Pink cow stakes claim on Stroud (From Stroud News and Journal)

Pink cow stakes claim on Stroud

A PINK cow has beaten off fierce competition from a blue sheep in a bid to sell Stroud and moo-ve it along with the times.

The eye-catching logo looks set to be at the centre of a new marketing strategy that aims to bring wealth to the Five Valleys and the rest of the district.

It is the brain child of Woodchester-based marketing company Read & Woolf which was hired by the district's Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) to look at ways to promote the area.

The firm's feasibility study has cast a wide net, looking at Stroud's unique selling points while compiling a list of its current strengths as well as those that are in the pipeline. But it is the cow that has so far captured people's imagination.

"That's exactly what it's meant to do," said account manager Robert Woolf.

"It's different, memorable and stands out."

He said the other front runner in the race to represent Stroud was a blue sheep, but the cow was so far proving more popular.

"A sheep might have been right for Stroud itself," he said. "But we needed something that sums up the whole district, including the Severn Vale.

"Also cows do appeal, they are friendly animals and people like them." The colour was chosen for more than its immediate eye-catching effect and, according to account manager Nina Belluomo, "pink is the new black." "In the past five years it's been replacing black in a lot of marketing campaigns," she said.

"It's used to raise awareness, it's a novelty colour that says forward thinking, tranquillity and well being. "The response we've had have been incredible.

"People are talking about it everywhere and it has been very popular." "There is enormous potential here but it's largely untapped," said Mr Woolf.

"We want to get the message out not just to the people that live here but nationally and internationally, that Stroud is a great place to live, visit, work, invest in and develop."

If the cow gets the go ahead it will be used to promote everything from tourism to talent and investment opportunities and people will be encouraged to use it alongside their own publicity to create a unified image.

"One of the things about Stroud is people are often chasing their own rainbow," said Mr Woolf.

"We're hoping to pull together all the strands and encourage a co-operative approach." Terry Morgan, chairman of the LSP's creating wealth syndicate, stressed the use of the pink cow has simply been fielded as a possibility and was part of a much wider, in-depth look at ways to promote the district.

"It is not set in stone and we are only at the hatching of the egg stage at the moment. "It's been thrown up as a possible idea and nothing has been officially decided," he said.

"It's part of a huge spectrum of initiatives going on in the district to make the most of the enormous wealth of talent and opportunities we have here. "Our aim is to raise the profile of the district and the cow could be one way of doing this."

* What do YOU think of the pink cow? Send your views to The Editor, Stroud News & Journal, 6 Lansdown, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 1BE.