TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU: Douglas Hewett, City Manager
FROM: Kevin Arata, Corporate Communications Director
Tracey Broyles, Budget and Evaluation Director
DATE: December 10, 2018
RE:
Title
Adoption of Budget Ordinance Amendment 2019-9 to Provide Funding for the Community-wide Collaborative Branding Project
end
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
All
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
Goal VI: Citizen Engagement and Partnerships
Target for Action: RFP to rebrand City with community stakeholders
Executive Summary:
At the December 3, 2018 work session, City Council concurred with staff recommendations to participate in the Fayetteville Cumberland Collaborative Branding Committee for the development of a community-wide collaborative branding strategy. Council is asked to adopt Budget Ordinance Amendment (BOA) 2019-9 to appropriate $25,000 from General Fund fund balance to provide for the City’s projected share of the project cost.
Background:
The Fayetteville Cumberland Collaborative Branding Committee (FCCBC) is comprised of representatives from the City, the County, the Greater Fayetteville Chamber, the Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corporation, Vision 2026, the Tourism Development Authority, Cool Spring Downtown District, the Fayetteville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Cumberland County Schools, the Crown Complex, and the Arts Council of Fayetteville / Cumberland County. They, and other outward facing organizations across the city, currently use their own disparate logos and taglines to help brand their particular organization and there is not a focused and concerted effort, or ability, to co-brand. It is the goal of the FCCBC to help connect the dots across multiple organizations to aggressively promote Fayetteville and Cumberland County as a superior destination in which to live, work, visit, explore, create or grow a business. We also desire to differentiate our community by elevating our brand above others with similar names and demographics, and demonstrate the unity and collaboration that exists between our public, private, and non-profit partners to the local community and external audiences.
The Fayetteville Cumberland Collaborative Branding Committee has chosen North Star Ideas as the firm that can best help shape and create a collaborative brand for our use in promoting our region’s place branding - a specialized form of marketing that helps deliver a community’s message based on market research, coupled with the use of focus groups and surveys. The scope of the project is to establish a clear and common brand that encapsulates and leverages the community’s strengths, assets, diversity, vision and potential, and develops a common branding platform that all partners may incorporate and expand upon in their individual promotion, messaging, and marketing strategies. FCEDC is seeking a City contribution of $25,000 to help fund the anticipated $150,000-$200,000 price tag associated with this project. To date, the Tourism Development Authority has committed $50,000, FCEDC has committed $25,000, and Vision 2026 has committed $25,000. FCEDC is requesting $25,000 from both the City and the County to help fund this project, and anticipates securing another $25,000 from other outside sources.
Issues/Analysis:
The opening of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers’ baseball stadium, The Gathering at Prince Charles, and the future opening of the neighboring flagship hotel mark this as a prime opportunity to take advantage of what we anticipate will be a major step forward in continuing the City’s downtown development and serving a catalyst for future business opportunities across our region. FCCBC’s goal is to change the messaging for our community, internal to residents and external to potential new residents and businesses that may choose Fayetteville as their home, soon after all those outwardly visible changes begin to take hold downtown. By contracting with a company focused on helping co-brand municipal organizations, the FCCBC will help guide the discussion that will result in a collaborative brand that can be used to better focus our future messaging to current residents, as well as potential new residents and businesses. North Star Ideas recently conducted research for and developed successful co-branding effort for Catawba County and Hickory.
Budget Impact:
The requested City contribution would be funded by an appropriation of $25,000 from available General Fund fund balance.
Options:
• Adopt Budget Ordinance Amendment 2019-9 as presented to fund the City’s participation in the collaborative, community-wide branding project.
• Do not adopt the budget ordinance amendment and provide further direction to staff.
Recommended Action:
Staff recommends that Council move to adopt Budget Ordinance Amendment 2019-9 as presented.
Attachments:
• Budget Ordinance Amendment 2019-9
• FCEDC memo, dated Nov. 26, 2018
• PowerPoint ref. branding examples