Preston Partnership

Relaunching Preston Partnership to support the city’s growth aspirations

Preston Partnership In the City

Client:

Preston Partnership

Sector:

Property and Regeneration

How we helped:

  • Brand positioning
  • Media relations
  • Events
  • Social media

Preston Partnership is a membership organisation, originally created in 2018 by Preston City Council and University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), working in conjunction with the private sector. However, Preston Partnership was paused in 2020 due to the pandemic.

In 2023, Preston Partnership received funding from the UK’s Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to restructure and relaunch the partnership, with the organisation to be run entirely by the private sector. Its goal is to bring together businesses and the public sector to help make Preston a prosperous city to live, work, visit and invest in.

Our brief

Freshfield was appointed to help shape a new brand narrative, create and launch a new brand identity and website, build the Preston Partnership brand, increase membership and strategic partners, increase social media following and generate positive media coverage.

What we delivered

We devised a series of three brand messaging pillars, supporting a new purpose: Growing Preston, together. These pillars were ‘build an ambitious Preston Partnership’, ‘shape Preston’s future’, and ‘tell Preston’s story’.

A relaunch event at UCLan’s Engineering Innovation Campus attracted 150 guests and unveiled Preston Partnership’s new board members. A series of subsequent ‘In The City’ events ran throughout the next 12-months around key issues like innovation, culture, workplace and city living.

We leveraged the power of LinkedIn to share coverage of these events, creating a desire to be part of a growing community and increasing new members joining the partnership.

Impact

Our activity led to 165 new members and 11 new strategic partners. During the launch period there were 570 new LinkedIn followers (growth of 70.7%), 64,117 LinkedIn impressions, 2,096 page views of the LinkedIn channel, and 3,000 unique website visitors, with 9,100 total website views.

The launch coverage, across 20 earned media titles, generated 16.8k coverage views and 8.7k coverage views on LinkedIn. The campaign was nominated for Best Integrated Campaign at the Prolific North Marketing Awards 2024.

Preston Partnership events
Preston Partnership
Preston Partnership

“Freshfield has played an instrumental role in positioning Preston Partnership as an influential, private sector-led organisation, building credibility with key strategic partners, driving membership enquiries and helping build a feel-good factor about the city.”

Preston Partnership board member

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