LANCASTER SEEKS OWN `BRAND' MARKETING FIRM TO CREATE SLOGAN THAT PROMOTES CITY TO BUSINESSES.Byline: JIM Jim Miss Watson’s runaway slave; Huck’s traveling companion. [Am. Lit.: Huckleberry Finn] See : Escape SKEEN Staff Writer LANCASTER -- Lancaster officials are in search of a brand. Looking to present a positive image of the city to its residents, to potential visitors, and to businesses they want to lure to the high desert, Lancaster officials are paying $76,000 to a consultant to help come up with a branding campaign -- a marketable identity. San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. , for example, calls itself ``America's Finest City.'' Palmdale's slogan is ``A Great Place to Call Home.'' ``We don't have a symbol to grab on to and say this is what our city is about,'' said Vice Mayor Ed Sileo. The city has retained North Star Destination Strategies, a Nashville-based firm that specializes in branding campaigns for cities and counties. North Star's recent clients include California's Tulare County, for which the firm came up with the slogan ``Sequoia sequoia (sĭkwoi`ə), name for the redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and for the big tree, or giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), both huge, coniferous evergreen trees of the bald cypress family, and for extinct related species. Valley -- as big as it gets,'' and New Bay City, Mich., whose slogan is now ``A Beautiful View -- of life.'' ``The consultants will look at where the existing branding is and look at where it should be,'' said Vern Lawson Jr., the city economic development director. ``The campaign can be rolled out with the city's 30th anniversary next year.'' Much of the city's original identity was created when Lancaster incorporated in 1977, Lawson said. The city's existing logo, created in 1978, depicts an antelope, a steam locomotive locomotive, vehicle used to pull a train of unpowered railroad cars. Types of Locomotives The steam-powered locomotive played a key role during the development and golden age of railroading, but, despite its long and picturesque history, it has , California poppies California poppy: see poppy. California poppy Annual garden plant (Eschscholzia californica) in the poppy family, native to the western coast of North America and naturalized in parts of southern Europe, Asia, and Australia. and an aircraft. For its publications, the city is using a single California poppy with the city's name. Lawson said that while there have been periodic efforts to update aspects of the city's brand, there has not been a comprehensive and systematic process to update the city's image and to tie it in with marketing efforts. The branding campaign will be helpful in trying to attract industries with high wage scales, including high-tech industries, Lawson said. ``If we are to attract the kinds of businesses we want, we have to appeal to Generation X and Generation Y,'' Lawson said. The branding campaign is part of the city's economic plan, which includes creating ready-to-go sites for businesses to relocate re·lo·cate v. re·lo·cat·ed, re·lo·cat·ing, re·lo·cates v.tr. To move to or establish in a new place: relocated the business. v.intr. , promoting the development of the Fox Field Corridor, and working with school districts to promote work-ethic training, vocational training and internship internship /in·tern·ship/ (in´tern-ship) the position or term of service of an intern in a hospital. internship, n the course work or practicum conducted in a professional dental clinic. programs. james.skeen(at)dailynews (661) 267-5743 |
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