Greene County puts volunteers, dollars toward rebranding efforts

Greene County Commissioner Bob Cirtin wants residents to have a better understanding of the county’s services and mission.

As a businessman through Robert Cirtin Investigations LLC, he understands the value of a customer-service approach. After taking office a year ago, he’s emphasized a way to better communicate with residents.

Rebranding was the goal, but he wanted to save money. So he turned to volunteers.

“What I did – because we don’t have a lot of funds to put toward this kind of effort – I called several friends of mine who have expertise in marketing, Web design and asked them to help the commission with this effort,” Cirtin said, adding he had to buy a few dinners out of pocket to realize his goals.

Calls were answered by Kay Logsdon of The Food Channel and her husband Paul Logsdon of Evangel University, as well as Alina Lehnert of Lehnert Leadership Group LLC. In all, nearly 10 people were involved. Cirtin said all work was donated except $425 the commission paid Dave Danielson of Danielson Design for a new logo.

The group created a new mission statement, logo, slogan and updated website. Its mission statement, which Cirtin said came first, is: “To provide all citizens of Greene County, including those in our cities, a safe and thriving community through excellent customer service, unparalleled dedication and the efficient use of taxpayer dollars.”

“Based on the mission statement, we had to ask, what did we want the logo to convey?” Cirtin said, adding the group liked the symbolism of a tree. “Our tree has visible roots on it, which conveys things like strength. The branches convey the county’s continued growth and also represent the relationships we have with all the municipalities in Greene County. And, of course, the roots are needed for a grounded, nourishing, healthy tree.”

The slogan is “Greene County works."

“On the website, we kind of fill in the blanks,” he said, adding the objective online was to make the site more user-friendly.

According to officials with three ad agencies in the area, there are a variety of reasons and costs associated with rebranding.

DL Media owner and President Dianne Davis said rebranding services can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands. She said one of the agency’s largest rebranding projects to date was for Tulsa-based Metro Appliances and More.

“We did its new logo; we created its new materials in its stores, new television commercials, new social media graphics, print media graphics,” she said. “It was very involved.”

She calls it a brand “refresh,” because the focus is on updating its image to customers.

Judy Bilyeu, corporate marketing director for Metro Appliances and More, which operates a Springfield store, said a name change in 2010 was significant for the business.

“Our company was called Metro Builders Supply for about 35 years,” Bilyeu said of the company with nine locations across four states.

“We wanted to keep the ‘Metro’ name. That came from the gentleman who founded the company in Tulsa, Okla. ‘Appliances’ was obvious because we’re an appliance distributor, so that was important. ‘And more’ has a variety of meanings: more selection, more service, more savings. And our different stores specialize in a variety of areas. Like in our Springfield store, we have a huge lighting department.”

She declined to disclose the rebranding cost but said the signage alone was tens of thousands of dollars.

The reasons for other companies are varied.

“Businesses can rebrand because they have a change in ownership, and maybe the new owners have a slightly different business plan or business philosophy. They’ll keep a lot of the core messages that they want to move forward, but yet they want to make it their own,” Davis said. “Or maybe the previous owners’ reputation was a four-star not a five-star or a three-star not a five-star. They want to put a fresh coat of paint, so to speak, on the brand.”

Brian Ash, owner of Calibrate Marketing LLC, has provided logo and rebranding services for Don Wessel Honda, Kare Health & Wellness LLC and Precision Wellness LLC.

He said for smaller businesses, he’s leaned on 99Designs.com for design help. For a flat fee of $300, Ash said the design-focused crowdsourcing site offers ideas from multiple designers interested in the project.

“You don’t have to pay for anything until you get something you like, so it’s a pretty sweet deal,” he said.

For help with Wessel Honda’s logo, he turned to Sugar Design Studio, which has a client list including Mother’s Brewing Co. and Bass Pro Shops

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Ash wanted to lighten the logo, to make it more fresh and friendly.

“The color scheme was a black background with white on it. It just didn’t feel warm,” he said.

The new blue logo features a ‘W’ that Ash said looks like a blue ribbon.

“It’s like their blue-ribbon service,” he said.

Celeste Skidmore, executive vice president of ADsmith Marketing and Advertising, said the firm has completed rebranding work for Petsway Inc. – fomerly Pet Warehouse – and Council of Churches of the Ozarks, among others.

Shannon Perryman, vice president of identity services for ADsmith, said rebranding starts with research. With Springfield-based Petsway, the new name was one the company already used in another market, so ADsmith began to explore the idea of adopting it companywide.

“They were looking at whether they should keep ‘Pet Warehouse’ at all. There are some negative connotations with ‘warehouse,’” he said.

“And that came out of research,” Skidmore added. “We’ll do focus groups and customer surveys. So, it starts with that and with a name change, you have to put in legal.”

Costs for rebranding vary widely, according to Skidmore, declining to disclose costs for its clients.

“It’s not for the faint of heart,” she said. “In a situation like Petsway, they have multiple stores; they have signage; they have windows; they have trucks. It could vary. If it’s a small business, and you’re not invested in your look or logo, it’s not as difficult.”

Davis said she didn’t know why Cirtin decided to pursue rebranding, but thought the effort could be a way for the county to appeal to new businesses.

“They could have changed their look to have larger organizations look at Greene County as more progressive. ‘Maybe, I’d want to move my business there.’ It could be part of a campaign for economic development,” she said. “It’s a way to say to the rest of the world, ‘Pay attention to us.’”