What do you think of when you think of Hutchinson?
For Chandlerthinks, a Tennessee-based marketing and branding company the city hired to help with a branding initiative, the answer was “A City On Purpose.” On Aug. 25, the City Council approved the phrase as Hutchinson’s new official tagline.
The tagline comes with a new logo designed to be easy to read with a clean font and three arches to symbolize the waterfall at the downtown Crow River dam. It’s meant to be an uplifting logo with a flow that draws the eye from bottom to top. Both the tagline and logo will be used as a key part of a marketing and branding plan to be developed moving forward. Work will continue over the next four to six months with additional focus group meetings, refinement of the overall branding message and more work in relation to the city’s story.
“We still have a lot of work to do on this project,” said City Administrator Matt Jaunich.
Council Member Mary Christensen said the overall project is important to Hutchinson, and that the components offered by Chandlerthinks came after, “they looked at every aspect of our community.”
“I was really curious what they would come up with,” said Council Member Steve Cook. “We don’t have one thing. We just have a great quality of life and things that add into that.”
The logo and tagline have an extra component: a story to go along with it. In summary, the story submitted by Chanderthinks reflects on the foundation of Hutchinson by the Hutchinson brothers, opening with the three standing on a hill overlooking the Crow River. They had found the perfect place to establish a city that stood for the values and human rights they had for years expounded through their popular music. The city’s early laws pushed back against slavery and pushed for women’s rights, creating a reputation of trailblazing in Hutchinson.
More than 160 years later, the city stands with a vision for the future, the story says. It has a commitment to decisions to improve the quality of life of its residents, is home to many festivals and attractions often associated with large cities, but maintains a small town spirit and acts as a regional manufacturing hub.
The story, logo and tagline are the result of a marketing and branding study that began in May. City staff and elected officials were looking for new tools to promote the city.
“Cities do this every day,” Jaunich said. “We’re always marketing or branding our city whether we know it or not, whether we’re talking about how great our park system is or our school system.”
The survey included more than 800 participants, 24 interviews with community stakeholders, 47 participants in focus groups and the completion of 312 community surveys. The study found four key insights it used to create the tagline, logo and story:
- The personality, values and reputation of Hutchinson reflect that of a small, rural, blue collar town: honesty, hard work and a safe, friendly and supportive environment.
- Hutchinson has a strong history of progressive collaborative thinking that juxtaposes with its conservative nature, as seen through the tenants of its founding, the city’s sale of compost and the school’s TigerPath program.
- Downtown Hutchinson, the Crow River and area parks and trails create an aesthetic that draws the community together.
- Hutchinson is a rural hub to other small towns for jobs, dining, healthcare, shopping and social activity.
Jaunich noted a community survey showed locals found the city is lacking on options for shopping and dining, but research found people who visit Hutchinson do so because they see it as having those options. He also pointed out that in conversations, locals used both the word “conservative” and “progressive” to describe Hutchinson’s values.
“That’s just not something that’s (normally) combined in the same conversation,” he said. “That was something (Chandlerthinks) highlighted.”
“And really, that is why it is a city on purpose,” Christensen said. “Because we are.”
