Advertise on podcast: DNCO 20 / 20

Joy Nazzari sits with James Craig, founder of Oval Real Estate, to revisit the branding of Digbeth — a 20-acre former industrial quarter in Birmingham now home to businesses ranging from one-person studios to the BBC. They discuss Oval’s stewardship philosophy to the estate, open-sourcing the Digbeth Sans typeface for the community to use, and how to build a brand designed to last decades.

DNCO strategist Brenda Sjahrial talks with Amanda Lumley, Chief Executive of Destination Plymouth, to revisit Plymouth’s city brand. They discuss branding in the era of logo rage, using creative research to dig deeper, and finding ways to turn a sprawling group of stakeholders into the brand’s fiercest defenders at launch.

Patrick Eley reunites with Peter Allen, Residential Sales and Marketing Director at Stanhope, to revisit the rebranding of the iconic Television Centre — the BBC’s former headquarters in West London. One of the most culturally significant broadcast sites in British history, it has been reimagined into 942 apartments, half a million square feet of offices, and three live TV studios. Peter shares how a refusal to use developer tropes produced a brand built on honesty — one that expressed itself through editorial magazines instead of developer brochures, a published book instead of a vanity print, and a launch event on a construction site before anything existed to show.

Simon Yewdall reunites with Dan Metcalfe, Director of Marketing, Communications and Community at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, to discuss what it took to rebrand one of the UK's most complex science campuses — 250 organisations, 80 years of history, and a dated brand was holding back a place of genuine ambition. They explore why scientists distrust branding by instinct, how a mathematical symbol became a logo that works on two levels simultaneously, and why going deep into a place's history is the only way to find where it's going.

Joy Nazzari reunites with Dan Bridge, Royal Docks Project Director, to revisit the place brand for the Mayor of London's largest land-led regeneration project — six neighbourhoods, two mayors and a community tired of being sold visions. They discuss the early engagement that shifted the brief, with one resident's verdict capturing the challenge: "it's BS, we don't believe you". Why the visual identity sits in stark black and white, and what a place brand has to do to last.

Patrick Eley reunites with Leanne Mabberley, Head of Marketing and Communications at National Galleries of Scotland, to reflect on a rebrand and wayfinding overhaul of one of Scotland's most complex cultural institutions — three galleries, four separate identities, and visitor research telling them they were seen as boring, stuffy, and elitist. They discuss how audience insight unlocked a brand built around "yours to discover," how the same project produced a wayfinding system that changed the language of the galleries from the inside out, and what it takes to shift how a national institution sees itself — and how the public sees it.

Simon Yewdall sits down with Sumaiyah Moolla, Customer Experience Lead at TfL, to reflect on naming the six London Overground lines — a brief that had to be both deeply functional and genuinely representative of the diverse stories of London and Londoners. Sumaiyah reveals what it took to consult an entire city, why approaching the task with curiosity and an open mind was crucial, how clear naming criteria kept a complex stakeholder process on track, and what it feels like to leave a historic mark on a world capital.

Joy Nazzari reunites with Gavin Poole, CEO of Here East, to discuss how branding helped transform over a million sq ft of the London Olympics legacy buildings into a leading innovation campus. He unpacks the power of reflection in the branding process, why SXSW was the perfect launchpad, and why staying anchored to your original ambition is what makes a place endure.

Simon Yewdall sits down with Sonia Solicari, CEO of Museum of the Home, to discuss rebranding the Geffrye Museum from East London’s ‘museum of dusty furniture’ into a place of debate. She shares what it took to convince a nervous board to change the name entirely, and how building the brand around illumination and the question “what does home mean to you?” unlocked something far bigger than a name change.

Joy Nazzari sits down with Nick Searl, former Director at Related Argent, to discuss the Brent Cross Town rebrand — a 180-acre masterplan three times the size of King's Cross. He shares his thoughts on positioning the project around "play", how to prove developer commitments aren't just marketing, and what it really means to create identity for a place suffering from ‘placelessness’.

We’re launching DNCO 20/20 — a podcast marking our 20 years. We take an in-depth look at 20 of our most consequential place brand projects in conversation with clients to uncover the invaluable lessons you only learn in hindsight.