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The identity was worked on soon after the bureau was set up because as E. Jeffreys, the Chief Executive of the bureau, said:
"before you can get people to visit a place it needs to have an identity." (Jeffreys E. In. 1992).
The process of image creation involved research to measure the image. A design brief was put together using the
results of a major market research project - the Harris Report - which surveyed attitudes to Manchester among
different market segments and showed what people perceived the image of Manchester to be. It was also based on
discussions among bureau staff on what they thought were Manchester's strengths. This was given to a number of
design and advertising agencies and the executive board of the bureau chose two after listening to their
presentations. The board felt that none of the agencies had quite captured the true identity of Manchester but that two had nearly done so. Consequently, these two were asked to work together; and they subsequently created the slogan:
'the Life and Soul of Britain', together with the logo of an M, with a 'swirly circle', a star and the words Greater Manchester printed in a 'jazzy style' (see fig. 8.7)
(Jeffreys E. In. 1992).
D. Lomax, the Marketing Manager of the bureau, said that the bureau staff saw this image as a whole concept and identity for the bureau, its members and the region of Greater Manchester rather than just a slogan and logo. The slogan and logo were used on all the bureau's promotional
FiG. 8.7 LOGO AND SLOGAN USED BY GREATER MANCHESTER AND VISITOR BUREAU
material to reinforce the message and members were
encouraged to use them on their own promotional material (Lomax D. In. 1992).
In 1992 the image of Greater Manchester that was promoted by the bureau was the big city image, one of a city that is lively, cultured and cosmopolitan and was described by
E. Jeffreys as:
"vibrant, exciting, revolutionary, shocking, different, historic, it is so many things. It is not like a city with a famous recognisable landmark like Paris has the Eiffel Tower. Manchester has magnificent Victorian architecture but if you project this image there is a danger that you are saying its like a heritage theme park city and you go down one road. A lot of vitality is still here and it is a fascinating city. We feel that Manchester is very important, it has a wonderful
historic theme, Victorian architecture, there is a great sense of pride in where Manchester has come from, but there is also a great essence of the contemporary now and where we want to be on the future. So we try to reflect all of this in how we promote the city."
(Jeffreys E. In. 1992). D. Lomax described the image:
"The 'Life and Soul of Britain' sums up neatly the image we are trying to project - vitality, energy, innovative,
strong youth culture, the largest volume of theatres outside London, City of Drama 1994." (Lomax D. In.1992). The bureau produced five pieces of promotional literature which all had the logo and slogan 'Life and Soul of
Britain' on the front cover. The logo was printed in different colours on each different piece of print to illustrate the fact that Manchester is dynamic’ and as a city is always changing (Jeffreys E. In. 1992). The front covers also had the same lively, 'jazzy', colour
photographs on them to illustrate the slogan and start 171
creating the image of Greater Manchester as a lively, energetic place with much vitality (see fig. 8.8).
The promotional literature was sent out in a white, high quality folder which had nothing else printed on it except the logo and slogan. Hopefully this would open the reader's mind to the idea that Greater Manchester is the 'Life and Soul of Britain' and then this image would be reinforced in the promotional material inside (PM/GMVCB/4).
Each piece of promotional literature projected the same image of Greater Manchester as being this lively and energetic city and then the image was subtly tailored to fit the market segment it was aimed at. The travel trade guide used descriptive text and atmospheric black and white photographs to project the city image of Manchester and said that:
"Most major destinations claim to accommodate every taste, Greater Manchester actually does. Entertaining, theatrical, historical, sporting, relaxing, surprising but never boring" (PM/GMVCB/5).
The conference and exhibition guide was a very high
quality, glossy brochure which made use of superb colour photography to project a similar, but more up-market city image with a conference and business theme. The lively text described Manchester as:
"Revolutionary, shocking, innovative, surprising, impressive - there are many ways to describe Greater Manchester.... A key destination for culture,
entertainment, heritage and, of course, business.... Greater Manchester is swiftly emerging as one of
Europe's busiest conference and exhibition capitals." (PM/GMVCB/3)
Fig. 8.8 COVER OF THE EVENTS GUIDE