Photo by Deb Gau
Glenn Bader, chairman of Marshall’s city branding committee, unveiled the results of a yearlong branding project on Wednesday.
MARSHALL — When a branding and marketing agency started doing research on the city of Marshall last year, it found one surprising thing, Glenn Bader said. Marshall didn’t have a sense of identity — of what the community stood for, and what made it unique.
“This was a really common thread,” brought up by both community members and people from outside Marshall, he said.
Now, Marshall is unveiling the results of a branding project that could help change those perceptions. Bader, the senior vice president for marketing and information technology at Ralco and chairman of the Marshall Branding Project Committee, introduced the new brand during Wednesday’s State of the City Address.
The branding project developed a new logo for the city, as well as the brand statement “Cultivating the Best In Us.” But building a brand for Marshall is about a lot more than those symbols, Bader said.
“This isn’t just about a logo. It’s what’s behind the logo,” Bader said. In Marshall’s case, it’s the people who have made Marshall their home.
The Marshall branding initiative was announced last April. A committee of community members partnered with marketing and branding agency North Star. North Star has done branding work for other cities, including Fargo and Brookings, Bader said.
The process of developing a brand for the city included plenty of research and feedback from members of the public. North Star conducted community surveys, focus groups and in-person interviews during the process.
“It’s really important to understand what you’re the best at, and how we communicate it,” Bader said.
Some of Marshall’s strengths, according to the public feedback, included community institutions like Southwest Minnesota State University, Marshall’s schools and athletics programs, and major employers like Schwan’s.
“SMSU really came out. People looked at it as one of our greatest assets,” Bader said.
People also said they liked the quality and small-town feel of life in Marshall, as well as the community’s willingness to work together to grow and improve, Bader said. All of those factors came together in the branding process, to result in the idea that the Marshall is a place that “cultivates the best in us.”
“There’s so many dimensions and stories” behind that idea, Bader said, and the stars of those stories are the people who choose to live in Marshall. It’s how the community cultivates the best in its members, he said. “We do it through people.”
Bader shared a video, featuring interviews with community members talking about what they thought Marshall’s strengths were. The video went up on the Marshall city Facebook page on Wednesday, and Bader said it could be part of a social media campaign.
“We want people to share it,” he said.
Bader said there are other ways that the city can “lean in” to the new city brand. The project included a two-year roadmap for using the new brand in communications and community outreach. Suggestions included creating new signage and banners for city streetlights, and working together with community organizations to promote the new brand.
“We’ve received some good feedback already,” Bader said. After getting a preview of the branding project, organizations including the Marshall-Lyon County Library and the Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce, city facilities like the Red Baron Arena, and even local businesses were on board with the campaign.
Bader encouraged community members to be ambassadors for the city brand.
“Help us carry the story forward,” he said.
More information on the branding project can be found on the city of Marshall’s Facebook page, and on the Marshall city website, at https://ci.marshall.mn.us.
