Creswell Crags
Challenge
Creswell Crags – one of Britain’s most treasured landscapes. Both a scheduled monument and a site of special scientific interest, it is an internationally significant Ice Age archaeological and geological site.
However, to the general public this is not always evident or recognised. The area faces fundamental social and economic problems following the decline of the coal industry, as Creswell Crags lies within the former rural coalfields of South Yorkshire, North East Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire.
In 2007 Creswell Heritage Trust raised funding to develop a £9m Museum and Education Centre to tell the story of Ice Age Britain and Creswell Crags. This represented a major opportunity to make Creswell Crags a focus for landscape identity and help develop a sense of place amongst local communities, as well as to develop a significant tourism asset for the region.
So, how could we create a brand for Creswell Crags that is strong, recognisable and conveys the area’s particular power and attraction?
Idea
Following a series of workshops with the board, management team and staff of Creswell Crags, as well as interviews with a range of stakeholders, we identified the brand’s essence and associated values.
We developed four brand pillars - authenticity, accessibility, sustainability and spirit. Building upon this foundation, our core message is that Creswell Crags is an inspirational place, in landscape and human history. This uniqueness makes it a powerful means of ‘Inspiring People’.
This strategy steered the creation of our new identity. It uses four ‘man-made’ marks taken from Creswell Crags’ cave art, some of the earliest evidence of art in Britain. This, combined with our specially created typeface, forms a powerful, elemental total marque. The copy and imagery continue the ‘inspiring’ theme across the full range of marketing material.
Response
The new brand underpins the site's national and international prominence as well as assisting with the wider regeneration of the region.
Ian Wall, Director, Creswell Heritage Trust, says, ‘What most impressed me about Sumo is the sensitive way the team has listened to our needs...the resulting brand shows a thoughtful combination of their creativity with our aspirations.’