Branding the City of Decatur

The Situation

In January 2006, the City of Decatur hired McWhorter Communications to rebrand the city. The impetus for a focus on marketing was twofold:  new revenue-generating opportunities resulting from new sporting venues as well as developments with the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) act.

The Beginning

A communications audit and need assessment interviews with each city department, the mayor and city council members, and related groups such as the convention and visitors bureau, were important to our understanding of the situation and development of a multi-phase plan.

We identified what is good about Decatur, who needs to hear this good news, and how do we reach them. From this starting point, we began putting creativity and structure together to tell Decatur’s story.

The Logo & Positioning Statement

The first phase of the process was the development of an overarching logo and a positioning statement for the city: Decatur. A Grand City on a Charming Scale.

The logo itself incorporates elements that convey a sense of Decatur’s proud history while at the same time drawing attention to the City’s bright and progressive future. 

Another phase in the rebranding efforts has been in creating sub-logos for the departments that have ongoing personal communications with the public. At the onset of the process, there were as many different styles and formats of stationery and business cards as there are departments. The agency created three levels of stationery – all that work together – so that each department head could choose the style most appropriate for his or her department’s use and budget. Of course, the sub-logos had to be incorporated as applicable.

Applying the brand to fleet design as it pertains to car tags, city cars and trucks was a part of the overall rebranding campaign.

The Web Site: www.DecaturAlabamaUSA.com

Paralleling the all-crucial graphic design component was the research, conceptualization of functionality and organization of the City’s web site. Essential to this process was the determination of the different audiences – citizens, businesses, and visitors. The City’s previous site had extensive information, but was difficult to navigate and not user friendly. Part of the strategic thinking, too, behind the web site involved changing the url from the hard-to-remember www.digitaldecatur.com to a more descriptive www.DecaturAlabamaUSA.com. 

During the interviews with department heads, we developed wish lists for each group and helped the decision makers evaluate the information that was available on the web site and to realize new ways to use this communications tool. By adding frequently asked questions and forms online, many of the departments have made it easier for citizens to do business with them and have improved the efficiency of their departments. The end result is an attractive, easily navigated, useful web site that is easy to keep updated.

Photography: Telling the Story in Photos

A key element for the web site, BRAC ads, sports marketing and other marketing materials was – and is – portraying the benefits of Decatur through photographs. The agency’s four on-staff photographers capture the people and places of Decatur in photos and we continually add new images to the web sites to keep the site fresh.

Sports Marketing: Selling a Strong Asset

Once the overall brand was established, work on marketing for sports tourism kicked into high gear. The City of Decatur has invested significant resources into building new and improving existing sports venues. A concerted effort to recruit sporting events – revenue generators for the City – required specialized marketing materials targeted specifically to sports event planners. A separate web site, www.DecaturSports.com, and accompanying sports-specific ads and marketing brochures have been produced. The design style is complementary to the primary Decatur brand, but with an edge that allows the City’s sports marketing to compete head-to-head with much larger cities.

Signs: Pointing the Way to Success

In the second phase of the rebranding, the Decatur City Council directed McWhorter Communications to explore way-finding signage. The agency team studied successful programs across the nation and pulled the best ideas together to create a comprehensive plan for Decatur. A few of the reference locations are:  Chicago’s bike trail, Atlanta’s downtown, the Williamsburg triangle’s highways, Los Angeles’ downtown, New York City’s historic district and pedestrian kiosks.

The design phase is completed for a comprehensive signage program that, by necessity, encompasses more than simply way-finding. To truly rebrand the City of Decatur to citizens and visitors alike, the signage program incorporates vehicle and pedestrian way-finding; area identifiers such as municipal buildings, parks and historic districts; primary, secondary and tertiary gateway signage; event and celebratory signage; and a bike trail way-finding plan. View the comprehensive signage here.

Meetings with the many stakeholders interested in Decatur’s signage project – downtown merchants, historical societies, business development groups, city leaders, and tourism specialists – encouraged input and resulted in a final design package that has wide-ranging community support. To help the City of Decatur implement the design plan, McComm sent the plans out for initial estimates on the production of the signs in the plan. These preliminary numbers will help the different departments and the council to determine how to phase the implementation program.

Building on Momentum

We are in the early stages of the third phase of the program. The goal remains the same: communicate the good new about Decatur. Now that many of the core tools are in place to do that well, we are building upon the momentum by developing other strategic ways to use those tools to tell the story.  Stayed tuned for the next chapter of Decatur: a Grand City on a Charming Scale.