) following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buttercrumble was commissioned by Stratford Original BID, a funded Business Improvement District (BID). They work hard to make the local area a better place for business, to work, live and play. They are passionate about ensuring the town centre remains a welcoming place for everybody to enjoy. The BID achieves this by facilitating place-making initiatives like art installations, landscaping, and community campaigns.
Objectives:
Design a place-making strategy to resonate with residents and local businesses alike.
Produce a “picture of success” toolkit for the campaign so Stratford Original BID could guarantee a successful roll-out of the campaign.
Create a suite of engaging visual touch-points to communicate key messages to residents.
Impact
Boosted in-house productivity
…By providing Stratford BID creative team with an easy-to-use visual toolkit. Our illustrations supported the marketing team.
Reached over 2m people
Our wellbeing campaign encouraged residents to be active, care for others, and enjoy local. (Stratford Original. 2022. Annual Report).
Enabled long-term success
The campaign was created with longevity in mind. The neutral aesthetic could continue to be utilised into the festive season.
Creative strategy and planning
Commercial brands need to be creative to grab people’s attentions and the same is true for places.
Stratford Original is a BID which must continue to attract new residents, old habitants, investors and businesses.
Some places are drawing upon their history whilst others reference their landscapes or wildlife. It is important that we reference the essence of the place in a forward‑thinking way to maintain modernity.
As a BID, we must consider the stakeholders to grow the community and tell stories which will capture the hearts and attention of the local businesses.
We presented two concepts – #ExploreStratford and Beauty in Belonging – which we evaluated against potential difficulties, ease of adoption, brand fit, and likely impact. Our Beauty in Belonging was developed further to become the chosen campaign.
Stratford Together campaign
Stratford Together is a social movement in Stratford to boost community wellbeing by encouraging residents to show compassion, not only to their neighbours, but to themselves too.
The campaign identifies the unique needs of residents whilst acknowledging the shared human experience in this turbulent world. We are original, we show self-kindness, and we look after each other.
Why? It’s more important than ever to be mindful of our wellbeing. The COVID-19 pandemic has ripped communities apart and the impact has been widely reported by health professionals.
The audience journey
Stratford Together invites residents to make a simple pledge to act mindfully. This can be through a quiet coffee break, cooking a nutritious meal with locally-bought ingredients, or helping a neighbour.
By motivating people to take a pledge, we encourage pro-social behaviour. This is achieved through social pressure and reward, people are more likely to follow through, and it inspires others to act too. We reward people’s pledges as we believe that it will improve well-being and the world simply needs more kindness. More now than ever.
The campaign was designed to run throughout the festive season to complement the wider Christmas programme for Stratford. The kindness message resonates with the holiday of giving.
Campaign touch-points:
Social Media
A5 Postcards
Poster
Pledge postcards
These A5 postcards were delivered as direct mailers or distributed in the local shops, cafés and restaurants. The rear of the design can be filled in by residents in order to make their pledge.
“I made my pledge” acts as a social reward and the community is encouraged to display the card in their window to encourage others to take part in the campaign.
Stratford branding and colours have been applied across the entire campaign. Quirky, universal characters have been illustrated to avoid any challenges around diversity and inclusion. The community is made up of many different people and it is the feeling and spirit which unites Stratford residents!
Social media
Each character encourages a different positive wellbeing activity as part of the campaign. This is a great conversation starter for social media.
Buttercrumble designed Canva templates for Stratford BID with some examples of how the campaign could be re-imagined for social media. Each post was delivered with a strong call-to-action, encouraging residents to make their pledge.
We also designed a series of more festive graphics depicting the doors of Stratford. These graphics are to represent the diverse neighbourhood through different styles of doors. The doors share commonality through the festive accessories and these help to connect the graphics to the campaign.
