City Council Meeting Date: February 20, 2024
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: Michelle Mahowald, Communications & Human Resources Director
Title
Acceptance of Remaining brand elements for the Style Guide.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council approves a motion accepting the secondary color palette and two historic colors to be applied in the final City branding.
Summary Report:
The City Council approved the city logo; primary color palate; and tagline at the January 16 meeting. Replace gave the Branding Advisory Committee and city staff their final presentation on February 7, 2024. Secondary colors and two historic colors added to the color palette were recommended for approval by the City Council by the committee. This completed their work and the committee work has ended (original resolution attached).
The Style Guide holds the core foundational elements to the overall City brand including logo, tagline, primary and secondary color palettes, community gateway signage concepts, historic colors, public wayfinding and related public element guidelines. These are to be considered concepts and an internal communications team document. Implementation of the branding has begun and will continue by staff with the final adoption of the Council with the secondary color palette. No further action will occur with Council with the exception of future implementation that would be outside of the budget for consideration.
Background
The City of Northfield is currently undergoing a branding process to help position the community for success in the 21st century. Why is this initiative important to the future of the community? Why do municipalities need to have a brand at all? Why will this make a difference to our community going forward?
Every organization, every company, every municipality has a brand. The question is not should the City of Northfield have a brand, the question is how can we best manage that brand and why is it important to manage it.
The brand reflects the essence of who we are as a community. A team of community volunteers, city staff and elected officials are currently working with a neutral external branding expert to clarify a brand for the city visually, verbally and editorially. It is a vital process for three key reasons:
1. It is important to our economic vitality.
To be successful and have the financial resources to ensure a high quality of life for Northfield residents and businesses, we need to attract a tax base that improves our financial strength and allows us to invest in the plethora of needs this community faces. The only other path to achieve this is through an unsustainable growth in personal taxes.
2. We need to compete for recognition and for our niche in the region.
The idea that companies, tourists, visitors will find you without any supporting communications from people and organizations in the area is folly. We cannot afford to wait for visitors, businesses and future residents to find us. We need to make it clear who we are and what type of community we want to be.
3. It is worthwhile for our community to be aligned as best we can, albeit with diverse opinions and perspectives.
It’s often said that there is much more that unites us than divides us. This brand is designed to find those uniting elements that help make the City of Northfield such a special place for people to live, work, learn, and play.
The more community members, leaders and businesses can adopt the brand, the more successful we’ll be at creating bright future for the City of Northfield.
Members of the Branding Advisory Committee include:
Mayor Rhonda Pownell
Council Member George Zucculotto
Council Member Kathleen Holmes
Community Member Jennifer Sawyer
Community Member Katie Warren
Community Member Doug Bratland
Community Member Tami Enfield
Community Member Bob Thacker
Chamber of Commerce President Jane Bartho
Community Member Amy Goerwitz
City staff and Consultant participants include:
City Administrator Ben Martig
Communications & Human Resources Director Michelle Mahowald
Library Director Natalie Draper
Liquor Operations Manager Brian Whitt
Deputy City Clerk Sara Hoffman
NPB Station Manager Sam Temple
Spanish Translator Claudia Garcia
Communications Specialist Kara Trygestad
Community Member and Consultant Teresa Jensen
On August 22, 2023, the Northfield City Council approved a consultant service contract with Replace.
Replace received all of the engagement background information the Branding Advisory Committee conducted before the approved consultant service agreement including the work conducted at the April 18, 2023 Brand Advisory Engagement Session. This initial process was lead by unpaid volunteer community volunteers including Katie Warren and Bob Thacker who have extensive background and experience in marketing and branding. This volunteer work had a value that would normally cost substantial dollars as background research. The volunteers and other committee members worked on this collectively so that the limited funding for branding could be dedicated to the design work. Consensus by all Branding Advisory Engagement Session participants determined the brand essence for Northfield is “charming, vibrant, and creative” and additionally had gathered substantial additional research and information to the design consultants.
Replace presented branding work at Winter Walk on December 7, 2023 and received an overwhelming positive response from attendees including both community members and tourists visiting Northfield. Replace will present to the Economic Development Authority on January 22, 2024 and to the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) on February 20, 2024. Both entities will be critical to implementation with a goal to further market Northfield as a place to visit and make new investments in business and industry.
Scope of Services
Phase One Design
Research and Preliminary Design
Project Summary:
The City of Northfield has a desire to be more unique and more distinctive among the competitive city choices for residents that may choose Northfield as a great place to live or to visit. The City of Northfield asked Replace to design and update brand identity system and brand experience for the City of Northfield that will last for decades of consistent and modular use. Replace will create the first round of preliminary design options for an updated City of Northfield Brand Identity System and Brand Style Guide. The design work will be focused on widening, and clarifying the brand voice for this great Minnesota city. The Target Markets are varied: Including tourism, working families, and new businesses we want to attract and retain. Replace will engage in a discovery process with the City of Northfield to best identify the challenges that will focus our design thinking.
Replace gave the Branding Advisory Committee and city staff their Phase One Presentation on October 19, 2023. Branding Advisory Committee and city staff feedback was discussed on October 25, with Directions #1 and #2 highest rated for this phase.
Work Shown in Phase One Presentation:
• Competitive Set: Research of our Local Competition.
• Mood Boards of Different Design Directional Options.
• Brand Values Study (Core Values of the Brand).
• Brand Personality Study (City of Northfield Story, as Short as Possible).
• 3 to 5 Different Identity Update Directions applied to potential design deliverables and brand executions.
• Options for ID among the City of Northfield Departments: Including Ice Arena and Pool, Public Works, etc. (way-finding, city signs, park signs, Economic Development Marketing/Advertising, Liquor Store and Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).
• Color Palette. Typography & Photography Direction.
• Results from the Northfield Discovery Process.
Phase Two Design
Design Refinement
Project Summary:
Utilizing the outcome and feedback of Phase I, and collaborating closely with the City of Northfield, Replace will refine the original 3-5 design directions to one preferred option. This design will be the basis for the larger brand system. This list of deliverables may change based on needs discussed during the engagement process. Replace recommends that the client assemble a small group of trusted client advocates to serve as the “Northfield Brand Advisory Committee” for all the design done for City of Northfield. This group will serve as brand advisors throughout the project.
Work to be shown in Phase Two Presentation:
• Refinement of Preferred Brand Direction.
• Refinement of Preferred Brand Tag-line.
• Final Brand Values Statement.
• Final Brand Personality.
• Final Brand Story.
• Comprehensive Color Palette.
• Typography and Type Lock-Up Treatments.
• Pattern Work, Illustration and Photographic Direction.
• Brand Icons (Up to Ten Icons).
• Website UX/UI (Mobile and Desktop). Responsive Website Look and Feel Only.
• Social Media Applications.
• Brochure and Collateral Design Template.
• Business Card and Business Stationary System.
• Application of ID to Ice Arena and Pool, Public Works, etc. (downtown and River Corridor way-finding, city signs, park signs, Economic Development Marketing/Advertising, Liquor Store and Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).
• Development of an Advertising Template.
Replace gave the Branding Advisory Committee and city staff their Phase Two Presentation on November 15, 2023. Replace refined Phase Two Feedback and gave another presentation (presentation 2.5) on November 30, 2023. Branding Advisory Committee and city staff feedback was discussed on December 12, 2023.
On December 12, 2024, the committee voted on design option #4 for this phase. Cows, Colleges, and Community, the legacy tagline (Cows, Colleges, and Contentment) in an expanded form (as previously presented and discussed). Rules and processes will be created to utilize the tagline to ensure it is used in the case of positive community advocacy (e.g. “cows, colleges, and contentment” legacy tagline that is still active and living with the branding) or for economic/commercialization (e.g.“cows, colleges, and Christmas”). Staff has contacted Flaherty & Hood about legal protection on the primary tagline “Cow, Colleges, and Community”.
Phase Three Design
Final Art Execution and Brand Style Guide
Project Summary:
Replace will create a Brand Style Guide for the City of Northfield. The Brand Style Guide will be designed for decades of extensive brand use. All of the artwork produced in Phase Three will be created for final art production quality. Replace will continue to collaborate closely with the City of Northfield client team, and any new partners as needed to ensure a consistent brand voice across all applications.
Work to be shown in Phase Three Presentation(s):
• Final Art for All Logo Lock Ups (Small Space Digital).
• Colors, Type, Photo Direction, Sample Ad Layouts.
• Social Media Layouts (FB, Twitter, Instagram).
• Final Art for Application of Brand ID to all necessary brand applications including (but not limited to) Ice Arena and Pool, Public Works, etc. (way-finding, city signs, parks signs, Economic Development Marketing/Advertising), Liquor Store and Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).
• Final Brand Icons, Final Brand Illustrations.
• Final Brochure and Collateral Design Template.
• Final Business Card and Business Stationary System.
o Redesign of two city entry signs (Trunk Highway 19 and Division Street/Trunk Highway 246 near roundabout).
Alternative Options:
Remove from consent agenda for discussion.
Financial Impacts:
Not applicable for this agenda item.
Tentative Timelines:
City staff will receive training with the Replace team at a date to be determined.