GATESHEAD-COUNCIL-THRIVING-Home Page_Image

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.

GATESHEAD-COUNCIL-THRIVING-BILLBOARD-VISUAL

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 deliver:

Clarity for potential investors and developers
Confidence for local communities
Continuity across individual projects
Civic pride and public trust
A shared vision

This new brand was essential to establish clarity and recognition around the regeneration programme, bringing together a diverse, borough-wide portfolio of projects under one cohesive identity.

GATESHEAD-COUNCIL-THRIVING-ADVERT-VISUAL

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.

GATESHEAD-COUNCIL-THRIVING-BUS-AD-Mockup

Proposition

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, play and invest.

GATESHEAD-COUNCIL-THRIVING-TOTE-BAG-VISUAL

Creative Concept

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.

GATESHEAD-COUNCIL-THRIVING-SOCIAL-VISUAL

Phase One

Launched at Gateshead Council’s State of the Nation event in October 2025, Cool Blue prepared a dedicated resident’s leaflet, website landing page and collateral to provide a high-level stakeholder introduction to both the brand and the regeneration projects.

Moving forwards, the first phase of the campaign is focused on clarity, delivering straightforward information, top-line messages and strong visual consistency through large-scale hoardings, banners and posters.

GATESHEAD-COUNCIL-THRIVING-POSTER-VISUAL

GATESHEAD-COUNCIL-THRIVING-WEBSITE-VISUAL-CS

The Future

As the campaign evolves, Cool Blue will steer it into deeper storytelling, sharing progress through longer-form features, films and interviews across council newsletters, local press, social media and community events.

Are you looking for a brand overhaul, refresh or new identity? We’d love to hear from you.