Building a place brand for a region that doesn’t exist on a map

‘Belonging’ to a place is far more complex than government legislation would have you believe. While council authorities determine taxation and service delivery, they have little to do with where you consider to be the boundaries of your home. Take the Humber region. Spanning multiple local authorities and two mayoral combined authorities, the region is nonetheless united by their shared history, values, and ambitions for the future.

Ahead of City Nation Place UK, Dr Diana Taylor, Managing Director of Future Humber, joined us to outline how you develop a brand strategy for a place that doesn’t exist according to government legislation and the importance of co-creation and shared ownership within your place brand narrative.

Can you give us a quick overview of what led to the development of the Humber place brand strategy?

For years, Humber has been a region with global significance but a muted voice. It is a place of purpose, ambition, and opportunity at scale - and yet it is so often overlooked. That must change.

With government backing for two devolution deals - Hull & East Yorkshire and Greater Lincolnshire - it became clear that a unified Humber narrative was essential. Economic identity doesn’t stop at geo-political borders. It flows with the Humber Estuary.

Humber has proudly been known as the UK’s Energy Estuary for more than 15 years, and with more than £72bn invested in the Humber in the last decade alone, the scale of change is vast. We deliver for the UK and beyond. Today, it offers the government the largest decarbonisation opportunity in the country. But to respond to that challenge - to remain relevant, competitive, and to thrive - we need to go further.

It was only right that Future Humber, the sole pan-Humber promotional organisation, stepped up to lead this bold evolution of place identity. We asked ourselves: what do we want the Humber to be known for over the next 10 to 15 years?

The result is a brand strategy rooted in reality and ambition. Our new brand values reflect both our edge and our optimism. They honour our resilience and pride without glossing over the truth. That’s why so many people connect with them - they feel real.

Your geographical remit is an unusual one, as you represent a region that’s covered by a number of different councils. What led you to adopt a regional brand strategy for a place that isn’t technically a politically defined region? 

Economic reality doesn’t respect administrative lines, and neither should place branding. Humber is a functional economic zone bound by a shared estuary, shared history, and shared future.

Despite spanning multiple local authorities, and bridging two mayoral combined authorities, we are united by our industries, landscapes, heritage, and values. Humber is powered by collaboration and built on interdependence. That’s why our brand focuses on lived experience, collective ambition and the DNA of how this region works rather than how it’s mapped out politically.

Our independence from local government agendas is key. Future Humber gives the region one consistent voice, backed by powerful networks and strategic alliances. That neutrality has helped us embed brand values deeply and authentically across sectors.

The values outlined in the place brand narrative for Humber are Revolutionary, Resourceful, Remarkable, and Real. What process did you go through to identify those values? 

The journey began in Autumn 2023 with a challenge: could we co-create a shared narrative that felt true across sectors, geographies, and generations?

We ran an extensive consultation including global surveys, in-depth interviews, events and focus groups. Every corner of Humber had a voice. Not one person told us they couldn’t connect with at least one of the values. That’s how we knew we’d found the right foundations to build on.

We worked with place brand experts who immersed themselves in the region. They visited, listened, walked our streets and saw first-hand what makes Humber tick. That lived understanding shaped values that feel both familiar and future-facing.

It’s been a year since the place brand was officially launched. What’s the biggest change that you’ve noticed over the last twelve months?

There’s a new energy and alignment in the region. Our strengths, assets and ambitions are becoming more visible and better understood both inside and outside Humber.

We’ve seen a shift in mindset. People want to be part of a shared mission. The Place Ambassador programme has given individuals and organisations a space to connect, collaborate and build momentum. At one training session, a school principal and a charity CEO met and immediately began planning a Youth Place Ambassadors programme with over 200 students set to take part in October 2025.

We’ve now got a common language, making it easier to tell a coherent story. A great example is fifteen energy partners coming together under one Humber Pavilion at the Innovation Zero Congress in London.

We’re seeing the impact. There is more confidence and more ambition. One business leader even used the brand values to shape the region’s first Hull & East Yorkshire Business Awards. It’s more than a message now. It’s a movement.

Behind the brand is a committed, creative team at Future Humber who live and breathe this region every day. From content to engagement, every conversation we have is about strengthening Humber's story and showing the world what it means to belong to this place.

What has been the biggest learning from the implementation of your strategy to date? 

Authentic, ongoing stakeholder engagement is essential. This isn’t about logos or slogans. It’s about embedding shared values into real behaviour, actions, culture and strategy. We learned early on that communication needs to be crystal clear. The values don’t replace business brands and values - these place brand values are the unseen foundations that enhance and align with them. When that clicked, adoption soared.

Most powerfully, we’ve seen the values unlock longer-term thinking. They’ve appeared in Parliamentary speeches and in a joint letter from Henri Murison (CEO, The Northern Powerhouse) and business leaders calling for unified investment in Humber. That’s the scale we’re working at now.

You can see these values reflected in projects like the restoration of the Burton Building on Whitefriargate by key developers. It exemplifies what the narrative is about: respecting heritage, attracting significant public and private investment, and showing Humber’s ambition to blend history with regeneration. That building is emerging as a beacon for Hull’s city centre renewal and a physical symbol of what’s possible when pride and vision come together.

Momentum matters. That’s why we keep a constant focus on the beating heart of our programme, and we dedicate support to keep the energy high, and the vision sharp.

Do you have any advice for other places that are looking to develop a strong approach to stakeholder engagement? 

Start early. Invite everyone in. Co-create. The more people are involved, the more they’ll champion it. Celebrate those who step up. We’ve created Trailblazer case studies, filmed them, put them on stage, and continue to engage them through our Place Ambassador programme.  Find the unsung heroes, the quiet changemakers, and give them a platform. Make the brand values practical and usable. We provide toolkits, workshops, and real examples to help people apply the brand filter in ways that are relevant to them.

And be brave. Not every idea makes it through. We rejected “Ready” as a proposed value because it didn’t reflect our reality. Stay honest. Stay ambitious.

So far, over 200 individuals have stepped up to serve as Place Brand Ambassadors. How can places encourage residents to champion their place and ensure they’re promoting the right place narrative? 

Make it theirs. Don’t police how people use the brand. Encourage them to personalise it.

One activity at our Place Ambassador training session asked which brand value resonates with you most and why. The stories that come out of that are powerful and deeply personal.

Let people know they’re shaping our future, ‘writing our own story’, as our yellow notebooks say. Provide toolkits and case studies. We’ve even overhauled our website to make space for a growing library of resources, stories, and updates.

If you had an unlimited budget, what would be the next initiative or campaign that you launched? 

We’d embed the brand in education. Teaching belief, pride, and place identity in every classroom to retain and inspire our next generation of leaders.

We’d create a Humber Living Lab. An immersive experience for investors, relocatees and visitors to see and feel our story first-hand. Offer a concierge-style support for inward investors (site selection, recruitment, branding, local partnerships).

And we’d launch a Festival of Place. A week of innovation, food, culture, and storytelling that shows the world what Humber stands for.

Ultimately, we want every resident, community, and business to feel part of this journey, with civic pride recognised as a catalyst for investment, innovation, and long-term prosperity. And we know that we will evolve with our values. One day, the four values may even shape a single, defining mantra – similar to ‘pura vida’ in Costa Rica or ‘the city of sustainability’ in Copenhagen. What will ours be? At the moment, we can only imagine.

As the UK’s clean growth gateway, Humber plays a vital role in the global energy transition. This brand gives us the voice, clarity, and confidence to match that ambition. We're not just putting Humber on the map; we're helping shape the future.

These are all wonderful ambitions – I hope you can bring some of these to life over the coming years! Thank you for sharing that with us, Diana.

Dr Diana Taylor, MD of Future Humber, will be delivering a case study on the Future Humber place brand initiative alongside Leahann Barnes, Engagement & Stakeholder Manger. Check out the full agenda to see what other conversations will be happening at City Nation Place UK and how you can get involved.