Creating a new sense of place and purpose for Harley Street
Harley Street Area Partnership – Business Improvement District Branding
We were approached by the Harley Street Area Partnership (HSAP) to tender to develop a brand which would brand their partnership’s push to become a Business Improvement District (BID). Aiming to become the UK’s first BID with a predominately medical focus, the partnership consisted of landowners, medical organisations and major occupiers working together with the wider Harley Street community with a focus on sourcing local funding and investment to improve and enhance the district, supporting each other and the area as a whole in order to increase the vibrancy and vitality of the area. We won the tender to develop a new brand, visual identity and website.
Although best known for its medical practices, Harley Street wanted to move beyond – while still recognising the importance of the medical sector, the objective was to promote the area as a place to do business regardless of activity or sector, and also as a desirable place to visit. As well as partnership branding, this was a placemaking project.
Our response
The name Harley Street is synonymous with medicine, and by using the designation alone, we could reflect its storied medical history. We developed a logo in a style similar to London street signs, with a similar border. The identity and brand colours are red and blue. The “A” in Harley and “T” in street sat vertically when the words were stacked, and we used red letters here to contrast with blue so the overall device tricks you into reading it as “AT HARLEY STREET”. The key message for the BID is “Connected by purpose. Driven by life”, which subtly brings the medical heritage and innovation in whilst highlighting the essence of a BID, which is businesses working together with the common goal of improving an area. Our brand had to be scalable, in that if and when the BID was endorsed, it could be transformed from a partnership brand to a BID brand with ease.
Results
Their proposed BID ballot was endorsed and their collaborative relationship as a BID with the City of Westminster Council began on the 1st April 2022. At this point, we transitioned the brand, website and other elements from the Harley Street Area Partnership to the Harley Street BID.
Bell won a bronze award during the Transform Awards Europe 2023 for our work with the Harley Street BID in the category ‘Best Place or Nation Brand’.
What our client thought
“Bruno and his team at Bell have been amazing since the tender process. They submitted a brilliant, competitive tender, really understanding the brief and being considerate of cost implications for a small business partnership. We were excited to be able to shortlist them and then see their ideas for our brand. We were delighted and really feel our new brand now represents the business and whole community in Harley Street in a slick and effective way. We are looking forward to forging our working relationship further”.
Nicki Palmer, BID Director