Local Trust

The challenge

Local Trust’s work focuses on delivering a ground-breaking £150 million National Lottery-funded programme, Big Local, to communities across the UK. With Big Local coming to an end in 2026, Local Trust has just a short time left to share the impact of the programme and the insights learned. 

They wanted to develop a digital engagement strategy that would help them to increase awareness and engagement with their content, but that would crucially aim to embed their insights with academics, researchers and funders in the long-term.

What we did

We began the project by analysing the performance of Local Trust’s content across their owned and earned platforms using a mix of qualitative analysis and user research. 

Initial thinking had focused on the delivery of a digital archive and a strategy focused on driving engagement to that. However, our research showed that Local Trust’s professional audience include a community of content creators and influencers who are looking for insights to help them develop content.  

This insight drove an innovative strategy that saw the legacy of Local Trust’s programme of work not just as an online archive but also as a community of thought leaders who could build on and develop – providing a legacy that will continue to evolve. 

We developed, with the team at Local Trust, a strategy that focused on co-producing a suite of digital tools that would enable these influencers to build on the work done by Local Trust.

The results

We delivered a digital strategy and roadmap that will see them co-produce content and tools to engage their influencer audiences alongside a series of tactical engagement activities to ensure they are driving awareness of that material.

Photo: LocalTrust/Denis Malachov