Matt urges city to step up its marketing
The event, organised by investment promotion agency Marketing Derby, also featured senior representatives from Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Cricket Club, Derby Market Hall, the new Becketwell Live performance venue and local companies Tioga, Balls2Marketing and Focus Group.
Chaired by Marketing Derby managing director John Forkin, the debate examined the challenges and opportunities for business and the city in the coming months.
The panel discussed how the new multi-million pound Becketwell Live concert and exhibition arena and the refurbished Market Hall, which will boast a food court, craft stalls and entertainment space, would both drive footfall into the city centre and add to Derby’s leisure offer.
But Matt urged the city to be joined up and more proactive in its marketing.
“There is a lot of good stuff going on but it’s about marketing and about drawing people in. And the city doesn’t do it well enough,” he said.
“Perhaps there needs to be more collaboration between all the event organisers and the venues so people get to know what’s on.”
Andy Grimmett, chief executive of electronics business Tioga, agreed the city needed to increase its profile.
“It’s like a best-kept secret, what’s going on in Derby. But with all of these massive infrastructure projects going on, then, hopefully, as these venues open, people’s perceptions will change,” he said.
And Ryan Duckett, chief executive of Derbyshire County Cricket Club believed there was more to be done in explaining Derby’s attractions to those living locally.
“We obviously market the city externally, but there’s a job to do with people within the city as well. We need to talk up the city and we need to start to feel proud of the city we’re working in,” he said.
Panellists believed the local economy remained robust but warned that measures announced in the Government’s Autumn Spending Review could impact on future growth.
Matt believed the increased National Insurance levy on employers might affect recruitment.
“We’ve had a pretty good year, and it seems quite vibrant at the minute. But I think it’ll be tough when April 1st comes into people’s minds because they’ll be watching their budgets very closely, and that will impact, I think, on recruitment and staff retention,” he said.
Summing up the discussion, event chair John Forkin said the city was home to fantastic businesses like Rolls-Royce which contributed to a strong local economy.
“But the city centre has suffered the triple whammy of the 2008 crash, the online revolution and Covid. And you see it. You feel it,” he said.
“One of the clear messages is that we need to tell our story better. And we need to focus that, I think, on the city and the hinterland.”
The full discussion appears in the spring edition of Marketing Derby’s Innovate magazine and can be accessed online here.