CorpComms Magazine

Camden, the north London borough that spans the elegance of Primrose Hill, bustling Covent Garden to the grittiness of the infamous Somers Town estate, has had more than its share of headlines in recent months. There have been the bizarre antics of resident Amy Winehouse, the fire at the famous market and the tragic stories of teenage knife attacks, but for the borough's 220,000 residents, Ashley Wilcox is the man making sure they are informed.

Wilcox is corporate communications manager for Camden, working with a team of 40, to inform and educate the local population about the services offered by their local borough. 'It is a difficult challenge,' says Wilcox. 'We provide between 600 and 700 different services and we try to ensure that resident are aware of these. There is no big sell. We just tell them that these are great services and they can make their lives easier. But the communications budget is very low. We have just 19p per week per resident, or 0.3 per cent of the council budget.'

Shortly after Wilcox joined in 2005, a coalition between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives unseated the incumbent Labour council, who had held power for 36 years, promising to take politics out of local government. It signalled the end of council newspaper Camden Living, which was filled with quotes from local politicians, and gave Wilcox a blank canvas to start again - without any interference from councillors.

He produced a business case to justify the publication of another newspaper, Your Camden, which instead focusses on the borough's services and residents' real life experiences. When concerns about knife crime rose, for example, the newspaper carried a story of a former violent petty criminal who had turned his life around.

READING GOOD NEWS

'We do spend a lot of time researching and evaluating our work,' says Wilcox. 'We distribute the magazine to 95,000 homes in the borough and to pick up points, such as Sainsbury's, libraries and community centres. Our surveys show that 90,000 residents read our newspaper, which is much higher than the readership of the local newspapers.'

Keeping residents educated has a huge impact on their satisfaction levels. In the year to 2005, 68 per cent of residents perceived Camden Council to be doing a good job. Today, the level is nearer to 76 per cent against a London borough average of 67 per cent.

But Wilcox's approach is about more than just a newspaper. He initiated an A-Z Handy Guide to council services, which costs a hefty 33p per copy to produce. When residents were polled on the cost and whether they viewed the publication as valuable, 90 per cent said yes.

'We are very strategic in our approach,' explains Wilcox. 'We have a three year strategy and service plan and everything we do works to this, otherwise we would all go off and do lots of different things. Our strategy is aligned to the corporate plan. Our key objective is to keep residents informed about services and to increase their understanding of what we do.'

The situation is complicated by the demographics of Camden, which is recognised as having the largest social deprivation gap of any London borough. Residents speak a total of 108 different languages. 'It is a transient population and very diverse. We have a very big Somali and Bengali population, and there are more Chinese people now moving into the area,' says Wilcox. 'Our key aim is to produce information in an accessible way.' Your Camden is available in several languages, the choice of which is reviewed regularly, and large print, while there is an audio version of the council's website available. 'Camden is forever changing. There is always something new happening and we need to keep ahead in the way we communicate,' he adds.

Another Wilcox initiative is almost retro style campaign advertisements. 'We can't go off to big agencies. We have an in-house design team, which we have now centralised, and we take a creative approach to our adverts,' he says. 'They are a bit cheesy but they catch people's eyes.' To highlight the council's recycling of white goods, an advert with a picture of a fridge with the slogan 'How cool is that?' did the trick.

RESIDENT APPEAL

But Wilcox has also endeavoured to use residents' experiences to educate other local people. When the council sought to increase the number of people registered to vote, it launched an advertising campaign using local people. A resident called Warren, for example, was pictured at Warren Street. 'It was very creative and played on local people's names. We also highlighted one resident who had never voted, one who could but didn't and one who had voted all their life,' says Wilcox. 'Using local people made the campaign much more interesting.' In the event, the number of residents registered to vote rose ten percentage points - significantly above the national average.

'We have also worked to increase residents' participation in the democratic process in other ways,' says Wilcox. 'We are getting people involved with the council. We have arranged meetings in different areas where people can turn up and talk about their local issues. In 18 months, 560 people attended these meetings.'

But just as it is vital for the council that residents recognise its value, so too is it important that the council recognises residents' efforts. The Good Citizen Award has celebrated the good work of Camden people for many years, but Wilcox and his team transformed the scheme into a black tie event. 'It is very glitzy now,' he says. 'Residents have eight weeks to nominate somebody for the Good Citizen award, which is now sponsored by the local paper, Eurostar, which just moved to St Pancras in the borough, the Wellcome Trust and other local companies.'

About 150 nominated people attended this year's event, and a handful were selected as Good Citizens. 'It took place at KoKo, which used to be Camden Palais. Paul Ross hosted it and there was a band afterwards. Sponsorships cover over half the costs, and it is quite an expensive event. But it is important because it raises the profile and work of our residents.' 

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