City Insights – Stage 1

City of Newcastle

The challenge:

City of Newcastle had developed City Insights — a free online platform designed to help businesses, investors, planners and community organisations make smarter decisions using local data. But for a tool like this to drive real uptake, it needed more than functionality. It needed clarity, relevance, and trust across different audience types.

The challenge was to translate a data-rich platform into messaging and collateral that felt useful, simple and credible — and flexible enough to work across different users, channels and future campaign needs.

Insight: Even the best data tool won’t be used if it feels complex, technical, or unclear.

To build confidence and engagement, City Insights needed to be positioned as a practical decision-making companion — one that helps people answer real questions like: Where should I open? Where is development increasing? What’s happening in the suburb around me? How do I back up a proposal or funding application with evidence?

We created a content and collateral system that makes City Insights easy to understand, easy to share, and easy to adopt.

At the centre was a clear platform promise: City Insights helps people across Newcastle make smarter, faster decisions with real, government-sourced data.

To bring that to life, we developed a messaging framework anchored to four key platform capabilities — development activity, business mix, suburb indicators and local spending — expressed in a tone that is helpful, intelligent, visual and direct.

We delivered a full suite of Stage 1 content and collateral designed for rollout across marketing, engagement and internal teams:

Audience persona mapping to capture the different motivations, needs and barriers across SMEs, property, planning, and community audiences
Value propositions by persona, ensuring City Insights feels relevant whether you’re a café owner, builder, investor or advisor
A complete platform messaging framework, including overarching messaging and persona-specific directions
Tone of voice guidelines to ensure all communications remain clear, trustworthy, and outcome-led
A channel strategy to support awareness and engagement across the right partner networks and touchpoints
A modular copy bank, providing ready-to-use messaging grouped by audience type
A collateral suite (A4 flyer + A5 persona cards) to support stakeholder engagement and real-world distribution
A 60–90 second video and supporting formats to explain the platform in a simple, visual way
Retouched photography delivered in both high-res and web-ready formats
A channel matrix and editable handover materials to support long-term internal adoption and future campaign build

City Insights moved from being a powerful platform to a clearly positioned product — with a messaging system that makes the value obvious, credible, and easy to communicate.

By building a modular framework grounded in real audience needs, City of Newcastle now has the foundations to scale awareness, drive uptake, and grow the platform over time — without having to reinvent messaging for every future asset or audience.

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Work Approach About

Awabakal Country
PO Box 1695
Newcastle 2300
New South Wales
Australia

Wadawurrung Country

Surf Coast Shire
Victoria
Australia

We acknowledge that we work on the lands of the Awabakal and Wadawurrung nations. We wish to pay respect to their Elders – past, present and future – and acknowledge the important role all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to play within our region and all of Australia.

Awabakal Country
PO Box 1695
Newcastle 2300
New South Wales
Australia

Wadawurrung Country

Surf Coast Shire
Victoria
Australia

We acknowledge that we work on the lands of the Awabakal and Wadawurrung nations. We wish to pay respect to their Elders – past, present and future – and acknowledge the important role all Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people continue to play within our region and all of Australia.