By Joe Masa, Stockport Council
A rainy Manchester, bright ideas
Another great meet‑up with my fellow LGcomms Future Leaders for the Branding Masterclass in Manchester. With the session taking place in my neck of the woods, the logistics felt refreshingly simple. It was a straightforward 20‑minute hop on the Metrolink into Manchester City Centre, which set the tone nicely for the day ahead. There was also a real sense of anticipation, especially with parts of the session still being kept under wraps.
I arrived excited for what was coming! Branding and Marketing are a real interest of mine given my background, and I’d heard so many good things about this session from previous Future Leaders cohorts that expectations were already high.
Manchester, of course, lived up to its reputation with a rainy welcome, but thankfully as the day went on (and as the conversations got going), things brightened up all round.
These sessions are always a valuable chance to pause, step out of the day‑to‑day, and spend time with people who are facing similar challenges and opportunities across local government communications. I always look forward to catching up with the cohort too, whether that’s hearing about big life updates or talking through work challenges and picking each other’s brains.
A branding masterclass that challenged the norm
The branding masterclass, delivered by the brilliant MFour team (Manchester City Council); Shawn Bahlmann, Chris, Craig and Barrie was genuinely inspiring.
What stood out for me was how grounded the approach is. It isn’t just about good design… it’s about people and improving lives, which came through in both the work and the mindset.
We also got a sense of the strength of the work coming out of MFour, from Barrie’s standout use of photography to Craig and Chris pushing the boundaries with campaigns that genuinely connect. One phrase that really stuck with me was that ‘people buy into people’, and you can see that throughout their work. Whether it’s humour, bold visuals that grab your attention, or more emotive storytelling, it’s clear their work is designed to resonate with audiences rather than just inform.
Another big takeaway was the confidence in their approach; being clear on their ideas, backing them, and not being afraid to push for something different when it matters.
Rather than focusing on branding as just visuals or guidelines, the session really pushed us to think about confidence, clarity and courage in our work. Some key takeaways that stuck with me:
– be bold in your thinking
– be brave enough to back your ideas
– let results do the talking
– don’t be afraid to challenge the norm to deliver truly stand‑out campaigns
For me, it was a really useful reminder that some of the strongest public sector campaigns come from trusting our professional judgement and being prepared to do things a little differently.
Turning ideas into action
One of the highlights of the day was working through ideas with my team, building on the sparks that MFour had lit earlier in the session. There’s something powerful about collaborative thinking; pressure‑testing ideas, refining them, and seeing them evolve quickly (and yes, it’s always good to come away with a win!).
Thanks where it’s due
Huge thanks, as always, to Danni, Alix, Jeni, Zhen and Vicki for organising and supporting the session and to MFour for hosting us. These opportunities to learn and reflect continue to add real value to the Future Leaders programme.
I’m looking forward to taking these ideas back into my day‑to‑day work; backing creativity, pushing for bolder thinking, and keeping residents at the heart of everything we do. I came away from the session feeling genuinely inspired too. We’ve got a number of campaigns at the ideation stage at work at the moment, and there’s a lot from this session that I can see myself bringing into those, whether that’s pushing ideas a bit further, adding more personality, or just thinking more creatively about how we connect with people.
It was also really interesting hearing more about the Manchester Town Hall renovation, not just the scale of the work, but the stories behind it. Things like the apprentice placing the first and last tile on the roof, and the focus on capturing the people working on the project day in, day out, really bring it to life. Living in Manchester, I’ve seen the work happening from the outside, so it was nice to hear from those closer to it about what’s going on behind the scenes and just how good it’s already looking, and how impressive it’s going to be when it’s finished.
All of that brings me back to one of the simplest (and probably best) lines from the session that’s stuck with me: people buy into people.