THE INITIATIVE

ANNUAL REVIEW

201 4

04 Introduction

06 Corporate news

08 Leisure tourism

10 Business tourism

12 2014 illustrated

14 Inward investment

16 Festivals and events

18 Partnership

20 NGI Solutions

22 Meet the team

CONTENTS

Welcome to The Initiative, a review of the many opportunities, highlights and success stories for NewcastleGateshead Initiative over the past year.

0302

WELC

OME

TO T

HE IN

ITIA

TIVE

Everything we do as an organisation remains focused on changing perceptions and creating positive profile in order to attract visitors, major conferences and events, new investment and jobs. Our objective is economic growth – it’s that simple.

We market NewcastleGateshead and the wider region on a national and international stage; to inspire people to visit, and to live, learn, work and invest here. It’s a big job - and one that we couldn’t do in isolation. A collaborative approach is key and the ongoing support of our 170 private sector partners, right across the region, remains invaluable, as does that of Gateshead Council and Newcastle City Council. We are enormously grateful for their continued support and commitment.

December 2014 marks the end of my first year as chair. During the last 12 months I have been impressed with, and enthused

by, the organisation’s ability to deliver tangible and positive benefits for the area. And also by its ability to champion ambitious future projects and aspirations, such as the North East International Convention Centre.

I believe passionately in our region and want to see it grow and prosper and having seen first-hand the great work that the NewcastleGateshead Initiative team delivers, I am more convinced than ever that the organisation’s role is fundamentally important in shaping and driving the region’s future success.

With your help – as partners, stakeholders and colleagues – we can continue to build on solid foundations and collectively create a supportive environment for wider economic development so that our region can thrive.

Paul CallaghanChair, NewcastleGateshead Initiative

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Indeed, ever since its creation in 2000,

NewcastleGateshead Initiative has faced

constant change and much credit must

go to all the staff and directors who have

successfully navigated the organisation

throughout the past 14 years.

Looking back over the more recent past,

some key themes emerge; the pressure

on public funding being the most obvious.

Following the formation of the coalition

government, funding for agencies such

as NewcastleGateshead Initiative quickly

came under the spotlight. The abolition

of the RDAs resulted in a major reduction

in funding for tourism bodies across the

region whilst the need to reduce the

national deficit has led to significant cuts

in local authority budgets. One impact

of such cuts was the disappearance of

our cross-river sister agencies – 1NG and

Bridging NewcastleGateshead. Other

agencies that managed to survive earlier

rounds of budget reviews – such as

Hadrian’s Wall Trust and Newcastle Science City – now sadly face closure.

Against this background of major cuts in public funding, at a time when many similar agencies have closed or severely reduced in size, why is it that we have not only survived but thrived? The single most important reason is that we’ve succeeded in diversifying our income.

At a time when local authority funding has inevitably declined given the huge pressures they face, we have doubled our commercial income, secured long-term support from Arts Council England and, against all the odds, secured ERDF project funding. Meanwhile, the fact that both Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council have continued to support and fund NewcastleGateshead Initiative to the extent that they have, is a real testament to the value they place on the work that we do. Indeed, it is the strength of the support, in cash and in-kind, that we receive from all

our partners that underpins our resilience and ensures we are able to continue to deliver national campaigns and local activity for the benefit of NewcastleGateshead and the wider region – you can read about some of the highlights from the past year in this review.

The quality, enthusiasm and commitment of our staff has also underpinned the organisation’s success in recent years. Their hard work and willingness to embrace change gives me confidence that we can continue to overcome the challenges that we will inevitably face and will remain well placed to seize all opportunities as they arise – to continue to grow our commercial income, to further enhance our offer to partners, to work with VisitEngland to secure national funding for tourism, to build a case for future ERDF support and to continue to champion the case for investment in a North East International Convention Centre.

We can all take great pride and confidence in the work of NewcastleGateshead Initiative in recent years – staff, board members, funders and partners have all played a major role. Looking to the future, ongoing change will continue to demand new ways of working but with similar levels of determination and hard work, and with the ongoing support of all our partners, I remain confident that we will continue to flourish.

INTRODUCTION

Sarah StewartChief Executive, NewcastleGateshead Initiative

I joined NewcastleGateshead Initiative in May 2010 (just days before the last general election) and since then the organisation has overcome many challenges and successfully seized numerous opportunities. As a result, our remit has widened, staff numbers increased and our partnership has strengthened.

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0504

CORPORATE NEWS

WHAT: We successfully secured an ERDF project worth a total of £775,000 which has enabled us to deliver new work to support our inward investment and business tourism activity over the past year.

WHO: We’ve implemented some innovative new projects as a result of this funding which support overarching objectives – to secure major conferences and events and attract new investment and jobs – as well as meeting key ERDF outputs, most notably assisting SME growth and development.

HOW: We’ve aligned our proactive business tourism work with the key sectors that we target for our inward investment activity – by bringing major conferences and key influencers here from the creative and digital, offshore and life science sectors we can also showcase the area’s investment potential and establish important new networks and contacts. A newly developed Delegate Placement Scheme has also enabled local SMEs to access and attend – for free – world-leading conferences here in the region.

WHy: It was strategically important for us to develop, secure and deliver this ERDF project for a number of reasons:

1. To fund important activity that benefits the destination;

2. To strengthen and diversify our funding;

3. To demonstrate our ability to successfully deliver a European-funded project. ERDF priorities are decided at a regional level and don’t easily align with our core work. A strong business case and application were required to show how our activity would meet the requirements and deliver economic growth. Now that we’ve done it once, we hope to secure ERDF to develop other projects in future.

“ We market NewcastleGateshead on a national and international stage. Our focus is on economic growth; we work to change perceptions and create positive profile in order to attract visitors, major conferences and events, students, new investment and jobs.”

Sarah Stewart, Chief Executive

19,000 VOTESAND WIN £1m

We Worked With organisations

across the region to secure

worth of free advertising promoting the north east at heathrow

airport this year.

96BUSINESSES acroSS thE rEgIoN

SIgNEd Up to SUpport thE rEgIoN-wIdE rESpoNSE wE SUBMIttEd to thE

dcMS toUrISM INqUIry.

FUNDING FOR SUCCESS

There was further cause to celebrate at the 2014 regional tourism awards, with the announcement that the national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2015 will take place at the Sage Gateshead.

Lady Cobham, VisitEngland’s chair, said: “Our national awards, to which the regional winners go forward, take place in different locations each year. A number of prominent venues – including Twickenham – were shortlisted to host the 2015 event and it gives me great pleasure to announce that the Sage Gateshead has been selected. Many congratulations to the Sage Gateshead team, and to NewcastleGateshead Initiative, who together produced an impressive bid.

“In the year in which you will also host Rugby World Cup 2015, this provides another great opportunity to put the North East front and centre, helping to further raise the profile of this dynamic destination.”

The VisitEngland Awards for Excellence will bring tourism businesses from across the UK to NewcastleGateshead for the ceremony on 11 May 2015.

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NORTH EAST ENGLAND TOURISM AWARDS 2014

We managed and delivered the annual North East England Tourism Awards for the third time in 2014, working with the event sponsors – Northumbrian Water and University of Sunderland – and a wide range of partners and colleagues, including the Northern Tourism Alliance and Sunderland AFC.

The awards play a critically important role in celebrating the quality of visitor attractions, venues and tourism businesses across North East England. The awards also highlight the importance of the visitor economy to the region; as the fourth largest sector, tourism generates £3.6bn expenditure annually and supports 54,600 jobs.

A vibrant visitor economy creates a vibrant place: sustaining businesses, attracting new investment and development, enhancing quality of life and providing greater choice for visitors and residents alike. The benefits of a successful tourism sector are, therefore, far reaching and the awards are an annual highlight for the visitor economy of the North East.

Last year seven North East businesses went on to be shortlisted at VisitEngland’s Excellence Awards – turning regional profile into national success.

Pictured: Lady Penelope Cobham, chair of VisitEngland, with Jonathan Gilroy who collected the award for Visitor Information Provider of the Year for NewcastleGateshead Visitor Information Centre at the ceremony on 11 November at the Stadium of Light.

NEWCASTLEGATESHEAD SECURES NATIONAL TOURISM EVENT

0706

Our destination marketing campaign has also featured proactive PR activity to secure positive editorial coverage – all with the aim at attracting couples or groups of friends to take a short break in NewcastleGateshead.

Part of the VisitEngland-led Growing Tourism Locally programme funded by the government’s Regional Growth Fund, and supported by a number of key partners this year (East Coast, Life Science Centre and intu Metrocentre), our three-year national campaign has gathered momentum and delivered a strong return: contributing to an increase in hotel occupancy levels in NewcastleGateshead and creating or safeguarding 230 tourism jobs so far.

WHAT: Our convention bureau successfully secured Traverse14 – an annual conference for travel bloggers, staged at Sage Gateshead in February 2014. Winning the event was a real coup. But it was even more critical that we maximised all opportunities to showcase the destination to this influential audience and generated as much positive profile as possible.

WHO: The event attracted 175 travel bloggers from across the UK and overseas. Working with the event organisers, our partners and tourism businesses across the region, we developed a range of activites that would enable the bloggers to experience and enjoy the destination – as well as the conference programme.

HOW: We worked hard to deliver positive interaction, engagement and coverage across social media platforms during the event. We provided inspirational media information and developed a series of distinctive ‘Sunday Experiences’ which enabled bloggers to explore some of the best and most unusual visitor experiences on offer in the North East, outside of the conference schedule.

WHy: Our target audience (25-35 year olds, urban dwellers, travelling with partners or friends) increasingly seeks travel inspiration online. Traverse14 provided the ideal opportunity to showcase what the area has to offer to bloggers and online travel commentators – and subsequently generate inspirational content about the area that appealed to our target demographic.

Our proactive work helped to generate 4,000 tweets, significant, positive social media ‘buzz’ and more than 40 blog posts about NewcastleGateshead and North East England as a place to visit – a hugely successful addition to our destination marketing and social media strategy for the year.

LEISURE TOURISM“ We promote NewcastleGateshead as a

leading city break destination to boost overnight visitor numbers, support the growth of the visitor economy (worth £1.37bn) and, significantly, to change outdated perceptions; positive destination promotion underpins all of our work.” Kathie Wilcox, Head of Marketing & Communications

“ We also manage and deliver an innovative visitor information service across NewcastleGateshead. Well-informed visitors spend more, stay longer and are more likely to return. We want visitors to have a great experience and leave as ambassadors for the destination.”Cath Hindle, Head of Operations & Tourism

CREATING A bUzz AbOUT THE DESTINATION INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGNS

THE TyNE IS NOWPictured: our successful The Tyne is now campaign – which has this year included advertising in national titles such as Shortlist and TimeOut, a media partnership with The Guardian, plus radio, TV, digital and outdoor advertising in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, York, Manchester and Leeds.

10,000 NIGHTSspent in newcastleGateshead

by dutch and German visitors in 2014.

Working With DFDS, our

joint-FunDeD campaign in hollanD anD germany haS

reSulteD in more than

In the fIrst sIx months

of 2014 the number of overseas vIsItors Into

the north east Increased

wIth thoSE coUNtrIES that wE actIvEly targEt SEEINg SIgNIfIcaNt growth:

NEthErlaNdS (+54%), IrElaNd (+46%) aNd

gErMaNy (+41%).

by 25% TO 222,000

100NatIoNal aNd INtErNatIoNal

joUrNalIStS havE ExpErIENcEd NEwcaStlEgatEShEad dUrINg 2014

aS part of oUr vISItINg MEdIa prograMME.

OVER

NewcastleGateshead.com has attracted record Numbers

of uNique visitors -

OVER 1.5 MILLIONOVER THE PAST

12 MONTHS.

16,000oUr coNSUMEr twIttEr fEEd haS growN By 58% to ovEr

@ALTWEET_PET

dUrINg thE paSt yEar.

HOTEL OCCUPANCY:

AverAge for the yeAr stAnds At

75% OCCUPANCy

UP by 2%vs 71% in 2013; average room rate is

NUMBER OF BEDROOMS SOLD

FAVOURITE UK CITyIN thE gUardIaN travEl

awardS 2014

NEWCASTLE VOTED

IS UP by 5%.

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WHAT: NewcastleGateshead this year hosted the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative. As Europe’s largest conference on infant feeding it welcomed 750 delegates and was worth an estimated £692k to the local economy.

WHO: We secured the conference with an imaginative approach that ensured we stood out as a destination when the organising committee visited as part of their decision-making process.

HOW: We coordinated a flash mob of breastfeeding mums at the Metro Radio Arena which was selected as the venue. If there’s one thing the North East does well, it’s welcoming people! The flash mob demonstrated our warm and original approach and highlighted that issues facing modern mothers are important to our local communities.

WHy: The UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative offers a mixture of innovative, entertaining and challenging presentations on a wide range of issues associated with supporting successful breastfeeding. NewcastleGateshead is home to the Great North Children’s Hospital and has experts on child development and health based within Newcastle University’s Institute of Health & Society, which made it the ideal location for experts to come together to discuss such issues and showcase our expertise in this sector.

Pictured: Sarah Stewart, Prof. Chris Day and Prof. Penny Lovat at the relaunch of the NewcastleGateshead Conference Ambassador Programme (CAP). Working with Newcastle University, we have relaunched the CAP – an initiative which has already supported academics, researchers, medics and business professionals to bid for and stage over 130 events to date, worth over £75m to the local economy.

The CAP was first launched back in 2002 by NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau and the relaunch in November 2014 was designed to build momentum and engage with new ambassadors to bring even more academic conferences, meetings and events to the area.

Sarah Stewart, chief executive at NewcastleGateshead Initiative, said: “Academic conferences make a sizeable contribution to the local and regional economies in North East England – last year, NewcastleGateshead hosted 14 international conferences which attracted 6,300 delegates, including the International Ethological Conference ‘Behaviour 2013’ which alone contributed £1.4m of delegate spend to the local economy.”

Professor Chris Day, pro-vice chancellor for faculty of medical sciences at Newcastle University, added: “Hosting a conference is one of the best ways to promote Newcastle’s reputation as a world-class civic university and showcase the university and our region.

“By working more closely together, we can support our academics, professionals and researchers to build on the work already happening in this area, creating even more successful bids and then staging inspiring and rewarding conferences.”

bAby-FRIENDLy CONFERENCE bRINGS ECONOMIC bOOST

A survey conducted by

newcAstleGAtesheAd convention bureAu reveAled thAt

WOULD LIKE TO RETURN WITh fRIENDs aND famILy.

(2012 sURvEy)

of conference delegates visiting tHe destination86%

Our COnventiOn Bureau has respOnded tO

within the last year; a sUCCessFUl

SECURED CONFERENCE BUSINESS WORTH

523 ENQUIRIES

31% CONVERSION RATE

£1M+.

Business tourism contriButes

to NewcastleGateshead’s ecoNomy.

£104m

OVER

dElEgatES.

to NewcastleGateshead’s ecoNomy.

14,700

940,000

coNfErENcES aNd MEEtINgS arE hEld IN vENUES acroSS

NEwcaStlEgatEShEad EvEry yEar, wElcoMINg ovEr

fUll-tIME EqUIvalENt (ftE) joBS.

1,680

thE coNfErENcE aNd MEEtINgS INdUStry

dIrEctly SUpportS

bUSINESS TOURISM“We promote NewcastleGateshead as a leading UK conference destination, to attract conferences and events that bring high-spending, influential business visitors, and showcase both the location and our expertise in key sectors.” Paul Szomoru, Head of Business Tourism

AMbASSADOR PROGRAMME RELAUNCHED

The NewcastleGateshead

Meetings and Events Guide won bronze for Best Brochure

in the highly acclaimed Meetings Industry Marketing Awards

2014.

M&IT Awards 2014 – Silver Award for

Best UK Convention Bureau (making us best in England -

Glasgow won gold!)

Conference planners and our convention bureau team experiencing a rooftop walk on

Sage Gateshead as part of a familiarisation trip for UK conference organisers in May 2014.

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1110

The region celebrated the story of the North East and its famous half marathon at the Great North Run Million

Opening Ceremony.

2014

ILLU

STRA

TED

“For first-timers, the most surprising

thing about Newcastle is its architecture. Classic sandstone

buildings similar to those seen in cities like Bath and Edinburgh give the streets

character and the skyline is dominated by seven intricate bridges which

criss-cross the Tyne.”

Lisa Hughes, Irish Daily Star

“The industrial gloom that hung over Geordieland then

has been replaced with a dynamic bar and restaurant scene,

boutique hotels galore and an arts culture to rival London.”

Rob Crossan, Sunday Mirror

“NewcastleGateshead is emerging as one of the most

vibrant creative clusters outside London. The opportunities for conference businesses

are particularly strong in software development, technical support, gaming and creative services.”

Conference News

“It’s steam time again in the shed that once

housed Robert Stephenson’s locomotives as Tea & Cake Planet

toasts the 250th birthday of Charles, 2nd Earl Grey.”

The Guardian Guide

▲ This was great! North East voters won the region a £1m VisitBritain ad campaign at Heathrow Airport.

▲ Team Juice at the launch event for the 2014 festival at Northern Stage.

▲ Jonny Wilkinson getting us all excited about the ‘one year to go’ mark for Rugby World Cup 2015.

▲ Our Winter Carnival bringing in the new year 2014 in style.

▲ Vector 76’s Oculus VR headset on show at the NewcastleGateshead UKTI Creative and Digital Showcase.

▲ The media launch for the Westfield Health British Transplant Games 2015.▲ Sunderland AFC’s Jimmy Montgomery takes on visitors to the NewcastleGateshead stand at International Confex.

2014 ILLUSTRATED

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Image © Paul Appleby Photography1312

Pictured: new talent emerging in our universities to support our thriving games industry.

Ubisoft is the fourth largest independent games publisher in the world and the producer of global brands such as Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs and Just Dance.

Ubisoft is currently building its EMEA consumer relationship centre (CRC) at Newcastle Business Park, which is already home to Reflections, Ubisoft’s long-established North East based production studio. The new centre is part of the company’s vision to centralise and unify its consumer relationships and is a strategic move for the company. Working with an existing local partner, the CRC will provide support in over 10 languages to gamers across Australia, Europe and the Middle East.

We delivered an extensive and bespoke package of support to secure the investment following a competitive bid process. This included everything from informing the business case, property solutions, access to finance and assistance in the relocation of staff to facilitated introductions to business networks and key business contacts.

Stéphane Catherine, Digital Marketing and CRM Director (EMEA) Ubisoft, said: “We chose Newcastle to set up this project for several reasons. It offers a more flexible and highly skilled, technical workforce as well as being an easy sell to prospective employees. The strong support we received from NewcastleGateshead Initiative and Newcastle City Council has helped us to quickly establish and grow the CRC.”

“ We manage inward investment activity for Newcastle and Gateshead to attract new business, investment and jobs, support indigenous businesses to grow and ultimately to help deliver private-sector-led growth.”

Catherine Walker, Inward Investment Director

INVESTMENT POTENTIAL SHOWCASED

WHAT: We meticulously planned, organised and hosted a visit, with a difference, to showcase and raise the profile of the strategic investment and employment sites on offer here in NewcastleGateshead.

WHO: 12 influential, national and international investors, developers and commercial property consultants visited sites ripe for development and met business leaders from the region as part of a packed two-day programme designed to inform and inspire them.

HOW: It was no mean feat to attract these key decision makers ‘up North’. But we knew that once here we could make a real impact. Working with partners and colleagues we created a focused but imaginative programme of activity – including VIP access to the spectacular Great North Run Million Opening Ceremony – that really helped to sell the benefits of not just investing here but also the wider experience of living and working in the region. A member of our team even met the visitors at Kings Cross – ensuring that they experienced the famous warm Geordie welcome from the very outset.

WHy: The visit marked the beginning of a campaign to kick-start the promotion of the destination’s four strategic sites in the Accelerated Development Zone with the key message being ‘NewcastleGateshead is open for business’. Having seen and experienced the potential for themselves, all of our guests left as advocates for the destination.

Khawar Ali, co-founder of AdvisoryKONNECT, a leading advisory firm specialising in the growth of global sourcing firms said: “I am truly impressed with what Newcastle and Gateshead have to offer the business world and would highly recommend enterprises consider the city as a destination for business in the UK.”

bESPOKE SUPPORT SECURES UbISOFT INVESTMENT INWARD INVESTMENT 3

creative and digital; offshore and marine;

healthcare and life sciences

PRIORITy SECTORS:

29inc. BiBBy OffshOre,

PriOrity GeOtechnical and escher GrOuP

PROJECT SUCCESSES AND WINS

140(with 7,800 potential jobs)

in the pipeline

LIVE PROJECTS

972JObS CREATED

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1514

JUICE JOINS NATIONAL PORTFOLIO

WHAT: Juice, our award-winning festival for children and young people, was one of just 46 organisations nationally – and the only one in the region – newly selected to join the Arts Council England portfolio this year, with funding worth £100k secured annually for three years starting in April 2015.

WHO: Our culture team developed and submitted the NPO (national portfolio organisation) bid in order to strengthen Juice’s funding model, enable longer term planning and development of a strong artistic programme and provide confidence to other potential funders, supporters and collaborators.

HOW: We have led the development of Juice over the past seven years, working in close collaboration with NewcastleGateshead Cultural Venues (NGCV). During this time Juice has established a reputation as a leading festival in the region and a key player in the national network of children and young people’s festivals.

WHy: Our vision for Juice is to be the leading children and young people’s arts festival in the UK and Europe and NPO status will enable us to continue to pursue this ambition and to really establish it as a festival of national and international significance. At a time of reduced public funding for the arts, the announcement of Juice’s newfound NPO status demonstrates Arts Council England’s confidence in both the festival’s track record and its future potential – and importantly safeguards the festival for the young people of NewcastleGateshead. We’re really looking forward to working with Juice’s newly appointed artistic director Chris Batstone to take the festival’s programme and profile to the next level.

“Juice put in a strong application for National Portfolio funding; the festival shows leadership in developing exciting new work for children, young people and families that we hope will inspire the next generation of writers, performers and producers across the North East”.Jane Tarr, Arts Council Director, North

120,000PEOPLE

EAT! NEWCASTLEGATESHEAD

attractS aroUNd

to its programme of events.

50,000

oUr NEw yEar’S EvE wINtEr carNIval

paradE attractS ovEr

ATTENDEES.

Diners enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour of the Swing Bridge control room before sitting down to a feast prepared by Tony Renwick of The Bridge Tavern.

EAT! NewcastleGateshead partnered with Port of Tyne – custodians of the Swing Bridge and sponsors of EAT! OUT – to offer this unique experience which launched the festival in inimitable style.

EAT! OUT’s 10-day programme of foodie events and experiences in August was the middle course of EAT! 2014/15, with Tea & Cake Planet starting the feast of events in June and EAT! IN following in February 2015. The festival celebrated local talent and the nation’s love of outdoor dining and importantly ensured that EAT! continues to attract local people, visitors from further afield and media profile and acclaim for its ambitious and distinctive events which champion North East food.

Pictured: EAT! OUT got off to a swinging start in 2014 with a very special dinner on the iconic Swing Bridge – part of a series of adventurous dining experiences in outdoor locations, entitled Naked Feasts.

Juice Festival attracts over

each year and engages with more than

across the region.

13,500 ATTENDEES

6,000 yOUNG PEOPLE

18,500.

ENchaNtEd parkS IN SaltwEll

park gatEShEad attractS aN aUdIENcE of ovEr

72%said that Eat! was thEir main rEason for visiting

thE dEstination.

Of thOsE REspONdENts VIsItINg EAT! fROm OUtsIdE Of

NEWCASTLEGATESHEAD:

SoUrcE: Eat! oUt SUrvEy 2014

73%said it was likely that they would

return to newcastleGateshead for a day visit / short break

in the future.

FESTIVALS AND EVENTS

EAT! IN NUMbERS...

NEWcAstLEgAtEshEAd WINTER FESTIVAL 2014 20 NOVEmbER – 31 dEcEmbER

said it was likely that they would return to newcastleGateshead

for an event in the future.

72%

EAT! NEWCASTLEGATESHEAD IN FULL SWING

“ We promote the breadth of NewcastleGateshead’s cultural offer, develop and deliver cross-river festivals and events and, where appropriate, take the lead in bidding for major events. Why? Because it secures positive profile, changes perceptions, attracts visitors and builds local pride.”

Carol Bell, Head of Culture & Major Events

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In 2014 Juice was sponsored by the Port of Tyne

and supported by the Sir James Knott Trust.

fORbEs mAgAZINE NAmEd EAT! ‘ONE Of thE WORLd’s

CAN’T MISS FOODIE EVENTSOf 2014’.

1716

WHAT: We’re delighted that Sunderland University has upgraded its partnership this year, having been a silver partner for the past four years.

WHO: Sunderland University now joins Newcastle University, Northumbria University, Newcastle College and Gateshead College as gold partners from the further and higher education sector.

HOW: We support HE and FE partners to attract and retain students; today’s students are the region’s skills, capability and workforce of the future. From attendance at student open days to providing destination information for students and their visiting friends and families, we work to promote NewcastleGateshead as the UK’s best student city and to maximise students’ role as global ambassadors for our region. Sunderland University was keen to build on this existing work and, importantly, to strengthen its external engagement and regional role by becoming a gold partner and engaging at a strategic level.

WHy: “Over the years, NewcastleGateshead Initiative partnership has proven to be a fantastic networking opportunity, a route to market for our events offer, and a means of enhancing our civic role. As we look to extend this role still further across the region it was a natural next step to move to gold partnership. In 2012/13 the University injected over £415m into the North East economy, supporting over 5,300 jobs in the process. We see our partnership with NewcastleGateshead Initiative as helping us increase this remarkable local impact still further in the years to come.”

Phil Marsh, Director of Business Services, Sunderland University

Around 150 representatives from the region’s business community assembled for a ‘one year to go’ briefing session at Kingston Park, home of Newcastle Falcons. Speakers from Newcastle City Council and VisitEngland joined our chief executive Sarah Stewart along with rugby stars past and present, to outline the opportunities associated with hosting Rugby World Cup matches.

Over 50,000 visitors from around the world are expected in October 2015, to watch three group matches (including games involving South Africa and New Zealand) at St James’ Park, signalling a clear opportunity for businesses across the visitor economy and right across the region. In addition, a global TV audience of more than four billion is expected to watch England 2015, bringing global exposure to host cities such as Newcastle.

Leader of Newcastle City Council, Councillor Nick Forbes, said: “Big events make a big difference to our city and region. They create opportunities. They leave a legacy. But they require hard work and preparation if we are to make the most of them. That’s why events like this are so important.”

RUGby WORLD CUP bUSINESS bRIEFING

SUNDERLAND UNIVERSITy GOES FOR GOLD

“ We work with around 170 organisations that want to play an integral role in boosting the profile of our place. Everything we do is driven towards delivering economic benefit for the people, institutions and businesses of NewcastleGateshead; partnership working and collaboration underpin every aspect of our work to achieve this.”

Sarah Stewart, Chief Executive

1 IN 3OF OUR PARTNERS

IS bASED OUTSIDE OFNEWCASTLEGATESHEAD.

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NEW PARTNERS IN 2014...

SOURCES AND LEVELS OF FUNDINGIncluding indirect funding, both cash and in

kind (e.g. VisitEngland campaign support and

visitor information centre funding).

“ The single most important reason that we continue to thrive is that we’ve succeeded in diversifying our income. Indeed, it is the strength of the support, in cash and in-kind, that we receive from all our partners that underpins our resilience.”

Sarah Stewart, Chief Executive

cOUNcIL fUNdINg cOmmERcIAL INcOmE

EXtERNAL fUNdERs

2013/14

ACTUAL SPEND £4.1M

21%

51%

28%

2014/15

PROJECTED SPEND £3.9M

22%

43%

35%

PARTNERSHIP

Welcome to our new and upgraded partners:

University of Sunderland; DWF; Greggs; Go North East; Muckle LLP; TSG; Beacon Events; Common Purpose; Echo Events & Association Management; Go Ape; The Herb Garden; Lane 7; Newcastle City Guides; Onyx Group; The Original Property Company; Pulse Event Management; Seaham Hall; Tedco; Unwritten Creative.

Pictured: England players (and Women’s Rugby World Cup 2014 winners) Katy Mclean and Tamara Taylor with Sarah Stewart, NewcastleGateshead Initiative; James Berresford, VisitEngland; and Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle City Council at a special NewcastleGateshead Initiative partner event in September 2014, highlighting the many opportunities arising from Rugby World Cup 2015 in Newcastle, expected to generate £43m for the local economy.

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100% OF ALL INCOME

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“In April 2014, we established a wholly owned trading company for emerging business development opportunities, called NGI Solutions Limited. This provides us with a separate legal entity and greater freedom to develop and deliver projects distinct from our core activity. NGI Solutions enables us to use our existing skills and expertise to secure exciting new projects and valuable commercial income which is reinvested in support of our ongoing work to promote this great place we call home.” James Ealey, Business Development Director

A NEW SOLUTION FOR NGIWHAT: As public sector funding continues to reduce, we have been working proactively for a number of years to secure new and additional sources of income that will allow us to continue to fulfil our core mission and objectives. NGI Solutions is the next step in this strategy and enables us to drive new strands of commercial revenue for the organisation.

WHO: Using the existing NewcastleGateshead Initiative team and our wide-ranging in-house experience, skills and expertise we are now able to respond quickly to new opportunities and deliver distinct commercial projects, including research and insight and marketing and PR consultancy.

HOW: There have been several ways in which NGI Solutions has driven this commercial approach forward. For example, in April 2014 we made our first business acquisition – TASTECLUB (the organisation which promotes and sells the food and drink talent and products of North East England). The natural synergy between our two organisations provides opportunities to collaborate and strengthen existing activity, including the development and promotion of EAT! Festival. We have also delivered insight projects for the likes of Durham County Cricket Club, Sunderland AFC and the Festival of Thrift. And marketing and PR consultancy projects have included commissions from Newcastle College’s Lifestyle Academy and the Westfield Health British Transplant Games.

WHy: In simple terms – NGI Solutions projects and income allow us to continue NewcastleGateshead Initiative projects and activity. It is an innovative approach to attracting new and enhanced levels of commercial income, which is vital to the ongoing success of our organisation and the ongoing promotion of the destination. The first nine months of NGI Solutions have demonstrated demand for our services and we’re looking forward to working on many more projects and commissions into 2015 and beyond.

Newcastle College Lifestyle Academy approached us to seek marketing and communications support with the development and delivery of a new brochure for its stakeholders. Working with an external design agency we project managed the development and production of a new corporate brochure for the academy – from scoping and developing the initial brief, interviewing staff and drafting copy and content to managing the design and print process.

“The NGI Solutions team supported us in creating improved awareness of our ‘careers’ brand by developing and producing valuable new information for our stakeholders. We were delighted with both the efficiency and expertise of the team, as well as the inspirational brochure that was subsequently produced and which we are now very proud to share.”

Rob Kleiser, Lifestyle Academy Director, Newcastle College

The Westfield Health British Transplant Games will take place in NewcastleGateshead in 2015. From the outset, as the destination marketing agency for the area, we had played a proactive role in supporting plans to promote the Games. When the event organisers identified a need for wider PR support, they asked us to bid for the work, which we subsequently won. Our significant experience of PR and communications delivery for major events, our ability to communicate with our regional business network, our strong and established relationships with key regional, national and trade media and our breadth of knowledge, experience and expertise across communications disciplines – including social media – all meant that we were well placed to respond to this project.

CASE STUDy 1:

CASE STUDy 2

WHAT CAN NGI SOLUTIONS DO FOR yOU?To find out more about the expertise we can offer through NGI Solutions or to discuss a potential project or commission, please get in touch; see our meet the team section on the following pages.

NGI SOLUTIONSSTAKEHOLDER bROCHURE FOR NEWCASTLE COLLEGE LIFESTyLE ACADEMy

PR FOR THE bRITISH TRANSPLANT GAMES

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INWARD INVESTMENTCatherine Walker - Inward Investment Director

Julie Dodds - Senior Investment Manager

Jennifer Hartley - Senior Investment Manager

Dezra Riley - Monitoring & Evaluation Manager

Judith Murphy - ERDF Programme Administrator

TASTECLUbJo Atkinson - Operations Manager

Samantha Little - Administration Assistant

MEET THE TEAM

NewcastleGateshead Initiative9th Floor, Baltic Place East, South Shore Road, Gateshead NE8 3AE

E: firstname.surname@ngi.org.uk T: 0191 440 5720Twitter: @NGinitiative W: NewcastleGateshead.com/corporate

CHIEF EXECUTIVESarah Stewart

CENTRAL SERVICESCath Hindle - Head of Operations & Tourism

James Ealey - Business Development Director

Anne Howes - Senior Office Manager

Pete O'Hara - Management Accountant

Rachel Cameron - Finance Manager

Jane Harkness - Finance Assistant

Ian Thomas - Research Manager

Sam Riley - Research Assistant

Anna Moroney - Partnership Development Executive

Cariad Holmes - Partnership Development Executive

Joy Sanders - Administrator & Events Executive

Rachael Purvis - Administration Assistant

Carly Ivers - Apprentice Administrator

CULTURECarol Bell - Head of Culture & Major Events

Vikki Leaney - Programme Development Manager

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONSKathie Wilcox - Head of Marketing & Communications

Becky Madeley - Marketing Manager & Team Leader

Marc Burns - Digital Marketing Manager & Team Leader

David Brookbanks - Media & PR Manager

Shelley Armstrong - Media & PR Manager

Vanessa Robinson - Media & PR Manager

Shelley Johnson - Marketing Manager

Deb Robinson - Marketing Executive

David Morton - Social Media & Digital Content Executive

Molly Schofield - Web Design & Marketing Assistant

VISITOR INFORMATION CENTREJonathan Gilroy - Visitor Information Manager

Helen Johnson - Visitor Information Executive

Margaret Darby- Visitor Information Executive

Sarah Gardner - Visitor Information Assistant

Julia Scott - Visitor Information Assistant

Gary Oliver - Visitor Information Assistant

Ann Taylor - Visitor Information Assistant

Paula Smith - Visitor Information Assistant

CONVENTION bUREAU

Paul Szomoru - Head of Business Tourism

Alex Mackee - Conference Sales Manager

Caroline Reed - Conference Development Manager

Natalie Underwood - Conference Development Manager

Julie Rastelletti - Business Tourism Executive

Laura Kennedy – Business Tourism Executive

GET IN TOUCH

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NewcastleGateshead Initiative9th FloorBaltic Place EastSouth Shore RoadGatesheadNE8 3AE

E: info@ngi.org.ukT: +44 (0)191 440 5720Twitter: @NGinitiativeW: NewcastleGateshead.com/corporate

Acknowledgements

Photographers: Paul Appleby, Peter Atkinson, Kevin Gibson, Richard Kenworthy, North News, Graeme Peacock

Design: Sheridan Design