Morinville has a brand new brand

By Stephen Dafoe

Morinville – Survey results are in and Morinville’s two logo finalists have been narrowed down to the one graphic symbol that will represent the community in Morinville’s future branding and marketing efforts.

Dwayne Holland of Focus Design Group, the consulting firm hired by the Town last August to guide Morinville through its rebranding, presented the finalist to Morinville Town Council Tuesday night, along with separate logos for the Morinville Community Cultural Centre and the Town’s upcoming centennial celebrations.
The consulting firm had designed 13 contenders for Morinville’s new branding logo after consultations with the community as to how it sees itself now and into the future. Those logos were narrowed down to four finalists that were presented to a number of stakeholder groups, including the Community advisory Committee, Town staff and council. The two finalists then became the focus of an online survey conducted in November.

Both the selected and rejected design sought to capture the essence of architectural elements found in St. Jean Baptiste Church, long an iconic image of the community.

The rejected logo consisted of stylized interlocking Ms, said to be inspired by the architecture and stained glass of the church. The interlocked shapes were meant to convey the collaboration in the community. The interlocked letters also roughly took the form of a maple leaf.

The second logo, which will now be Morinville’s brand, also uses a letter M – its shape inspired by the historic church’s stained glass windows as well as the wrought-iron fence surrounding the heritage properties in the downtown core. As in the former design, the overlapping shapes are intended to represent community collaboration. Below the M is a stylized leaf intended to represent the community’s trail system.

The new logo is accompanied by the tag or slogan “Growing together,” suggested by Morinville Councillor Nicole Boutestein during the consultation process.

While the logo will be visual identification used on Town of Morinville signs, vehicles, letterhead and the soon-to-be-redesigned website, it is accompanied with a number of words that are intended to establish the community’s branding position and promise.

Holland told Council the Town’s branding position will be “Morinville is a place where healthy community and sustainable opportunity grow together in an inviting and naturally open setting.”

The branding promise developed by the consulting firm is “Morinville’s naturally open setting provides a high quality lifestyle with small-town values of friendliness and community, together with access to a wide range of business, employment, recreational and cultural opportunities.”

Morinville has earmarked an additional $200,000 in the draft 2011 budget to implement a communications and marketing plan, $75,000 of which is proposed to be spent on the redevelopment of the Town’s website to make it more user-friendly. The remainder will be used for other branding implementation attributes, including town entry signs, letterhead, business cards, vehicle logos, promotional materials, brochures, banners and other marketing and branding items for both the town and the Community Cultural Centre.

The new brand is intended to receive an official launch Feb. 7 during a public event.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email