Be part of our story
The City of Greater Bendigo plays an important role in the history of the state of Victoria. With its beginnings in the late 19th century gold rush, Bendigo developed a reputation for its striking architecture and beautiful parklands and countryside.
More recently, Greater Bendigo has become the home for new and emerging industries. The development of significant and growing businesses puts the city in a rare position. It needs to keep a strong grip on its history and heritage while also focussing on its future and growth.
Early in 2005, the Greater Bendigo community began a process of consultation, discussion and planning. They built a vision of the city's future with view to the year 2030. The result was the Bendigo +25 Community Plan launched in September that same year by then Premier Steve Bracks. The first step in carrying out this plan and creating the point of difference from Bendigo's neighbours was defining a new brand that encompassed all aspects of the City of Greater Bendigo.
The City of Greater Bendigo engaged Elmwood Design to help capture the needs and direction of the city in a new place-based brand.
Objectives
There were a number of logos used to represent the City of Greater Bendigo including the tourism identity, the poppet head symbol and the City of Greater Bendigo logo. There was not, however, a single symbol that personified the city representing its great sense of civic pride and the opportunities it afforded those who sought a centre with a strong future.
The challenge was to create a brand that reflected all aspects of life in Greater Bendigo: heritage; lifestyle; opportunity; and a strong future.
For Elmwood the aim was clear: Create a brand that takes into account the vision of the Bendigo +25 Community Plan, create community pride and encourage people to discover more about the city. The primary purpose for the brand was to create an atmosphere and attitude that resonated with the locals and encouraged local pride.
Solution
Relaying the story of Bendigo with its personality and tone in a single and recognisable graphic image required a deep understanding of the city itself through extensive research. Elmwood set about understanding the essence of Bendigo. To distil all aspects of a city into a single message required talking to prominent community representative and a vox populi approach to get the sentiments and opinions of the 'person on the street'. They discovered that the unifying theme of the region’s history and plan for the future, community attitude and business development is an entrepreneurial spirit. Underpinning this spirit is an inherent freedom.
'Free to Be' became the focal idea with its radiating concepts of possibility and opportunity. From here the brand made itself clear as the simple and evocative 'Be': an inspiring instruction that could be combined with other words to provide a range of targeted messages based around a single theme. Of course, 'Be' also has the added coincidental benefit of being the first two letters of the city's name.
Once the proposition was in place, the design process began. The line ‘Be part of our story’ was developed for use in communications designed to attract business, skills and migration to the town.
Results
The community has come out in great favour of the logo. They clearly appreciated the whole process of consultation and feel the resulting image really does represent them and their city.
David Cairns from Elmwood said that the greatest measure of success was the enthusiasm with which local businesses and community groups adopted the new brand. 'They want to use it and they see the brand as a valuable endorsement of their own brands and activities’.
The City of Greater Bendigo agrees. Success is the use of the new brand by other groups, sectors and individuals to promote Greater Bendigo.
'It is important to understand that its primary purpose is to resonate with locals and promote pride,' said Leanne Rosewall of the City of Greater Bendigo. 'If you focus on capturing the voice of the place then you will have something that can be nurtured and will grow with your community.'
Click here to read the full City of Greater Bendigo case study.
Related Links
Bendigo — www.bendigotourism.com
Elmwood Design — www.elmwood-design.com.au
Josh Kinal for Design Victoria
12 September 2008