Woodberry Down is a North London post-war council estate being transformed into a modern new city village with over 5,500 homes. This is a 30-year project led by Berkeley Homes in partnership with Hackney Council, Notting Hill Genesis, and the Woodberry Down Community Organisation.
Coinciding with the agreement of a revised masterplan, we were appointed in 2014 to develop a more inclusive approach to marketing, designed not only to support the company’s sales targets but also to help shape the place itself. Our work has involved creating a new visual identity, a series of community events and print and digital editorial publications about life in and around Woodberry Down.
To express the new story of the changing Woodberry Down, we started by talking to those who lived there. What was their future vision of the place they wanted to be part of?
We held both workshops and individual conversations with representatives of the existing and potential community, Hackney Council, the Woodberry Down Community Organisation, the Manor House Development Trust, Notting Hill Genesis and Berkeley. Being a third party sounding board, we could elicit sensitive stakeholder and community concerns. This work was the foundation of the more ‘joined up’ marketing activity that followed.
In addition to consulting the community and other stakeholders, extensive research was undertaken about the wider neighbourhood. A picture emerged of an eclectic, ever-changing and highly creative area with a high concentration of artists and amenities, and a wide range of individual makers and producers. This richness was complemented by Woodberry Down itself, which offered a genuinely unique range of features – both existing and envisaged – such as a sailing reservoir, nature reserve, retail square and acres of new green space; whilst being adjacent to the open parkland of Finsbury Park.
The abundance of what could be enjoyed at Woodberry Down and in the surrounding area led to a positioning for the place upon which future activities and marketing would seek to bring to life:
“North London’s most actively interesting place to live”.
Following an iterative series of multi-stakeholder workshops, we developed a new visual identity designed to be used not just by Berkeley and Notting Hill Genesis for their marketing, but also by the community, and for wayfinding.
As well as providing materials for sales and marketing, we conceived and helped curate a number of events such as summer screenings and festivals. Working closely with the Community Development Trust, these events helped bring together existing and recent residents as well as attract new people to Woodberry Down.
We created and produced ‘Source’, a bi-annual editorial magazine dedicated to conveying the richness of life in and around Woodberry Down. Being an editorial publication enabled it to be distributed in places where brochures could never reach. Given to prospective buyers and renters, it was also distributed in and around the local community and at highly targeted venues in Hackney, Islington, Haringey and The City. It also had its own dedicated digital platform and social media marketing campaign to expand its reach even further.
We subsequently developed a single comprehensive online destination: ‘Woodberry Life’, designed to bring together all news and stories of life in and around Woodberry Down, combined with sales and lettings information.
