Branding Winter Park

If Winter Park were a person, what would he or she be like? That is what the team at Engauge, an independent advertising agency, has been asking itself for the last year.

In 2009, Winter Park began working with the Community Redevelopment Agency, business owners and the community to create a brand identity for downtown Winter Park. The project began to combat slow business due to the problematic economy. The city paid Engauge $90,000 to create a marketing plan for the Park Avenue area, with a logo, color scheme, tagline and video.

In focus groups, Engauge asked people what words came to mind when they thought of Winter Park. “It’s unique, it’s community and it’s Park Avenue,” said Barb Scherer, Engauge’s executive director, in her presentation to the CRA board meeting on June 27.

“Brands are built from the inside-out, which means that everybody that is working and living here has a vested interest in attracting other people to this area to shop, dine, attend events, or otherwise.”

When deciding on how to market downtown Winter Park, the agency had to consider many details about the area, including its purpose, values, positioning and personality. Scherer said, “This is where we ask any of the participants in our groups, ‘If the Winter Park brand walked into the room, how would you describe that person and its personality?’”

The groups decided that Winter Park is a historic place that brings people together. As a person, it would be stylish, intellectual, charming, hospitable and sociable.

“Every day in Winter Park is exceptional,” Scherer concluded.

That statement is reflected in the chosen tagline to represent downtown: “Every day exceptional.”

Two different logos were presented to City Commission during the CRA meeting. The Commission voted unanimously for one that combined classic lettering with a modern design, and a deep blue and “peacock green,” along with a small reference to a peacock feather.

Steven Leary, a city commissioner with a background in marketing and advertising, said, “I think they did a great job. I think the logo has presented a couple of different aspects that the city can use … I think it represents the city well.”

Kristen Zucks, who was also part of the presentation, said of Winter Park’s presence in social media, “We found also that based on the low volume of chatter, that we could highly step up in frequency and substance of conversations about downtown Winter Park.”

This means that residents and visitors can look forward to downtown having a larger presence on sites such as Facebook and Foursquare, so visitors to the area can share their experiences with friends and “check in” to local shops and restaurants.

“As you ‘check in,’ everyone who’s a friend of yours sees that. So that not only increases awareness, but we can also offer some incentives to drive traffic to the downtown area using those programs,” Zucks said.

Engauge is already 75 percent finished with its strategy for downtown. The next steps are to develop and finalize the brand expression video, finalize a marketing strategy, and to implement the new brand. At the completion of Engauge’s plan, downtown Winter Park may be able to benefit from the extra attention, and beat the economy’s downward pull on business.

But Engauge already has its pitch down, as Zucks presented at the meeting. “It’s a quality and way of life that most dream of that is much closer than one would think,” she said. “Treat yourself to an exceptional day, every day in Winter Park.”