Pickle Jar Communications

Now, Coventry doesn’t have the best of reputations. Being said to be “sent to Coventry” is no good thing, and Hitler clearly didn’t think much of the city either when he chose to drop a considerable amount of explosive on in over 50 years ago. Some visitors consider the ring-road to be an impenetrable barrier, while others (including Coventry residents) don’t even bother to get close the ring-road, let alone on the inside of it – the area currently deemed to be Coventry City Centre. So, I was intrigued by the recent invitation to a presentation for local business leaders on the regenration plans for Coventry. This is all very exciting to me, and the plans are great. But I approached the meeting, as one would in such circumstances, with my ‘communications professional’ hat on. The presentations were good, the talks inspiring, and the comments and questions well thought out and, mostly, encouraging. But I can’t help thinking that the City is missing out a key audience group in their plans for the City centre. They’re right to keep on about establishing Coventry’s brand and USP, but I can’t help thinking that they just might be missing an essential audience group out of their consultation…

Occassionally at weekends I might venture into the city centre. Generally speaking it is heaving with young people – mostly teenagers. Although the Council’s research shows that residents don’t want to go into the city centre, here is one set of people that clearly do! And yet the approach to communicating and consulting with residents doesn’t really tap into communications tools that would reach this essential audience group. Instead of (or at least in addition to) relying on the local print media and radio stations, coupled with a fairly well-hidden web presence, why aren’t the Council and partners using blogs and social media to reach residents of the City – and those that are essential to the future of the City? It strikes me as a no-brainer to have a facebook group geared at showing support for the regeneration plans. But I can’t find it. Perhaps I may well just have to create it myself, being the big fan that I am of everything they are currently talking about doing.