City-wide Marketing Forum meeting

18.10.2006

Present:

Susan Wildman Salford City Council (chair)

Sue Hill Salford City Council

Alan MacGregor The Lowry

Jamie Brown Salford university

Sarah Jones Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust

Katy Barnes Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust

Karen McCrackle Partners IN Salford

Jeff Millington Salford City Council

Apologies:

Gary Wright University of Salford

Lindsey Hebden Salford City Council

Andrew Bentham Salford City Reds

Trish Goldsmith Salford City Reds

Kirsty Rawlinson Greater Manchester Chamber

John Walding Greater Manchester Chamber

Emma Parkes Salford Primary Care Trust

1 /
Welcome & Introductions
Susan welcomed everyone to the offices of the council's Marketing & Communications division and introductions were made.
Apologies were received from Lindsey Hebden, Gary Wright, Andrew Bentham, Trish Goldsmith, Kirsty Rawlinson, John Walding and Emma Parkes. Susan reported that the divisional commander of Greater Manchester Police had committed to there being a representative from the police at future meetings.
2 /
The role of the Salford marketing group
There was a discussion around formalising the role of the group and what we might use the group for in the future. The remit of the group was re-iterated: to build a partnership approach to marketing the city. The role of the group is to:
- Share information about our respective activities
- Report on the marketing project outcomes that impact upon the city
- Seeking opportunities for joint working and development of the city brand
- Actioning any additional tasks referred by Partners IN Salford
Possible attendees in future might include representatives from Central Salford URC, Media City UK, and various developers such as Countryside Properties and LPC Living.
Susan will now attend Partners IN Salford (PINS)'s meetings on behalf of the marketing group, to ensure close links between PINS and the group, and to ensure that the marketing group picks up any tasks delegated by PINS.
3 / Update on draft Salford city-wide marketing strategy
Sue Hill gave an update on the draft city-wide marketing strategy, having incorporated comments received after our last meeting. In particular, figures will be added to support the statements that perceptions of the city have changed.
Some items in the strategy were discussed in more depth.
·  The city brand audit to assess perceptions of the city outside of Salford could take place before the end of this financial year, and there is an opportunity for partners to feed questions into this survey.
·  The planned BBC relocation is a key component of the strategy. This could provide a focus for the work of the marketing group, in terms of communicating with opinion formers and those who will be re-locating.
·  The Events IN Salford programme evaluation has not yet been completed but a review of the events programme will be presented at our next meeting.
·  There was enthusiasm about the idea of a web portal (INSalford.com) that points people to where they can find further information about the city on partners' websites.
Action 1: members of the group to consider what information is housed on their website that might be of interest to others, and could be reached via a link from the INSalford.com portal
Action 2: members of the group to put forward a web content contact from their organisation who could be part of the team progressing INSalford.com
All partners will sign up to the strategy. To make it more of a partnership-owned document, it was suggested that some key partners' targets could be added.
Action 3: members of the group to suggest appropriate targets
The strategy will be completed by our next meeting in January, so that we can begin to action some of the items
Action 4: send any further comments to by the end of this year
4 / The city brand - developing the visual profile
Jeff Millington, Creative Services Manager, Salford City Council made a presentation about the IN Salford branding, how it has been used so far by the council and partners, and how it could develop in the future. Jeff's powerpoint slides are available on the PINS website at
http://www.partnersinsalford.org/city_brand_marketing_meeting_oct_06.pdf
Jeff and his team can provide support, advice and guidance on how to promote the city in a consistent manner. ( or 0161 793 3761)
5 / Current marketing & communications projects
The Lowry
140 Lowry staff, including volunteers, attended one of three briefings about the BBC re-location. A fourth session is planned.
Exhibitions include 'Worktown', an exhibition of photographs of the city by local people working with professional photographers, and one love, which displays football-related art, in honour of LS Lowry's painting Going to the Match.
To tie in with the run of Acorn Antiques - the musical, Victoria Wood has agreed to become an honourary patron of the Lowry. As part of this she will host an advocacy event in early December. Finally, Oasis's new video uses Lowry images, with the blessing of the estate.
Salford university
The university's health building is now open, and a new Law school is currently under construction. New accommodation for an art and media school is planned and in addition the university now has a business school, as of this academic year. The university's office in China is now open, and will promote the university and the city. Plans are being made for the 40th anniversary, in 2007, of the university receiving its royal charter.
A new branding campaign was recently launched with a community newsletter, which aims to highlight the university's status as part of the community.
Salford city council
The corporate marketing department are heavily involved in the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) consultation. Several Salford secondary schools are already earmarked for improvement, but this consultation addresses what should be done with the other eight high schools (the improvements under BSF would begin in 2009/10).
In relation to the BBC's move to Salford, the council are still heavily involved in making the move a reality. An event was hosted at the Labour party conference, at which Salford-born Robert Powell was the special guest, to lobby MPs to agree a favourable licence fee settlement.
The council are looking into an event at Salford Quays as part of the 2007 Manchester International Festival, and are also submitting a £5m heritage lottery fund bid for Ordsall Hall. The bid to restore and develop the hall also relies on £900,000 being raised separately and a campaign has started to raise these additional funds.
The Salford Food and Drink festival concluded this week. The festival is part of the wider Events IN Salford programme. Susan flagged up the fact that the events in this programme are not always council-organised events - partners' events can also be included.
Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust
The healthcare commission published its annual healthcheck ratings, and Hope came in the top 4% of the results and was the top Northwest hospital.
The hospital's brand is in development, and more publicity is being undertaken for the Making it Better consultation around healthcare services for children, young people, parents and babies. The Trust now has foundation status and continues to recruit members of the public who want to have an input into the way the hospital is run. Building work, funded by a private finance initiative (PFI) will begin in March.
Partners IN Salford
The re-organisation of the partnership means that new members, such as the Lowry, Salford Royal NHS Trust, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and Central Salford URC will be invited to join. Work is ongoing to ensure that these new members are up-to-speed and informed, in readiness for the first meeting of the larger partnership on 23 November. This new structure means that internal partnership communications mechanisms will be reviewed. Work is also being done to support the council in their consultation work around the Salford Agreement, a written agreement between central Government and Salford, in which we set out our planned improvements to the city over the next three years.
General
The council and university are looking into the possibility of producing a DVD about the city - other partners are welcome to get involved.
6 /
Future meeting dates
January 17th 2007 The Lowry, 2pm - 4pm
April 18th 2007 venue confirmed nearer time, 2pm - 4pm
Proposed agenda items for 17/1/07
1) How we each communicate with Salford residents
[everyone to bring examples of any newsletters, brochures, leaflets etc]
2) Evaluation of the Events IN Salford programme
3) How we could each incorporate the IN Salford branding into what we produce
4) A Salford DVD
5) Update on INSalford.com
6) Update on current projects