Firm hopes to reveal new logos during Street Fair
By JONATHAN SNYDER
Reusser Marketing reported over 700 Bluffton residents responded to its survey for the city’s new marketing and rebranding plan.
Bluffton contracted Reusser on March 5 to rebrand the city, including making a new logo and color set, and bringing the core values of Bluffton together into one comprehensive document. Surveys for the plan were sent out July 16 with various Common Council members sharing the surveys on their Facebook pages.
The overarching theme of the plan focuses on the local community. Reusser’s Senior Product Designer Joe Beste, who grew up in Uniondale, stated Bluffton is unique because so many parts of Wells County call the city home. While cities in other areas sometimes have their own separate ideologies, the people of Wells all have some stake in Bluffton, according to Beste.
“So many residents of Wells County call Bluffton home,” Beste said. “Everyone kind of migrates to Bluffton. It was really cool just thinking about that. How many people in southern Wells will travel to Bluffton on a daily basis and same with people in northern Wells, how … everything they need is down in Bluffton too. It’s not just Bluffton residents that call this place home. I think everyone in Wells County is connected to Bluffton in some way.”
The amount of public feedback amazed Director of Creative Tommy Moore. Moore stated that similar projects have yielded around 300 responses on average. Moore noted that more responses means a better idea of what the people want to see in the plan, making for a brand that more people can rally behind.
“(We have seen) A massive amount of responses, which is kind of unheard of, honestly, with some of those surveys,” Moore said. “But you see a lot of really good feedback, which we’re processing now, of people excited about opportunities, even marketing the city for new jobs, new residents, new things (like that). I think it’s been really, really fun.”
Both the community and city officials worked together on finding out what makes Bluffton unique. Council members Chandler Gerber and Blake Fiechter attended a meeting with Reusser where important pieces of Bluffton’s community were brainstormed and put together, giving Reusser an overall picture of the city.
One of the main goals of the rebrand is to tie together some historical sites and events of the city to showcase the community’s perseverance. Beste cited the community’s efforts to help during major floods and the Trenton Oil Boom as hallmarks of the community’s resiliency and willingness to help others.
“When we (Reusser) were digging into Bluffton, there is a really cool timeline of perseverance through the city that kind of keeps ringing up,” Beste said. “We wanted to bring that into the logo.”
In particular, Bluffton’s current nickname, “The Parlor City” is something that will be kept in the rebrand. Beste liked that the nickname was given to the city by traveler’s passing through, not by the city itself. He hopes that shedding light onto why the city was given that nickname will build a closer community.
“I think sounds really good,” Beste said “We (Bluffton) are the only one here with this nickname, and we should lean into that more. Then I think if we can somehow tell that story through branding, it kind of helps people … come together and rally under these logos, or these flags, or these colors and just drives a sense of hometown pride.”
Another intriguing part of the plan has been the color scheme, according to Reusser. A color scheme of primarily red and black could alienate others who go to Norwell or Southern Wells schools, something that Beste cited as something to avoid.
The new brand comes with a possible effort to make city equipment uniform in appearance. While it will be the council’s decision if they choose to spend the money on new items such as painting the water tower and new vinyl wraps for utility trucks, Fiechter noted that the council’s more conservative financial policy could see these items delayed should they choose to go for them.
The hope for Reusser and Bluffton is that the new brand will unify the values the community prides itself on. Beste stated that having community values come together in one place gives the community and its officials a firm reference on what the community cares about, so they can keep those values in mind when making decisions.
“Most of the times when we do these things for cities, you hear a lot of like, ‘We have more important issues to face, rather than a logo and flag design,’” Beste said. “But I like to think that if we have a good logo, we have a good brand, that’s something that the city can rally under to face those larger challenges.”
“We’ve got a lot of activities. We’ve got a rich heritage. We’ve got a vibrant, thriving community that we just need to tie together,” Gerber said. “There is so much happening and so much activity that oftentimes it feels like you get lost in the dust cloud of all the activity. If we could just get everybody rowing in the same direction, we can go a long ways.”
“If we want to be appealing for future residents that are going to live here, future businesses that are going to relocate here or invest here … I think we have to have a very appealing first appearance and I think that branding is the start of it,” Fiechter said.
Gerber stated that the goal is to unveil the new logo and colors at the Bluffton Free Street Fair. If that timeline is missed, however, Gerber stated that the plan will be released before the end of the year.
jonathan@news-banner.com
