BRIDGTON, Maine, Oct. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — When the Town of Bridgton, Maine embarked in February on a branding and marketing campaign to attract new residents and businesses, they faced a challenge: locals notoriously love to hate town branding campaigns. Just a quick Google search on the topic produces results like “Are all town brands, icons, and slogans doomed to mockery?” and “Why is town branding so cringe-worthy?” Yet, the brand Bridgton rolled out this fall wasn’t just embraced by the locals – they’re living it, too.
According Town Manager Bob Peabody, “We knew Bridgton would never change its personality to fit a manufactured brand, no matter how clever the tagline or beautiful the logo. So rather than create a new image, we needed to uncover something unique and special that already existed.”
Bridgton has a long list of special attributes, including four-season outdoor recreation, quaint downtown, arts scene, full-service hospital, dining, affordable real estate, and a longtime Stephen King connection.
But 30 in-depth resident interviews revealed the most common reason for moving there was something else: a personal connection. Whether they had family roots or a family business in town, attended a Bridgton overnight camp, summered at a family lake house, skied at Shawnee Peak, or just visited once, something powerful drew people back again to put down roots. Some called it a feeling, others an indescribable, persistent tug.
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It sounded a lot like love. And, conveniently, that very word was already carved in ski trails on the side of a Bridgton mountain. “We realized that love has always been our brand,” Peabody said. “We just needed to articulate that.”
Visually, they did so through a logo that combined vintage-inspired typography and colors with ads formatted as postcards and letters from the town, signed with the new tagline: Love Always, Bridgton.
Next came a film, which was shown at an August brand launch event in front of 200+ residents who requested an encore. It reached nearly 100,000 organic views on Facebook (20x Bridgton’s population).
And, most importantly, the community is living the brand. In mid-September, vandals burned down the Recreation Department’s swim shed, including all the children’s swim gear inside. Immediately, Recreation Director Gary Colello was overwhelmed by calls and offers to rebuild it for free. “One thing is certain,” said Colello, “it will be built with love.”
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SOURCE Town of Bridgton, Maine
