Mundelein officials divided on new branding logo Half the trustees in Mundelein say theyre not impressed with the choices for a new village logo. As part of a $70,000 branding campaign, the village will adopt a new logo to replace the tree and stars logo. The new logo is supposed to be presented to the community when the new village hall opens on Hawley Street this fall. Obviously, whatever choice we make, we need to stand behind that choice, said Dawn Jenich, Mundeleins communication and marketing director. I think we really stand apart. We want Mundelein to stand as a leader. Marketing and branding consultants hired by the village started working on the project last August and recently presented two potential options to the board of trustees: a multi-colored star featuring an M shape for Mundelein and an outline of the village map with a star in the middle. The two options were created with input from eight focus groups made up of village department heads, committees, high school students, families, senior citizens, business owners and Latino residents. While trustees Ray Semple, Holly Kim, Ed Sullivan and Mayor Steve Lentz preferred the M star, the rest of the trustees, Terri Voss, Dawn Abernathy and Robin Meier were displeased with both choices. If Im looking at this logo, it has no meaning to me. Perhaps Im just a marketing idiot, but I dont see how it explains Mundelein. I dont understand the message its trying to convey, Voss said. Ive got to think if I dont, Im not the only idiot around. Abernathy agreed. People are going to say Whats that about? That is what were going to get. People are going to look at it and say Thats what we got? Abernathy said. I expected more. Weve got to be excited about whats going to represent our brand, our town. Right now, Im not excited about our brand. Likening the star to the apple used by Apple, consultants tried to explain how a simple logo can positively portray an organization. This is the kind of image — unlike the tree — that will work with lots and lots of applications, said Bridget Lane, director of Business Districts, Inc., the Evanston-based consulting company hired by the village for the branding project. The idea was to create a logo that was less complex than the tree and could be changed to fit different needs, such as websites, mobile applications, letterhead or a water tower, she said. Its very common for logos to have stars, Lane said. Right now, many, many logos are getting changed to simplify. While the logo is simple, there is a story behind the star, Lane said. M, Mundeleins monogram, was used to create the star points, she said. The star in the center signifies Mundeleins central location in Lake County, and the different colors of the star have significance: gold for an optimistic future, green for recreational assets, sienna for town amenities and blue for water resources. The star denotes the center of Lake County. Thats something were very proud of. Its an identifier, Jenich said. We want to be known for our entrepreneurial spirit. I think the logo is very welcoming. It looks friendly. The fact that its on the simple side, its a benefit to us. Lentz, Semple, Sullivan and Kim agreed the star was a good choice, though they wanted to explore changing the colors, font or positioning of the star. After I Googled other logos with stars and saw how many other companies use it, they really make it work, Lentz said, explaining Macys, Texaco and Carls Jr. use the star logo successfully. A star is a good, well-established symbol of success. Abernathy, Voss and Meier said they were not happy with the choices, but they agreed to try to reconfigure the M star and make suggestions at the next meeting. The consultants need the trustees approval before creating the final version of the logo to be launched at the village hall grand opening. This process that were going through is not to develop a logo. Its to develop a brand for the community. The logo is a byproduct of that brand promise, said John Lobaito, village administrator. If we become the premier location in Lake County where entrepreneurs want to be here and start their business and grow their business, everybody will come to know that star. chicagotribune/news/local/suburbs/mundelein/ct-mundelein-branding-meeting-tl-20140311,0,6770629.story
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 15:37:26 +0000
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