A total of £65,000 could be spent on a rebrand of Salisbury, intended to enhance the city's reputation and help it bounce back from the impact of the pandemic.

Salisbury City Council is leading the search for a company to take charge of the marketing plan on behalf of the city’s stakeholders.

The project's budget of £65,000 will be spent on "building Salisbury’s reputation as a great place to live, work, study, and visit".

The city council said that in 2019, through an "extensive consultation", a new "competitive brand positioning" for the city, ‘Traditional Original’ was developed.

The brand agency, Heavenly, came up with the focus on Salisbury as "ageless", "creative" and "independent" - with the goal of attracting more investment to the city.

But now the city council is seeking a firm to implement the vision of the earlier research, by creating a new website and following the 'Traditional Original' theme to promote the area.

'Clear need to inspire action'

The council said the ‘Traditional Original’ theme was "well received by stakeholders from all sectors in Salisbury".

Brand guidelines have now been developed and some provisional implementation work has already commenced, including a new partnership Salisbury website, city signage used across projects including Salisbury Street Sellers, and empty shop front vinyls.

It says there is now a "clear need to amplify the implementation of the Salisbury Place Brand and inspire action" - which includes communicating and working with local residents and businesses to support Salisbury’s economic recovery post COVID-19, ensuring the city’s future success.

Funding

The budget is £65,000, which includes marketing, delivery and VAT.

Work is expected to commence no later than April 5 - this is subject to funding approval by the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (SWLEP).

The council said it is "envisaging a two phased approach to the project delivery", and proposals should indicate a "realistic timescale".

All activity must be fully delivered no later than March 31.

The SWLEP has agreed in principle to provide funding to implement and market the Salisbury Place Brand.

The funding will be released to Salisbury City Council in two phases: phase one in March 2021 and phase two, upon successful delivery of phase one (expected September 2021).

Click here to view the Information to Tender document.

Salisbury Business Improvement District produced this booklet on the brand positioning in July 2019, pre-pandemic. 

Quotations should be sent to: JWood@salisburycitycouncil.gov.uk by 5pm on Wednesday, February 17.

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