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Efforts to rebrand Garden City continue
Published 6/25/2011 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
sahmad@gctelegram.com
There's a new tag line in town: "International Garden."
At least, that's the message advocates hope they can begin to cultivate in Garden City as they move forward with a community-wide rebranding campaign.
Lynn Schoonover, director of the Finney County Convention and Tourism Bureau, said the new theme is one she feels applies to what Garden City is all about.
"One thing (our consultants) heard over and over again is how much diversity we have here, from our restaurants to our populations to our attractions and events. It's something we're very proud of," Schoonover said.
The project to rebrand the community is a venture of the publicly-funded tourism bureau, which hired the Manhattan-based New Boston Creative Group to facilitate the process earlier this year.
Over the last few months, representatives from New Boston have been working with community task forces involving the city, county, area business leaders, community college and high school students, the Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce, and even residents in neighboring communities to come up with what all hope will be a more fresh and updated approach to attracting people and businesses to the area.
The bureau is spending $75,000 toward the project, funds they began budgeting for in 2010 and plan to budget through 2012. The tourism bureau, chartered by a county resolution, is funded by a 6 percent tax collected county-wide from motel and hotel guests.
Schoonover said the new public image will include a logo and tag line, which will be ready by October or November to replace the current one.
The current community-wide logo — "Just Plains Success" — was adopted about two decades ago and will disappear once New Boston presents Garden City's new logo and brand by the end of this year.
According to the New Boston Group, the theme they brought back to members of the tourism bureau's rebranding task force can "explore what Garden City is physically" — the land and agricultural history — with "what it is emotionally," such as its people, culture and kinship.
Schoonover said she feels, too, that the theme is very versatile and will allow her and other rebranding advocates to work together to come up with ideas to develop further on the theme. As part of the outside group's contractual services, New Boston also will help the city and other local leaders come up with ways to develop the brand further, such as future efforts to beautify Garden City's gateways, and other public projects.
"We'll continue to build on and add to that international flair," Schoonover said, adding that it is the aim of the rebranders to get people thinking and believing in the theme. "If you don't believe it, we've not gained anything. That's our last phase of the project, the community buy-in."
Garden City resident Dana Nanninga, a member of the community rebranding task force, said she liked the new brand and that she feels diversity always has been one of the community's assets.
"I love that Garden City is diverse, and I love that it continues to diversify even in last 10 years that I've been here," Nanninga said. "I'm also glad that Garden City has been able to deal with (the changes) positively."
Mayor John Doll agreed.
"One of the things I've always appreciated about Garden City is our diversity," Doll said.
Schoonover said New Boston currently is working on designs and plans to return to Garden City around August to present those logos to community members who can then narrow down design options. They also plan to host a public open house before Thanksgiving to unveil the new design and brand, the tourism director added.
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