Gateshead’s Regeneration: Creating a Cohesive Brand for Long-Term Transformation
The borough of Gateshead in the North East of England is home to nearly 200,000 people. Alive with energy, ambition and opportunity it’s a place where creativity meets community, where the iconic River Tyne frames a landscape that stretches from a vibrant urban heart to green, open countryside and ancient woodland.
Connected to its neighbour Newcastle upon Tyne by seven iconic bridges, Gateshead proudly stands as a cultural powerhouse. From the internationally renowned BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art to The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, the borough shines on the world stage, and every year it marks the starting line of the legendary Great North Run.
Like many places, parts of Gateshead have needed renewal. But rather than stand still, it has chosen to move forward. Despite ongoing funding challenges, the local authority has embarked on one of the most ambitious regeneration programmes in the region, 11 major developments that are reshaping how Gateshead looks, feels and functions.
The Brief
Cool Blue was tasked with the development of a strong, unified creative brand that would give the regeneration plans a distinct identity, a clear sense of ambition, and a feeling of belonging.
The brand needed to provide clarity for potential investors and developers, inspire confidence among local communities, ensure continuity across individual projects, build civic pride and public trust, and promote a shared vision for the future.
This new identity was essential to establish clarity and recognition around the regeneration programme, bringing together a diverse, borough-wide portfolio of projects under one cohesive vision.
Our Approach
To ensure the new creative brand effectively engaged a diverse range of audiences – meeting people where they live, work, and play – Cool Blue conducted a comprehensive mapping of Gateshead Council’s key stakeholders. For each group, clear communication objectives were established, and bespoke straplines were developed to integrate seamlessly into the creative execution, ensuring the campaign resonated with every audience in the most meaningful way.
Target audiences included local residents, investors and developers, local businesses and employers, as well as Gateshead Council teams and delivery partners.
In addition, Cool Blue identified a set of core content pillars designed to shape the campaign’s messaging and guide the application of creative across the most effective communication channels.
Cool Blue banded Gateshead’s regeneration projects together under one inspiring idea – Gateshead Thriving – a campaign that celebrates a borough buzzing with progress, potential and pride.
Showing residents, businesses and visitors alike that the future is already taking shape, Gateshead Thriving is more than a campaign line, it’s a statement of fact and a promise for the future. It reflects both the economic momentum and the regeneration potential that make Gateshead a brilliant place to live, work, enjoy and invest.
Given the scale of Gateshead’s transformation, visibility was paramount. The Gateshead Thriving creative toolkit was therefore built around bold graphics and confident statements designed to command attention and convey ambition.
Drawing inspiration from the ‘Live, Work, Enjoy’ content pillars, the visual identity combines dynamic iconography with a vibrant colour palette that fuses Gateshead Council’s black and white brand colours with fresh, energetic yellows and vivid reds. A distinctive ‘rising’ chevron motif symbolising progress, and a portcullis graphic referencing Gateshead Council’s logo, together bring a sense of motion and continuity.
Combined, these elements create a unified, cohesive design language that makes the Gateshead regeneration instantly recognisable and powerfully communicates the area’s momentum and ambition.
The Results
Gateshead Council officially launched Gateshead Thriving at its annual State of the Nation event where the initiative received widespread support from stakeholders and the wider community.
To support the launch, Cool Blue developed a dedicated residents’ leaflet, website landing page and campaign collateral, providing a clear introduction to both the new identity and the wider regeneration programme.
The first phase of the campaign has focused on clarity and visibility, using straightforward messaging and strong visual consistency across large-scale hoardings, banners, residential site signage, Heras fencing and compound boardings throughout the borough. As the campaign develops, the next phase will shift towards stakeholder advocacy, key audience engagement and richer storytelling to showcase progress and maintain awareness, understanding and a belief that Gateshead’s potential will be realised.
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Selected Works
Cool Blue is a full-service agency that drives brands forwards. Our ideas and innovations are always conducted with purpose. Delivering solutions that combat specific challenges and provide results. Our strategic expertise offer a valuable service to every one of our clients, helping them achieve their goals.
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