Democratising the narrative of data’s role in changing the city for the better for the AMSTERDAM ECONOMIC BOARD

Once initiated by the late mayor Eberhard van der Laan, the Amsterdam Economic Board is a network organization that aims to bring politics and business closer together to innovate the metropolitan region of tomorrow. The Board consists of top executives from companies, knowledge institutions, and governments from the Amsterdam region, along with individuals contributing significantly to the conversation about the future of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.

In the era dominated by big tech, data has been commercially exploited for so long that imagining its community benefits is challenging. However, a collective of businesses, governments, social institutions, and residents in Amsterdam aims to do just that by sharing more data to better care for the city. Nice + Important was tasked with creating a simpler and more compelling narrative to ease the onboarding of new partners and enable The Amsterdam Economic Board to officially launch the project.

Following thorough research and workshops with the initiative’s founding partners, we crafted an understandable narrative for external communications that answered key questions like ‘What even is a common?’, ‘How can data improve our city?’, and ‘What’s in it for residents?’. Additionally, it established core principles for the Data Commons to define the types of products the initiative could develop. The final step before launching the initiative was choosing a name (‘Data Commons Collective’) and creating a brand identity.

The Data Commons Collective was launched in late 2023 and has onboarded partners such as the University of Amsterdam, Deloitte, Ahold Delhaize, and AMdEX.

• Data Commons Collective external comms narrative 
• Data Commons Collective internal brand story 
• Brand identity light 
• Naming 
• Creation of a compelling partner onboarding deck