TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) – A new $500,000 brand campaign emphasizes Lafayette, West Lafayette, Purdue University and Tippecanoe County as one entity: Greater Lafayette.
The campaign includes a new logo, website and promotional video.
Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski said the brand is designed to attract new businesses and young talent to the area.
“People come here, they love it, but how do we get them here?” he said. “How do we market ourselves globally because we are competing in a global economy?”
But not everyone is on board with the word “greater” in Greater Lafayette.
Jo Wilson Wade, president of Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette, said the visitors center removed Greater Lafayette from its name after a 2003 brand rollout costing $17,000.
The brand produced the iconic logo of the courthouse dome, pedestrian bridge and Purdue bell tower.
“Our research has showed visitors look us up by Lafayette, not Greater Lafayette,” she said.
Wade says the visitors center had the option to change their name and logo with the new brand rollout.
“It was an option for us to do Visit Greater Lafayette, but it just didn’t seem appropriate from what research we had,” she said.
The new brand is based on research of more than 1,500 community members. The final phase is a marketing blitz in other communities.
“Videos, billboards, radio ads,” Roswarski said. “We’re actually going to begin to market ourselves in a much different way than we ever have before.”
Marketing firm Ologie designed the brand campaign for Greater Lafayette Commerce. News 18 reached out to GLC for comment but did not hear back.
Purdue Research Foundation is also a partner.
