Eastern City Area Branding

We refreshed the Eastern City BID brand to better position the area as a distinctive destination for workers, visitors and businesses. First created in 2019, the brand was updated as we became a formal Business Improvement District, ensuring it reflects the energy, character and ambition of the Eastern City.

The 2024 refresh was shaped by extensive engagement with our business community, the Culture & Communications Steering Group and the City of London Corporation.

To strengthen the area’s identity, we work with developers to ensure construction hoardings add to the look and feel of the district, using our updated branding, wayfinding and heritage content, with green hoardings introduced where possible to soften the streetscape.

Our destination marketing showcases the Eastern City as a great place to work and explore, using digital content, print, OOH, video, influencers and podcasts to highlight events, businesses and attractions. This campaign delivered 20.5 million impressions and more than 1 million digital engagements, helping raise the profile of the Eastern City as a vibrant, must‑visit district.

Eastern City Ambassadors

In 2022/23 Eastern City BID launched its on-street Ambassador team to welcome workers and visitors back to the area, assist with wayfinding and perform a vital environmental reporting function to ensure issues like graffiti and littering are resolved quickly. The Eastern City BID Ambassadors play a vital role in enhancing the district’s visitor experience and supporting local businesses.

Over the course of their Monday-Saturday shifts, in 2024 our team of three Ambassadors welcomed 61, 404 visitors; conducted 831 business visits; and reported 10,427 cleaning/environmental issues. They are our eyes and ears in the footprint – assisting the public and helping to ensure well maintained public spaces. Our ambassadors have also been provided with Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) and See Check and Notify (SCaN) training to enhance their ability to respond to incidents and report suspicious activity.

In The City App

The InTheCity App is an online platform enabling City of London businesses to promote their services, exclusive offers, and events to consumers at no cost. Year on year we’ve concentrated on improving the user experience for businesses, onboarding new businesses onto the app, which now has 2,800 registered users, with over 140 local businesses showcasing their offers & discounts, and over 300 local events being promoted across the City of London
In 2026 we’re delighted to launch a new and improved app – ‘One City’, which will enhance user experience and offer even more discounts, events and rewards to our city workers and wider public users.

City Gift Card

The five City BIDs commissioned the City Gift Card scheme back in 2020 as a hospitality, retail & leisure support scheme in response to the pandemic. The City Gift Card works as a pre-paid MasterCard that can only be spent at participating local businesses around the City of London and surroundings areas.

In 2024, the City Gift Card rebranded with a fresh, modern identity to enhance its appeal and visibility, and at the time of the relaunch there were over 3,300 cards in circulation and over £84,000 being reinvested back into the Square Mile.

One City London

One City London is an online community highlighting the rich culture, events, and businesses within the City of London. It provides locals and visitors with curated recommendations and updates on the latest happenings, serving as a comprehensive guide to the area’s vibrant offerings. With a substantial social media following of over 100,000 followers on Instagram, One City London effectively promotes Eastern City BID initiatives through its various channels, including its e-newsletter. By showcasing local events and businesses, One City London plays a key role in enhancing community engagement, driving footfall, and supporting the City’s economic growth.

City AM Digital Hub & Toast The City Awards

Following our content partnership with City AM – using it’s print and digital medium to support the destination brand with online articles and monthly articles in the printed newspaper.

In 2025 Eastern City BID was the lead sponsor of City AM’s new “Toast the City” hospitality awards which was an exciting opportunity to celebrate and promote this flourishing sector in the Square Mile. The awards evening celebrated businesses hosted at The Steel Yard and received over 2,000 entries and over 28,000 votes.

MIPIM Conference

At MIPIM 2024, the City BIDs and the City of London Corporation collaborated on a joint stand at the London Pavilion, featuring an innovative hologram capsule with prerecorded interviews from key figures including the Lord Mayor of London, all centred on the theme of partnership and how collaboration is shaping a more vibrant, resilient and world‑class City of London. A well‑attended reception included a live hologram demonstration, highlighting the success of the partnership and raising the profile of the work BIDs are delivering across the Square Mile, from promoting investment opportunities to showcasing exemplar projects, while Eastern City BID representatives engaged widely with stakeholders throughout the event.

Building on this momentum, the 2025 collaboration again brought together the City BIDs and the City of London Corporation on a joint stand, this time using a 30‑minute film to spotlight the development pipeline and the evolving nature of the Square Mile, alongside a London Terrace silent disco celebrating the city’s diverse nightlife with playlists and interviews from Phil Hartnoll, Charisse C and DJ Tigas.

Looking ahead, in 2026 Eastern City BID will once again co‑host the City of London stand at MIPIM, ensuring the Eastern City continues to be represented as a forward‑thinking and attractive global investment destination.

Centre for Cities Research & Reports

A key focus for the BID is protecting the Eastern City as a globally competitive business district, and one way we do this is by using data and insight to understand our position. In 2023 we commissioned Centre for Cities to produce Capital Losses: The Role of London in the UK’s Productivity Puzzle, which found that London’s productivity growth has lagged behind international competitors for 15 years and has been a major factor in the UK’s wider productivity challenge, costing the economy tens of billions annually. These findings shaped the BID’s delivery plans and offered clear recommendations for policymakers to help restart growth and strengthen London’s reputation as a prime business destination.

Eastern City BID also sponsored Office Politics: London and the Rise of Home Working to examine the economic impact of hybrid working, as office attendance has plateaued at around 70% of pre‑pandemic levels. Concerned about risks to productivity, creativity and innovation, the BID partnered with Centre for Cities and Professor Dan Graham of Imperial College London to generate insights and recommendations to help policymakers and businesses ensure the City remains a vibrant, competitive hub in a changing work environment.

Economic Research: Colliers & Huq

Eastern City BID commissioned Colliers to deliver baseline economic research for the Eastern City cluster, providing trend-based analysis through consistent data sets and ongoing monitoring to inform our programme of work, events and performance surveys. In 2024/25 we again partnered with Colliers to formally evaluate the impact of our three major events—Screen on the Green, Christmas and The Observatory—demonstrating their value and helping to optimise future programming; despite external factors, we saw a 23% year‑on‑year Christmas footfall increase, a 120% uplift during Wimbledon screenings at Seething Lane Garden, and 82% of surveyed attendees reported that Screen on the Green improved their perception of the area.

We also commissioned Augarde & Partners to assess the Broadworks empty‑unit activation with Landsec, evidencing its socio‑economic impact and helping encourage similar schemes while informing discussions with the City of London Corporation about diversifying the City’s workspace and cultural offer.

In February 2025 we surveyed BID members, with 287 local employees sharing insights that were incorporated into our 2025/26 Delivery Plan, and later that year we commissioned an independent Brand Tracking Survey to establish a baseline understanding of the Eastern City and inform the 2026/27 delivery plan and ballot communications.

We have also launched a new partnership with Huq to provide real‑time data on consumer behaviour—including spend, footfall and demographics—which will be shared with members and stakeholders to guide strategy and measure impact.