Peterborough city council was unanimous in its support for the new city slogan “Outside the Ordinary.”
It appears that third time is the charm for the local communications firm BrandHealth, as its president Paul Hickey was back at council delivering its latest creative concept for the city’s rebranding project.
The city hired brand health in 2016, paying them $77,000 to come up with a new tagline and logo along with a brand guidebook to help steer the marketing initiative as the city is looking to update its website, build communication and help sell itself better to outsiders.
“I think we have to get over the fact that it’s not just about how a logo looks or what a slogan is, it’s so much more than that,” said Hickey who addressed council with a detailed and expanded presentation.
BrandHealth has laboured long and hard with the project. Hickey admitted it had been a learning experience for his collective team. The local communications firm is located in downtown Peterborough on George Street and has spent a long time working on the brand project since making its first slogan pitch last summer at council session.
BrandHealth and city staff reached out to the community for feedback with surveys and as part of the branding initiative, held a pair of community consultation sessions, while also speaking and reaching out to community leaders from the business and cultural sector, who shared their impressions of what made Peterborough unique to them.
In the end, Hickey and his marketing team went back to a previous idea, tweaking a previous slogan they proposed to council.
This time, Hickey pitched “Outside the Ordinary,” dropping the “Live” from “Live Outside the Ordinary,” which council had previously rejected — but this time, they were sold.
Mayor Daryl Bennett gave full support for the presentation saying, “I applaud you for encapsulating in many ways what we’re about — you had an enormous task.”
Coun. Dan McWilliams echoed that sentiment. “You kept your cool on this, you brought it to us in a way that was just magic, and there are so many things we can do with it,” said McWilliams.
Coun. Dave Haake was impressed but had one question for Hickey.
“Why didn’t you break it down like this the first time you showed it to me? It was amazing how it all tied together,” said Haake. “And I’m sure it would have saved you a few sleepless nights.”
The consulting work for the slogan, logo and creative art cost $77,000, which BrandHealth has created. There is also $152,000 set aside in the 2018 budget for the branding campaign to help the city update its website to better assist its communication with the public.
The next step is for the council to give its final approval to the branding proposal at the April 9 council meeting.