Tag Archives: Birmingham

Mr Birmingham

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As a health warning, most of this post was written sitting in a Euston station café after I found out that my train ticket to Birmingham New Street was for off peak travel only. That left me with nearly three hours (!) to spare, so I have probably gone overboard here.

I was in London because I had a meeting with Michael Wolff. I have blogged about him before (here, here and here) after his visit to Birmingham as part of the Plus International Design Festival. The interview I did with him also provoked quite a big reaction from the city’s great and good.

The meeting was more of a chat over lunch than anything formal (I am on holiday after all!). We talked about the process of branding businesses and about how the process might apply to a city.

He had some interesting points to make. One was about the importance of understanding what you want your city to be about, before you start reflecting that through design.

If Birmingham was a person, or a family, what would it be like? If it was a verb, what would happen if you Birmingham-ed?

It’s an interesting exercise and I didn’t have an immediate answer. However, I think it that says a lot in itself.

Some people might say you can’t simplify a city down to just a few key features but, in fact, we do it all the time. Manchester isn’t just about its football and its music, but there is no denying that it has benefited from those associations and, I bet, most Manchester residents are pretty proud of that.

So, being stranded in Euston station for two-and-a-half hours gave me ample opportunity to mull it over! If Birmingham was a person, what would they be about?

I got rather carried away and it ended up quite detailed covering home life, leisure, family, work, education and more!

I imagine a lot of people will disagree with what I’ve written. I hope they do. I’m more than aware this image says as much about me as it does about Birmingham. I only hope it is not as soaked in middle class stereotypes as I fear it may be.

However, the point still stands: the more people that undertake the exercise there is more of a likelihood that common themes will emerge.

This could then be used to develop perhaps five key areas that could be developed to help define the city, Michael suggests.

Maybe it is committing to developing the best care homes in the UK, or perhaps there is something else that Birmingham is good at that can be built upon, boosted and made part of the city’s image.

I’m not sure. But below is my “Mr Birmingham”. See what you think:

Birmingham is a warm, welcoming and outgoing person.

He has lived his life in the city of his birth and has a strong identity with its traditions and heritage. He is proud of what it has achieved and likes to be associated with the great innovators of the past.

But, along with this sense of place, he has a strong cultural connection to one or more other countries/cultures. His parents/grandparents/ great grandparents arrived in this city and made their home here. He likes to share this cultural background with his friends and to hear about their cultures and traditions. As a result, his musical, artistic and culinary tastes are eclectic and diverse.

His home is a popular destination for parties and events, as he has the knack of making everyone feel at home, no matter who they are and where they come from.

He has a great sense of humour and can laugh at himself. That doesn’t mean, however, that he isn’t proud of who he is.

His house is not showy, pretentious or egocentric. It is comfortable, clean, welcoming but also well designed and stylish. Its innovative and environmental features often impress guests.

But, despite this, he is, generally, modest and is not a man that indulges in crude status symbols. He is no yuppy. Making people feel comfortable is more important than showing them how successful he is.

That is not to say, however, that he is unsuccessful. His creativity and education combine to make him refreshing and inspiring in his work. He is very good at what he does and embraces new developments in his industry as opportunities, not threats. He is often at the forefront of these developments.

When it comes to clothes and fashion, he is confident and innovative enough to have developed his own sense of style. But he remains constantly open to, surprised and delighted by new ideas.

His car looks good, but it is more likely to have been chosen because of its clever use of design. This is a trait that he is very proud of. After all, doesn’t he deserve something that is more than just adequate?

He loves playing and watching sport and is a great supporter of his local teams, especially football and cricket.

Family is important to him. He recognises the sacrifices made by generations before him and wants to provide them the best possible care for them as they get older.

For his children, he wants them to have an education that opens doors and provides opportunities. Although he’d love them to stay in the city to develop their careers, he is happy that if they have to move on, they will be proud to say where they have come from.

He is also passionate about instilling an attitude of creativity and invention – it’s ok to fail if it is part of how you improve and develop.

 

NUJ Multimedia Commission

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The report is out! But, I must confess, I haven’t read it yet.

At the moment I’m trapped between writing up my trip to Geneva, preparing two weeks of media & marketing stories, completing the registration for a postgraduate course and preparing to go to Hong Kong on Sunday (I know! I will tell all soon!).

However, Paul Bradshaw picks up on some interesting bits of the NUJ report. Press Gazette also covers it and so does the Guardian. There is a lot I want to say, but I want to hold out until I’ve read the whole report (something for the plane perhaps?!).

Also, I’ve been really interested in the creative director for Birmingham debate that has taken place of late and will have more to say on that very soon. I read the posts by Stef and Paul with interest. There have been a few developments and I’ll fill you in on these soon too.

Sorry for the poor post!

The Brummie of the Year is…

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John Tighe.

Congratulations John!

As landlord of The Spotted Dog pub in Digbeth, John has battled against a noise abatement order served against the pub, after live music at the venue (which has been going for 20 years) affected some of the residents in a new apartment block built nearby.

A campaign website related to his plight (set up by a resident from the very same apartment block) keepdigbethvibrant.co.uk tells more.

Also congratulations to runner up and mentor to the Birmingham blogworld, Pete Ashton.

Birmingham’s immigrant communities

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On Tuesday a new five-part series started on Radio 4 looking at different immigrant communities in Birmingham and at the centres in which they gather.

Centre of our World is, of course, presented by uberBrummie Carl Chinn. The first episode focuses on Digbeth’s Irish Centre. It’s a place that, when I worked in the Custard Factory, I passed every weekday without a thought.

It’s wonderful to hear the history and the personal stories of those that use it:

“It wasn’t easy getting a job. I walked from Balsall Heath almost to the Dunlop before I found a job. I tried at every factory the whole way out. I walked out, all the way out there, through Aston onto the Tyburn Road and I got a job in this little factory and then I got into the Dunlop where I worked for five years making bus tyres.”

It’s only 16 minutes, but also covers the effect on the community of the Birmingham pub bombings and the current decline of the West Midland Irish population. If you missed it you can listen again.

This Tuesday will be the Polish community centre.

Birmingham: The Anthem

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B:iNS suggests Birmingham needs it’s own anthem.

While I shudder at the thought, it reminds me of my heady teenage days living in Sussex.

Back then we had Terry Garoghan, the unoffical mayor of Brighton. He created Brighton: The Musical and bestowed an anthem upon the then town:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My5K1GWzcls]

Could Birmingham attain something of equal majesty, I wonder?

The Sunday shift

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I was “2pm ’til 10pm” girl today, but actually ended up enjoying myself.

Not only did it allow me to walk home in the snow (and have the olbigatory snowball fight), but it also produced quite an interesting story for the front page.

It all centres around this. See if you can figure it out!
[Edit: well you won’t be able to guess now as it appears that after our article today, they’ve edited the document!]

Ne nostra in fundamenta subeamus (Let us not climb up our own bottoms)

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Ok, I’m back.

This time prompted by sheer enthusiasm, which I have promised myself is the only way I will blog in future.

I’m excited to hear that Matthew Parris is enamoured with our fair city and echos the comments made by Trevor Beattie in my interview with him the other week.

In his column for The Times, Matthew mulls over a new motto for the UK (it was mooted some time back that Gordy was looking for one). Inspiration came during his speech at Birmingham Foward’s annual dinner:

The perfect national motto. It came to me while addressing a dinner given by the Birmingham Forward association of regional businesses. Birmingham is looking great these days, and I said how much nicer it was to encounter a city where people undersold themselves, than places (but let’s leave Manchester out of this) that were up their own bottoms.

An MP and archetypal young thruster of a Government minister, Liam Byrne, had recently bewailed what he called the West Midlands’ “malaise of modesty”. Modesty a malaise! How very new Labour. A pleasantly low-key attitude to themselves is one of the great assets of West Midlanders. So I suggested a new motto for Birmingham, which the audience seemed to like.

Philip Howard, the classicist of The Times, has helped me to translate it into Latin, and the five-word motto would be splendid, in fact, for Britain itself – except that it undermines the whole Brownite constitutional project.

Ne nostra in fundamenta subeamus: “Let us not climb up our own bottoms.”

It’s true that, in many ways, Birmingham has undersold itself through modesty. Trevor Beattie suggested that if we could temporarily adopt the arrogance of the Mancunians, then we might raise our profile a bit.

But I think perhaps it isn’t arrogance we need. I think it’s confidence and a little bit of self belief.

We’ve taken the knocks because there are some idiots that insist on judging the city using anachronistic stereotypes. And, perhaps, that’s made us play safe on some issues.

Yet, in my experience, Birmingham has masses of talent, passion and creativity. Perhaps we just need to be a little braver and give less of a stuff what everyone else thinks.

With a bit of self belief we could use our modesty to our advantage. After all, being great isn’t about shouting the loudest, it’s about doing things better than everyone else!

From (the rather appropriately named) upyerbrum

Answers: Trevor Beattie

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Well! That was a treat!

The title of Trevor’s talk for the evening as “What is the Big Idea?”. His answer? In advertising there is no big idea, just lots of little ideas that can contribute to a big idea.

It was a talk full of laughs and interesting takes on the advertising industry. It felt like a collection of some of his favourite pictures and videos that he had put together into a presentation while on the train up from London (which he claimed it was).

I’d been warned that he might be a difficult person to interview, but he was warm, lively, open and unprententious. I suppose it wouldn’t be hard to imagine a fiery Irish temper under it all somewhere, but I saw none of it.

I’ve got to save the bulk of what he said for a article for The Post next week. But Stef (who seems to be in a pre-emptive mood) has posted a summary of the answer to his question here and below are answers to the other questions.

But first, a special mention for Jon Bounds and Birmingham: It’s Not Shit, which – unprompted – Trevor bought up during the interview.

He got introduced to the site by another guy from Birmingham who works at his agency BMB and he thinks it’s a great site! He knows all about why it was set up (failed Capital of Culture bid which Trevor worked on). He is a regular reader and a very proud Brummie.

Bounder’s Answer:

“Of course you can advertise a city, don’t be daft. That’s a silly thing to say. Next question!

“But seriously, you can, but its not up to me to do it – it’s up to everyone and we have to be more arrogant about Birmingham. I can keep shouting the message, but everyone else needs to be doing it too.”

Prem1um’s Answer: I’m afraid I got your question a bit mixed up and asked for the first four, which were: balti, race, humour and Balsall Heath (where he was born).

“I am very proud of Balsall Heath – 56 Brighton Road was where I grew up. Everyone in my business knows where I come from.

“All these cities that talk about multiculturalism. Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool – they’re not multicultural. London is now, but Birmingham invented it.

“When I was growing up in Balsall Heath in the 1970s it was just the way it was. On my road there was my family of Irish Brummies, then next door there was Halal butcher Brummie, across the road there were Jamaican Brummies and a bit further down there was some Pakistani Brummies. That’s how I grew up.”