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Client: Fort Collins, Colorado
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City Aims to Cast New Image: Branding Effort Out to Show Area is More Than Just a College Town
By: Cari Merrill
The city and its partners are quietly rolling out a new slogan and other branding aimed at giving Fort Collins an updated image, one where business thrives and there's more to town than the university.
The new slogan developed by the city and organizations such as the Downtown Business Authority and the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce - "Where renewal is a way of life" - will slowly be phased in as each organization's new material is printed.
"We want to do a slow rollout and explore how to use (the plan) best and efficiently," said Claire Thomas, marketing and public relations specialist with the city's communications office.
After approval of a 2005 proposal by the city's economic development department, North Star Destination Strategies, a company that specializes in community branding, was hired to spend a year researching what people liked about Fort Collins and what was lacking. The results were then worked into a new branding campaign for the city.
Survey results found that while Fort Collins was seen as beautiful, friendly and charming, it was also seen strictly as a college town with an image of anti-business and anti-growth, an image the economic development department wanted to change.
"There's a different energy in the community," said Kelly DiMartino, communications and public involvement director for the city. "People here want to reach their full potential."
That is where many ideas for the new strategy come into play, many featuring residents doing outdoor activities with lines such as, "Maybe the best place to start a new business is where people have no shortage of initiative." The ads, which will run in brochures, posters, banners and other publications, are a way to expand the image of the city beyond that of a college town.
The Fort Collins Convention & Visitors Bureau has already started implementing the message, joining with CSU and running a "Renew Your Spirit" ad in Mile High Sports Magazine in an effort to get more people to Fort Collins on days of CSU football games, said Cathy Jones, tourism marketing manager for the bureau.
The plan also calls for the launch of FCRenew.com, a Web site portal that would bring together partners such as the Chamber and CSU to a central location for easy access by community members.
"The intent is to make it easier and provide consistency (in the message)," DiMartino said. "It's a common entry point that will help showcase our information in a central location."
North Star also designed a new logo, but DiMartino said it can't be used until City Council approves it. That decision won't be made until late October or early November.
"This implementation is more about the message than the logo," she said.
