A fresh, exciting, vibrant new image and set of brand tools have been unveiled for the renowned destination of Newquay, Cornwall, as a key cornerstone in the five year strategy of the town’s Business Improvement District (BID.)  

It has been acknowledged that Newquay has faced several set-backs and negative publicity in recent years however the town has always been one of the UK’s most popular coastal holiday destinations, regularly featuring in ‘best of’ lists. One of the key objectives of the Newquay Business Improvement District is to reclaim the town’s rightful image and to re-market the area’s obvious attractions and hidden gems to current and potential desired target markets. 

To ensure that the new brand was both fitting and effective, the BID invited a broad and varied working group, with a range of serious vested personal and professional interests, to consult during an initial workshop.  With the input of town council members, business owners, key tourism experts and residents, a series of encouraging key statistics and consumer insights were raised and the brief for a new brand that would develop and promote a positive vision and economic future for the town was drafted.

Following a tender process, Cornish agency Absolute Graphics, who have worked with a number of Newquay businesses, was engaged.  The team speedily created a range of potential concepts with the aim of capturing the essence of Newquay in a simple yet personal way, utilising the identified key descriptors of vibrant, laid-back, friendly and trendy.

Absolute’s Creative Director Helen Blake says, “We all know and love Newquay and we took to global destinations and styling to create our initial range of inspiration boards for the BID.  Our designers eventually chose a colour palette of bright and impactful shades to connote the vibrancy of the town and developed a new hand-rendered typography using an individualist yet simple, style to communicate the personality of Newquay and the diversity of its people. The resultant versatile and informal nature of the final work purposefully prevents the branding from appearing corporate, helping it to appeal to the BID’s wide targeted demographic.”

The Absolute team also created a purposefully relaxed and individual tone of voice style, which is reflective of the graphic styling. Pieces of example copy were created to capture the pride of the local people and entice others into wanting to be ‘part of the crowd’, as well as generating conversations and raising questions about the real Newquay. The images chosen show off the best of the town, from its seven beautiful beaches to its buzzing town centre and busy working harbour.

The branding has already proved a hit having been showcased in Newquay’s new lifestyle magazine, Seven, and in the eye-catching Newquay adverts that lined the walls of several London tube stations this summer. The brand mark has also been adapted to re-create the logo for Newquay Fish Festival, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary event on the 14-16 September this year and a number of Newquay BID business people and town residents recently made their way to their favourite spots within the town to show their support with the brand mark.

Newquay BID Manager Eve Wooldridge says: “One of the key objectives for our BID is to market Newquay in the way it deserves, showing it off to its full potential and making the best of its many assets. In recent years it’s fair to say that Newquay has undergone an unfortunate crisis of confidence however the branding process has certainly gone a long way to getting everything back on one agreed track.  The new brand, and the sets of brand tools, are continuing that journey and it’s definitely a BID a milestone achievement in bringing a new lease of life to the town.”

The new branding will be used across all Newquay BID publicity literature, advertising campaign, loyalty card and marketing materials to visually represent Newquay’s image, promote the town and encourage footfall year-round. Members of the Newquay BID are actively encouraged to use the new brand mark and imagery and can contact Eve Wooldridge on eve.wooldridge@newquaybid.co.uk to gain access to the materials.