The challenge
The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) want to maximise the digital, creative and tech potential of the region. We developed a reactive and connected community that’s already helped hundreds of businesses.
LCRCA want to be a world-leading place to start, grow and scale your digital, creative or tech business. They were aware of pockets of great activity already happening in the region, but it was fragmented, they wanted to find a way to connect it and create large scale impact.
The approach
We worked with the LCRCA to develop a suite of support services under an umbrella brand called “Gather” – a place for the digital, creative and tech community to connect, unite and grow.
The strategy focused on creating a deep community between business leaders to ensure strong peer-networks and building a rich data set that allows LCRCA to develop new services that are laser-focused on the current market needs.
The collaboration with LCRCA was designed to allow both parties to work at speed and adapt to change. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit this enabled us to quickly launch an online support programme called Mettle to help businesses to survive the impact, stabilise and grow sustainably.
The results
The reactive nature of the Mettle programme positioned LCRCA as a national leader when it came to offering support to the sector during the pandemic.
“Very proactive approach and great clarity of communication to pre-empt issues before they arise. Always thinking a few steps ahead and implementing processes to mitigate potential risks. They just get it!”
Mettle saw 110 businesses supported in the first three months and attendees gave the programme an average rating of 9 out of 10.
“A chance to stop, pause reflect and reset aided by some thought-provoking sessions.” Nicola Wass, CEO of So-Mo
Quote
"As a public investor, our role is to create the conditions for businesses to thrive. By creating Gather in partnership with Form we have been able to support 100’s of DC&T businesses across the city region to accelerate the growth of their businesses whilst developing a cohesive eco-system of support. Form’s sector experience, content and global reach have made them incredible partners for LCRCA."
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