Giving people a place they want to live

Forward Swindon

Swindon has a reputation as an economic powerhouse, with many large corporations calling Swindon home, including Nationwide, WH Smith, Zurich and Honda. However, the fast growth of the town after the War and the concurrent focus on certain types of affordable housing stock resulted in Swindon ‘missing’ significant, more wealthy socio-economic groups – people who work in Swindon but choose to live elsewhere. To address this, Swindon Borough Council introduced a more aspirational product and lifestyle offer to meet the demands of this market, as well as older people, developing a new community just south of Swindon Old Town called Wichelstowe.

Bell won a tender for brand and marketing services for Wichelstowe in January 2017. After key stakeholder brand workshops, we developed the Wichelstowe place brand, guidelines, messaging, literature and collateral, followed by a site-level sub brand including naming (Canalside) for a number of mixed use parcels sitting alongside the Wilts & Berks Canal, and another retail housing brand (Heron’s Water).