It’s an interesting incentive, as is the intention of Destination Basingstoke, the organisation looking to promote the town and I am actually quite proud to be involved.

My Basingstoke

Having lived in Basingstoke all my life I am now raising a family and running a business here and have seen the town develop into something very different from my childhood of the 70s and 80s. The thing that gets my goat, and why I am keen to actively promote Basingstoke is that the town that is often derided is the Basingstoke of my childhood, not the one I live in now 30 years later. When I look at this video of Basingstoke town centre in the sixties, I understand why. But, it’s not the town I live in in 2009. What if we did the same for Milton Keynes, Manchester, some parts of London, or even Dubai?

Image Problem

Of course, Basingstoke is not alone. I could quite easily sneer at other towns with the same image problem, such as Crawley and Slough, but to be fair, I’ve never visited either, so I can’t comment. But, having been involved with the Destination Basingstoke project earlier in the year, I was actually amazed at some of the statistics available and astonished that we still have this image problem. For business, living and leisure, the marketing proposition for Basingstoke is actually quite compelling.

Of course, being that much older now, I can also see the bigger picture. The job situation, economic stability, healthcare, etc. Stuff I would take for granted ten years ago, but not now with a business and young family.

Every town has it’s problems and some of them may even be irreversible and like all marketing propositions, towns should perhaps be trying a little bit harder to differentiate themselves, and this is why I was attracted to this project. On a personal note, I could cite selfish reasons for my family and business but  I would also suggest element of civic pride (for want of a better phrase).

Local Pride

I have a friend in a Welsh town where young men would fight over local pride, with generations of family growing up in the area. Basingstoke doesn’t have that being an London overspill town of the 1960s. Many people I speak to who lived in the area before that time, aren’t impressed with the ‘progress’ and to be fair, some earlier planning in the seventies wasn’t that clever. And, perhaps newer residents are just apathetic.

But, there is somewhat of a necessity for civic pride in this new millennium. Localisation of trade, especially for small businesses, versus global  competition – we need to be clever and compete on different terms than 100 years ago for business and residents. Why Basingstoke when I have all this other choice?

Summary

It’s early days for this project and I know that it will take time – probably a lot of time – but it is doable. What’s more, I have found that there are more crazy people like me who feel that they want to promote the town they live in – even people born elsewhere. I commend these people, no matter how much piss taking commences because of it,however small their contribution, because they will be the ones to shape this town and leave some sort of legacy.

I know for me, I’d much rather build on my own identity as a Basingstoke citizen, than to pretend otherwise. As Ian Brown used to say:

“It’s not where you are from, it’s where you’re at.”

Picture Credit: Fred Fish

*NB. I am involved with Destination Basingstoke, the marketing organisation behind the Basingstoke Ambassadors scheme. This in turn had followed a two year relationship with the organistiona, which recently involved the commercial delivery of the website by The Escape (my day job) as a precursor to my involvement.

I should mention that The Escape have just helped Destination Basingstoke create a new website but this is an independent post about my experience at the event mainly because I have been thinking a lot about what was said by different people (more posts to follow).

Firstly, I actually think it’s really good that the council are doing something to address the town’s image and engaging people to start the process of change – we need it (if only in perception).

Even yesterday, on my Twitter Account, I challenged someone who made a negative comment about Basingstoke and he replied acknowledging my point that he was shooting from the hip. The town does have an image problem and Destination Basingstoke is the start of addressing that. It will take time and participation and what it will become, I don’t know. I do feel strongly that it will only be a success if people get involved at all levels.

That said, following on from my last post about apathy in business marketing, I do worry that people (local business owners especially) will not engage with the incentive. Let’s face it, it’s much, much easier just to slag it off right rather than look to positive change. I for one, will be getting involved as much as possible.

One of the panel members, Stephen Sheedy, Principal of QMC, is a big fan of the town and spoke about the need for local people to start being proud of the town and pushing it more. He came across very passionately about Basingstoke, even with his scouse accent (he moved to Basingstoke in the 90s) and it’s good to hear anyone being positive about the town. He also made an incredibly valid point, after citing the success of northern cities such as Sheffield and Leeds and their regeneration programmes:

They were bad to start with – the only way was up – Basingstoke doesn’t have that problem.

In fact, I would go as far as to say Basingstoke’s biggest issue in the past has been mediocrity – it’s an ‘okay’ place. It’s not famous for anything, it doesn’t have a successful football team and gets no acknowledgment other than it’s a town on the M3 near London – it’s run of the mill. That’s the challenge in intself.

The fact that they town is actually a good place to live with lots of facilities (especially for business) is by-the-by. It’s USP is too similar to too many other towns and it gets lost in the noise as a marketing proposition.

Suggestions welcome… my thinking cap is already on above and beyond my Basingstoke Business website – there must be more I can personally do. And, if you are from Basingstoke, why not get engaged? It will benefit us all in the town.