Re-positioning a Grade I listed former church, steeped in heritage, as a diverse cultural venue able to attract a range of audiences.

"Thanks to the brand identity toolkit and the website you developed for us we are attracting more diverse and younger audiences, I have no doubt that your support has played its part in attracting a grant for St Peter’s from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Thank you very much again. Your team have been a delight to work with and the results speak for themselves.”

Oliver Forder – Chair of The Friends of St Peter's

• Former church St Peter’s needed a brand identity and toolkit that they could easily manage, giving them the independence to create their own marketing materials
• St Peter's needed to communicate with wider audiences using a range of marketing channels that were appropriate for their budget. They were also looking for marketing to strongly support their Heritage Lottery funding application
• The refreshed brand identity for St Peter’s aided The Friends of St Peter's and The Churches Conservation Trust in securing a £2.8 million fund from the Heritage Lottery; kick-starting the regeneration project

• St Peter's was first recorded as a church in the 14th and 15th Centuries, and therefore holds vast cultural and historical significance for the people of Sudbury
• Since 1976, having been declared redundant as a church, St Peter's has been maintained and managed by both The Friends of St Peter's (registered charity no.271090) and national charity The Churches Conservation Trust
• Situated in the centre of Sudbury, Suffolk, St Peter’s hosts a broad range of events; from live music, theatre, exhibitions, fayres, festivals and more

The Client

St Peter’s is a former church, Grade I listed building and cultural venue, situated in the heart of Sudbury. Whilst it is no longer a place of worship, the venue remains open to the public and is used primarily as a space for a range of events. 

With a big regeneration project underway to breathe new life into the building, The Friends of St Peter's and its Trustees wanted to transform the redundant church into a vibrant cultural venue.

Following an unsuccessful application to the Heritage Lottery Fund, St Peter’s were looking for branding and marketing support to position them well with a strong and appealing brand identity.

As the largest venue in Sudbury, with a central position on the Market Hill, St Peter’s has a huge amount of potential, appealing to both the local community and tourists.

The Challenge

The main challenge for St Peter's was to bring awareness to the new role of the building as a venue, whilst still celebrating its heritage.

St Peter's needed a solution that gave them a strong identity and encouraged a wider audience to get involved. They required an easy-to-manage brand toolkit and a website that showcased their range of events, celebrated the heritage and demonstrated the future of St Peter's.

Alongside these project specific objectives, The Friends of St Peter's and The Churches Conservation Trust were in the process of applying for funding from the Heritage Lottery; to fund the major regeneration of the building.

We needed to identify three key areas in order to develop their brand identity and website:

• Which audience groups St Peter's wanted to appeal to
• How these audience groups behaved and interacted with brands
• The opportunities to effectively communicate with targeted audience groups

What we did

Through a process of collaborative workshops we developed a brief to create a brand identity toolkit and website for St Peter’s to support them in their regeneration and growth.

Having established and shared a positioning statement for St Peter's, we began to create focus for the brand going forward. We segmented potential audience groups and used their journey of discovering St Peter's to influence the brand messaging and structure of the website; to improve user experience across the board.

We created a vibrant yet sophisticated brand identity for St Peter’s that appeals to their varied target audience groups. The logo, with four arrows pointing to the centre, symbolises St Peter’s as a venue at the heart of Sudbury that brings people together. The logo is just one of the elements that we provided St Peter's with as part of their broader brand identity toolkit.

The brand identity toolkit sits within an accessible cloud-based brand governance portal, and includes the following elements:

• Logo
• Colour Palette
• Typography
• Patterns
• Photography Style
• Tone of Voice
• Document Templates

All of these elements have enabled St Peter's to continue creating marketing material that is on-brand.

What we achieved

Helped to secure £2.8 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund
With a new strong brand and image, St Peter’s were able to secure funding from the Heritage Lottery to help with the regeneration project.

Developed a strong brand identity
We continue to support St Peter’s in applying their new brand identity successfully across various physical and digital marketing material. Their messaging now encompasses the wide range of events and activities that St Peter's hosts, and their emotive tagline "Experience More"  is used across all marketing material.

Engaging with a wider audience
Since the development and launch of the St Peter's brand toolkit and marketing materials, including the website, audience groups numbers have significantly grown. Significantly, a broader range of age groups are now attending St Peter's.

Created an insight-led and responsive website
We created an easy-to-manage website for St Peter’s that allowed them to effectively communicate with audience groups and enhance user experience.

"We are delighted that the work we have done to develop a brand identity toolkit for St Peter's has proved to have played an important role in helping them secure the funding they needed."

Paul Mackman - Managing Director, Mackman