The City of Boulder’s sometimes contentious development of a branding campaign made significant strides last week with a logo and tagline, both of which are slated to be reviewed and decided upon at the June 17 City Council meeting.
In recent weeks, city representatives involved in the branding process had expressed frustration and disappointment with Windfall, the Missoula-based agency the city hired to create the branding items and a broader marketing plan.
Appearing before the Boulder Transition Advisory Committee on June 6, Windfall CEO Jim McGowan acknowledged that the firm “should have been at more of these meetings” with city representatives
Instead, following an initial in-person presentation of proposed logos and taglines on April 18, Windfall had relied on the BTAC Marketing Committee to review subsequent versions and compile feedback without agency representatives present to answer questions or explain its work.
As a result, dissatisfaction on the part of some city representatives had built by June 5, when the BTAC Marketing Committee met for one more review of the agency’s in-process work before the June 6 meeting Windfall would attend.
“It doesn’t tell you why you’d like to come here,” committee member Jan Zietlow said of one of three versions of a logo. “‘What are we offering?’ That’s what, for me, the logo should be showing — what do we have that is unique — and this isn’t showing it for me.”
“I’m a little, I don’t know, just dissatisfied with what they’ve done so far,” said Boulder Mayor Rusty Giulio, who isn’t on the committee but has routinely attended review meetings and that day wondered whether the agency ought to be fired. “I don’t think they’re getting us.”
At the meeting the following day, in introducing McGowan’s presentation, committee member and city councilor Drew Dawson noted that branding is “probably one of the more challenging and time consuming and perhaps frustrating tasks that we all have to do,” yet also “one of the most important things we do for the community.”
Dawson also suggested that the difficult branding process reflected the Boulder community’s many “different thoughts about what a vision for the community should look like” despite the city having recently developed a vision statement in recent years.
“Branding is always tough,” McGowan said before walking the group through Windfall’s approach and the reasoning behind its design decisions. “Usually, if you can come out with a small consensus that’s a victory.”
McGowan also said that in his firm’s experience — which includes work for most of the state’s tourism regions — there “seems to be a consistent pattern” of needing to see a branding campaign executed for a couple years before it starts to stick.
McGowan proceeded to discuss the differences between branding and advertising. He explained that the role of the logo is to be grasped within seven seconds “as attention spans continue to shrink,” while advertising serves to provide additional information in service of the logo.
To illustrate his points, McGowan showed the logo being used in various contexts, including in a mocked-up magazine advertisement and on a baseball cap and T-shirt — the latter causing someone in the audience to exclaim “oh!” “I’m thinking I can sell those shirts like that,” Lisa Vossler of L & P Grocery said, snapping her fingers.
McGowan also explained that taglines — such as “Experience the Real Montana,” the one being considered for the city — “are going to come and go,” and that the city should expect to change it out periodically.
“I wish we knew more about this,” Zietlow told him after his presentation. “I think we needed to have met more often.”
In addition to delivering both color and black and white versions of a logo, McGowan said the agency would provide branding guidelines and recommend a marketing plan.
He also assured that the “firm is committed to getting this right” and will not disappear after the project ends. “We will be around,” he said. “We want to keep a close relationship with the community and help as much as we can.”
After McGowan’s presentation, the committee unanimously agreed to recommend to the Boulder City Council that it adopt the logo, with the understanding that Windfall would continue to refine it using the feedback provided by the BTAC Marketing Committee.
“Way to go everybody,” Dawson said. “Good work.”
