Brands need to level up their impact across the regions and nations of Britain.

 

The previous government’s levelling up agenda ended more abruptly than Labour’s post-election honeymoon. But ‘Tippexing out’ a phrase Ministers claim to be nothing more than ‘vacuous’ is easier than tackling the underlying challenges that led to a summer of violence and riots.  

It is abundantly clear many communities across Britain feel they have been left behind. High and rising levels of economic inequality mean you are likely to enjoy almost 50% more household income in London than the West Midlands, or live 20 years longer in parts of the South East than Scotland or the North of England.  This divergence starts early, to the extent that children in Northern Ireland are almost twice as likely to get top grades at GCSE as their counterparts in the North East of England.    

So why is any of this relevant for companies?   

Firstly, as regional inequalities have increased, trust in the Government has collapsed in many parts of the country.  This has left a vacuum of leadership and an opportunity for businesses to use their authority to bring communities back together and help tackle the challenges that many parts of the country face.  

As well as delivering a seismic change in Westminster, the new Government has pledged a significant transfer of power to the regions, ‘turbo-charged devolution’ that promises to create more combined authorities and give regional mayors a swathe of new powers.  In a country which has historically centralised power more emphatically than many dictatorships, this will require companies to prove their value to regional centres to secure their licence to operate or the commercial opportunities that lie ahead.   

A recent assessment of attitudes to different industries found a huge variance in support for sectors depending on where people lived.  This suggests that many companies and industries need to work harder to secure support in some regions than others, developing campaigns that move beyond hackneyed tropes to resonate because they are responsive to the needs and expectations of divergent audiences around the country.     

Targeted interventions that deliver tangible outcomes, in the form of investment in jobs and skills, learning or public health outcomes, can make a radical difference to broken communities and have the potential to deliver significant reputational impact.   

It’s also essential to recognise the radical shift in media consumption habits in recent years.  The majority of people cannot be reached through national news media alone, preferring to be informed by new outlets like The Mill, or established regional and local titles that remain a vital source of news for a significant majority of people. 

For many, this will seem too onerous a task. But one-size-fits-all campaigns that deliver a veneer of relevance across the country do little to build universal brand equity or meaningful regional impact.  By reflecting and addressing the variance in needs and expectations of different communities, businesses can prove their value and level up their reputations across the regions and nations of Britain.