Politics & Government
City's New Logo: Nashua's Got a Brand New Brand
'Dare to Begin' is the city's new marketing tagline, meant to be a draw to businesses, residents.
After 18 months of planning and brainstorming and tweaking and fine-tuning, the big splashy public reveal of the city's new branding logo and slogan – "Dare to Begin" – scheduled for the end of September, inadvertently trickled into the public eye.
Without the proper fanfare, the city and Chamber, who are equal partners in the $100,000 branding campaign, are doing their best to keep moving forward to promote the campaign in advance of the Sept. 25 public unveiling, said Chris Williams, President and CEO of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce.
"My biggest concern was that the logo would get preemptively introduced," Williams said, referring to an inadvertent leak of the logo during a recent aldermanic committee meeting.
As splashes go, it's all water under the bridge now.
"We are going forward with our eyes wide open, making sure we do our due diligence in answering questions the public may have. That said, we feel good about the finished product. After spending a year on this, we feel especially good about the buy in we've received, not just from the city's elected officials, but from the private sector officials, who've given us their endorsement – and their dollars," Williams said.
That is the key to this, or any municipal branding campaign, said Tom Galligani, the city's Director of Economic Development – creating a sense of place that can be marketed to businesses, young professionals and families.
"A lot of us in the city, whether it's Real Estate, or universities or apartment owners, are trying to attract people to Nashua. This branding campaign is a means to get our act together and speak in a coherent, consistent voice, talking about the great things Nashua has to offer," Galligani said.
"It allows us to be more efficient and effective in getting the word out about Nashua," he said.
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As explained in a power point presentation (see still image below) the logo is a 3-Dimensional circle in orange, blues and green – the orange at the top represents a sunrise, and figuratively suggests new opportunities. In the center is an infinity symbol in two shades of blue, which represents the city's two rivers, intertwined and infinite. The green at the bottom is an expression of NH's natural beauty as well as the future of our economy, which is building on high-tech and "green" technologies.
The complete narrative behind the tagline stems from what emerged as a common theme in the city's 270-year history, explained Williams – from companies that dared to "think big" to those early settlers who saw the confluence of the Nashua and Merrimack rivers as an opportunity for commerce and convenience.
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Williams said the branding campaign is not only a necessary step, but a critical one for Nashua.
According to a story about the dollars and sense of branding campaigns on governing.com, companies like North Star, which initiated the research for Nashua's rebranding, can "help repair a city’s image problem and raise awareness of what makes a city a good place to live."
The story quotes Alison Maxwell, deputy director of economic development for Glendale, Calif., who says that if a city is a "living, breathing, amorphous entity," then "good branding can bring the sum of the parts together and give you a hook to hang your identity on.”
Williams and Galligani point out that while North Star's research helped launch the rebranding effort, it was Bill Schick of Nashua's own MESH Interactive Agency that helped synthesize that information into a 3-D logo and slogan that is as respectful of Nashua's past as it is reflective of the present and future.
"Dare to Begin" is not just a challenge for the future, but a reminder that all the things that have happened in Nashua's history happened because someone dared to take a chance, Williams said.
"A brand is much more than a visual image; it's a mindset, intended to recognize those who came before us who took chances and allowed Nashua to be what it is today, and a challenge to us to think bigger," Williams said.
In conjunction with the rebranding effort, the city's school district is also planning to launch a new website, and Symphony NH will kick off its next season with a musical "Dare to Begin" theme, Williams said.
"That's really neat," Williams said.
On Sept. 25 the Chamber and the City will co-host an official unveiling, to be held on the rooftop of the High Street Garage with a deliberate backdrop – the rivers and the millyard, Williams said.
"We believe our river and millyard represent Nashua's history and that backdrop will be a source of redevelopment of economic opportunities over next 10 years in our city. Choosing that particular venue site was strategic because we wanted a place to salute our past, but one that also harkens to our future – and of course, we wanted it to be something like we've never done before – as we dare to begin this next chapter of our city's story," Williams said.
Click here for a slideshow explaining the logo and official explainer.
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