Capturing the essence of an idyllic Midwestern city using the power of brand.
PROJECT
Brand Campaign
PARTNERS
City of Oshkosh
Downtown Oshkosh
Oshkosh Convention and Visitors Bureau
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh Corporation
Oshkosh Area School District
Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce
Oshkosh Economic Development Corp
Oshkosh Area Community Foundation
Experimental Aircraft Association
Winnebago County
ASSIGNMENT
Campaign Research
Campaign Strategy
Campaign Identity
Logo Design
Messaging Guidelines
Visual Guidelines
Merchandise Design
Photography
Print and Digital Brochure Design
Social Media Content Design
Website Design
ABOUT
From breweries to art galleries and endless natural waterways, Oshkosh is the quintessential Midwestern town. Nestled along lakes and rivers is a charming and progressive community of college graduates, young families, retirees and everyone in between.
The Only Oshkosh project, backed by ten local organizations, businesses, movers and shakers, was formed with the core purpose of short- and long-term goals. These goals included positively impacting community perception, retaining college graduates, increasing C-suite level job opportunities and talent, and attracting new residents and businesses to the area over the course of the following 10 years. In order to achieve this goal, we created a long-term campaign to unify the Oshkosh area organization under the umbrella of a campaign name, messaging, marketing strategy and visual presence to taut all the opportunities that could be found in Oshkosh.
OUR APPROACH
Our goal was two-fold. First, to wrangle Only Oshkosh’s stakeholders and resources by helping them organize and prioritize their individual goals into a collective mission. Second, to develop brand and messaging that stands out against the city’s other tourism campaigns, but also dynamic enough to represent the various stakeholders’ initiatives as well as the diverse audiences we were targeting.
Live. Work. Play. Learn.
Our tagline, “Live. Work. Play. Learn”, became the rallying cry that drove the rest of the messaging for the campaign. Following suit, we designed a visual identity that included a new logo and iconic “O” that could be used for limitless representation of the brand across channels and mediums.
To tell the story of how Oshkosh provides citizens, businesses and visitors opportunities to thrive we needed to create a brand identity that celebrated all the benefits of residing in the community. After all, there genuinely was something for everyone.
Usable guidelines for everyone.
The new identity was documented in a foolproof, comprehensive campaign guidelines booklet to ensure the new look and tone would be translated consistently — regardless of who was executing the campaign collateral in the future.
THE LOOKBOOK
A marketing strategy catalyzed by print.
Early in the discovery process we established that an Oshkosh Lookbook would be the cornerstone of the campaign. We had ten individual city partners with different goals and multiple audiences. In order to maximize the budget and reinforce a unified message, we came up with a single piece that would house information for everyone to distribute.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Our target audience was incredibly eclectic, ranging from C-Suite executives who were considering moving offices to the area, to young urban families looking for a higher quality of life, to college grads weighing the pros and cons of starting their careers in Oshkosh versus moving to larger cities.
To be effective in such a broad audience and a range of goals, the Only Oshkosh Lookbook needed to contain all of the relevant information, presented in a fun, easy to digest format.
To help ensure the Lookbook remained relevant and fresh, we created a print and digital template that could easily be updated quarterly with seasonal photography and the most current information.
Social media as vibrant as the community it represents.
A thoughtfully curated Instagram and Facebook was an integral part of the marketing strategy. Social media was crucial to highlighting the community’s beauty, exciting seasonal events, and crowd-sourced testimonials of why Oshkosh was a great place to live, work, play and learn.
On-location, year-round photography.
One of the best ways to keep brand content fresh is having a constant influx of new photography. This becomes especially important when the brand is a Midwestern city, complete with four very different seasons.
In order to keep all of the campaign’s Lookbook, website and social media updated with relevant photography we planned 4 photoshoots in the prime of spring, summer, fall and winter (brrrrr). This allowed us to build a library of branded photography that could be used regardless of the time of year.
THE WEBSITE
The digital hub for up-to-date info on all things Oshkosh.
Included in the Oshkosh Lookbook was a strong call to action to visit the campaign’s landing page. The ultimate goal was to providing them with even more timely, detailed information. We also aimed to capture the visitor’s contact info, activating a retargeting campaign that included follow-up emails and visiting incentives. We worked closely with a website development team to adapt the content and visuals into the website working file so they could quickly create a cohesive landing page.
IN CONCLUSION
Through our strategic branding process we were able to unify the mission of its leadership, capture the essence of a city’s thriving community, and create a campaign that drove an increase in both residents and businesses relocating to the area.