Waynesboro hires branding consultants

Waynesboro has hired two firms to assist with creating a new brand for the city, Tourism Director Katie McElroy said Monday.

Work by Greenville-S.C.-based Arnett Muldrow and Associates and Staunton-based Frazier Associates to develop new images and phrases for promoting the municipality is set to begin Nov. 7.

The project is an important step in effectively marketing Waynesboro to tourists, McElroy said.

“It will create a consistent image and sense of place in advertising and marketing,” she said. “People will begin to recognize it the more they see it.”

The two firms plan to meet with a host of community leaders and city officials to learn about Waynesboro and brainstorm ideas over the course of three days.

“They will meet with a number of different groups of people — young professionals, city council, merchants, planning commission — to get a good feel for where the community has been and where it’s going,” McElroy said.

A public meeting and brainstorming session also is planned for 6 p.m. Nov. 7 in council chambers at 503 W. Main St.

“Public participation and input is crucial to getting an accurate reflection of the community,” said Tee Coker, an associate planner with Arnett Muldrow and Associates. “What we give back at the end of the three days is, to the best of our ability, what we’ve seen and heard from the community.”

The firms then will use the information and ideas from the sessions to narrow the selection to three branding schemes.

One of the schemes then will be used to create a branding “tool kit” with images and logos for use in signs, letterhead, brochures, websites and advertising.

“There are a lot of different ways it can be used to promote various aspects of the city,” said Kathy Frazier, a principal of Frazier Associates. “I think the community is going to have a lot of fun with it. The whole idea is to make it exciting and fresh.”

The project also includes developing a timeline for implementing the new brand.

“It’s our hope that the community as a whole will be able to use our work to better promote the city and its offerings and to build local pride,” Coker said.