Swindon Music

The challenge for the contestants on this weeks episode of The Apprentice was to re-brand the town of Margate. Now this has had me wondering in the past couple of days what you would do to re-brand Swindon.

At the moment I don't think Swindon has any real identity. Swindon used to be heavily involved in the Railway industry but since works left the town it has left a void. The town is still industrious, with Honda and BMW plants in the town and is in a great location for businesses with Nationwide and WH Smiths both chosing to base their head offices in Swindon.

Swindon is at the beginning of a regeneration process so this would be a perfect time to re-brand the place. Of course, we have a great music scene, the magic roundabout, numerous discount stores and a formidable teen pregnancy rate. But, my question is - how would you rebrand Swindon?

ROCKDON!

aka the simsons CRACKDON lol

With a town like Swindon, it's not as simple as a case of re-positioning, or re-branding, it. The problem is that, aside from the railways, the town really doesn't have any heritage or history to speak of, certainly nothing in comparison to nearby towns and cities anyway.

The lack of university (or similar) and any major, dedicated music venue mean that culture in Swindon will always be relatively limited - again, especially in comparison to places such as Bristol and Oxford, both of which are literally on our doorstep.

The other problem is that Swindon's already essentially a 'new' town and the branding it was given was to be as average and as median as possible. This has meant ensuring that the employment rate has been kept artificially high by enticing companies that provide mass employment but at average to slightly above average wages - meaning that while there's very little true poverty in Swindon, there's no real money either. This can be evidenced by the fact that when Honda workers lose even their overtime pay, there are thousands of families instantly plunged into financial difficulty.

Swindon is notable in its lack of high quality outlets of all types. There isn't a single high quality restaurant in the town centre or Old Town. There isn't a single high quality retailer. It speaks volumes that House of Fraser (arguably the only up market retailer in Swindon for decades) had to be turned into an bargain basement version of its own brand in Swindon. There isn't even a single truly high quality bar or pub in the town itself, certainly not when compared to nearby towns and cities.

Possibly due to the industrial legacy, and partly due to the type of employers here currently, there is almost a palpable dislike and distrust of anything 'nice' that might be set up, or be inclined to set up, in Swindon. Witness the Council scaring off Waitrose from the new College regeneration plan and replacing them with Somerfield or Morrisons instead.

I'm not suggesting that this is particularly a bad thing, it simply is what it is, but I can't see much real chance of Swindon changing very much over the coming decade (and longer term) unless the demographic changes - and I can see no reason why that might happen. Even the much vaunted re-development of the town centre is now effectively on ice for the next 10 years... which means it's going to be pretty much status quo for a long while yet.

RE-branding is as much about breaking old associations as it is about making new ones : personally I don't think most people who aren't connected with the town have much to go on, whereas even I associate Margate with a rundown seaside town full of pensioners and needing a lick of paint on the seafront. And I've never been there

So it'd be a straightforward branding/marketing exercise, and that needs to be based on what a place already has. And given that you only get to launch a brand once, my vote would go for more development first, then shout about the cool stuff, rather than trying to brand it in to existance. imo.

I've been there a few times, my ex-girlfriend used to live relatively nearby.

The place is an unmitigated s**t hole. If you ever get too depressed about Swindon, just remember that you don't live in Margate - things could always be worse.

Sometimes you have to go and stand on next doors lawn to be reminded just how green yours actually is

Think Julian's response is spot on. Swindon Redevelopment is already doing a few things to change and improve the town though, so sure this'll help some of this.

HA! I had a school friend who moved from Swindon to Margate! LUCK OUT!

Although, if your friend is in to widespread dim wittedness, drugs and random violence... Margate FTW.

Although, to be fair, virtually the entire furthest coastal regions of Kent are a bit, how shall I put it... fucking awful. So Margate's not particularly special in that regard.

who is Julian ? come on, throw non-in-crowd folk a bone
<wanders off muttering 'cliquey bastards etc etc'>

*edit* - ok, spose it must be Mr 20eyes ?

the one and the same!

Problem is, there's nothing to attract people to Swindon. At least Margate has a beach.

I don't get all the talk of our 'great' music scene, yeah it is good, but nothing special to attract people here.

its crap if you ask me , 5 places max to have a gig that are good , no big old venue just the Oasis we get some bands come here whats that 10 gigs a year wow Swindon push that boat out , kings of leon I saw there the gig was good but the place is a swimming pool for f**k sake .
you think this place is good for gig's , I think Swindon Sucks hardcore for bands (RR1 big weekend does not count , its a free event where only 10,000 was there from Swindon)

we need a real Venue that can take 500-1000 thats not run by our s**t council .

just my 2 pennes

Deluk

'Music scene' doesn't just refer to bands with guitars playing before 11pm.

I would like to play before 11pm , can't play drunk

Deluk