Developing a new destination brand to accommodate explosive growth.
The Challenge: What do you do when you’re the hottest region for businesses and jobs in the US? For two years in a row (2006/07), Raleigh, North Carolina topped Forbes magazine’s list of “Best Places for Business and Careers.” With people flocking to the area to live and a new Convention Center getting ready to open, the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau (GRCVB) decided it was time to invest in the destination brand.
The Solution: Michael Altman led a team (including Longwoods International) that worked with the GRCVB and a broad representation of every one of Wake County’s 12 municipalities to conduct primary research and develop a new brand promise and positioning for a marketing program—Visit Raleigh—that promotes the region and everything it has to offer to visitors and residents alike.
The assignment was subsequently expanded when the City’s Transportation Department asked us to leverage the program’s positioning and design and apply it to a new downtown Circulator bus (The “R-Line”) that will provide service exclusively in Downtown Raleigh to provide access and connectivity to and between Downtown Raleigh’s five districts.
Now, people say that a visit to Raleigh is more than a trip to a blossoming Southern metropolis—it is at both enriching and energizing where you can expect a warm welcome by its smart, savvy locals. Raleigh's bright minds head top-tier technology, education and life science institutions; its artists create a bevy of cultural and culinary touchstones; and its storytellers proudly carry on the collective heritage of a rich, historic capital city. Check out a recent video below.
In 2012 the client asked us to take on an additional piece of work to help them develop a name, positioning, visual identity and web page for a new entity that will be responsible for representing the sports event industry in Raleigh and Wake County, North Carolina. This work is now complete.
