A Placebrand for Berwick-upon-Tweed

Berwick-upon-Tweed is a hugely underrated British border town. It has a tourism and heritage offering that far surpasses that of its many of its peers and yet the tourism economy is small and limited to only a few months of the year. In 2019 we completed work on a place brand designed to bring out the best that Berwick-upon-Tweed has to offer to communicate its true status as a fantastic place to visit, to live and to invest. Engagement and co-design were a vital to this project in a relatively small town where nothing on this scale had been attempted before. We kicked off the public engagement process with a digital survey that was completed by 1500 people and then embedded ourselves in the town, conducting interactive workshops and working to build strong relationships with the local creative community, who we often find to be crucial drivers of change in place brand projects. The current tourism provision and marketing is heavily weighted towards the town’s heritage assets but the new place brand is designed to demonstrate how history, culture and natural beauty can synergise to form an unbeatable visitor offering.