Oviedo looks at rebranding for upcoming 100-year anniversary

In preparation for its 100-year anniversary in 2025, the City of Oviedo is discussing rebranding for the city, but not everyone involved is on board with the process.

The City of Oviedo’s current logo (Image courtesy of City of Oviedo)

In its May 6 meeting, Oviedo City Council heard a rebranding proposal by North Star Place Branding and Marketing, which has done similar work for the cities of Zephyrhills, Fla., Owatonna, Minn., Buffalo Grove, Ill., among others. 

After seeing a presentation by North Star president and CEO Will Ketchum at a conference about two years ago about its work with Johnson City, Tenn., City Manager Bryan Cobb came away impressed with the Jacksonville-based company’s work. He said that while discussing the city’s centennial plans, Oviedo’s recreation and parks director Paul Belden told him “I really would love to bring a fresh look, something new, something wow, for the 100th anniversary,” and he passed on North Star’s information for Belden to contact them.

North Star’s rebranding for Johnson City, Tenn. (Images via North Star Place Branding and Marketing)

“To me, the 100th anniversary is a great time for us to do a refresh,” Cobb said. “I feel like our seal has served us quite well over time, but I think it’s time we did something for the future.”

North Star’s proposed cost, which would potentially include market research, planning, a new logo, a new slogan, updated graphics for multiple uses such as website, signage and vehicles, and social media listening, among other services, is $85,000.

”Our company helps smaller communities compete for the future they want, and to be sure communities are competing today for their share of economic development, residents, tourism and state funding,” Ketchum said. “It’s all about a positioning strategy. …The timing is excellent with the 100th [anniversary] next year, but we want to propose that this is an idea, a concept, an asset for this community that lives well beyond the 100th.”

The company would use a combination of art directors, copywriters, and public relations and social media specialists for the project. Among the strategies they utilize in their process includes conducting focus groups, engaging the community and interviewing residents and officials to get a sense of the city and the story they can tell.

”Oviedo is still growing,” Councilmember Bob Pollack said. “We want to make sure we attract the right businesses to our community, make it a place to be able to hold businesses, do business in a friendly manner. It’s a great place to live. We want to tell that story.”

Cobb said funds for such services are not currently in the city’s budget, and a budget amendment would be needed if the city decides to move forward with it. The process would take about 8 months to complete if a decision is made to go forward.

North Star’s rebranding for the City of Zephyrhills (Images courtesy of North Star Place Branding and Marketing)

“I do think a lot of our branding is old and some of our logos are pretty pixelated and could use some updates to look a little newer and kind of match how the city’s grown,” Councilmember Natalie Teuchert said. “I do think we could use some help in the branding department. How much though, I think is definitely up for discussion.”

The work would be done in conjunction with the city’s update to its strategic plan, and “one of the things that [North Star does] is they actually teach you how to tell your story,” Cobb said. “One of the things that we don’t do very often, we don’t brag about ourselves. We do great things, but we tend to not go out and tell everyone about them.

”They actually will educate you on how to tell your story and be able to put those great things out there.”

Ketchum said North Star works with cities by speaking with the community about what they would like to see in the story being told. These have led to increased job creation, brand advocacy, new investments, resident advocacy and tourism funding, according to his presentation.

One concern raised by members on the Council: Cost. And not just the cost of creating new logos. 

“We have a lovely logo …a great seal. I don’t know what we would be paying for,” Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek said. “We would be on our own to presumably change all the signs of the entire town to make this happen, which is going to be a ridiculous amount of money. Absolute nonsense.”

Sladek proposed utilizing services such as logo tournaments or websites like Fiverr to have someone create a new logo for much less than the cost of a full rebranding campaign. 

“I don’t see value in [the rebranding] at all,” she said. “I think we can get a new 100th-anniversary logo for $1,000 that’ll be magnificent.”

Sladek’s proposal highlighted other City Council members’ issues with the price.

“I don’t know that we need $85,000 worth of rebranding,” Teuchert said. “I do think there is some benefit to making sure you market your city the right way, even for the current residents you have.

”If I had to guess what it would cost to do that, I would’ve expected it to be more like $40,000 to $60,000,” she said. “But I don’t know; I’m not a marketing director.”

The city is planning on doing a website redesign in the near future, and Teuchert said that North Star could potentially help with that and other items as part of its services.

“It’s not just rebranding the city,” she said. “Like they said, they’d rebrand our fire department, our parks and rec department, our police department, our public works, our website. All that stuff. So it’s not just like a small one-off project.”

No decision was made in the meeting in regard to acquiring North Star’s services, and city staff is continuing to look into additional options and pricing for similar rebranding opportunities.

The City of Oviedo was formally incorporated in 1925. To celebrate the 100-year anniversary, the city plans to honor its history and achievements with a community event next year, though no details have been determined.

“We’ve really changed in 100 years, going from 800 to 40,000 people,” Teuchert said. “That’s not a small feat. So, yeah, special events, historical things [should be part of the celebration].

”But as far as events, parades, how we’re going to market that to be our 100-year special kind of one-off events we’re going to do, we haven’t really solidified any of that yet,” she said. “It’s still pretty preliminary. But I think you’ll see within the next couple of months that starts changing to more of a solid plan.”

Chartered bus services

Children at the city summer camp programs will be taken to and from trips in Maze Transportation buses after the City Council awarded its chartered bus services bid to the company following an issue with the previously selected vendor.

After advertising its need for a bus service in February, the city received seven bids. On April 1, City Council initially awarded the bid to Luxury Transportation Group Inc., but after receiving insurance documents, it was determined that the company did not meet the “essential insurance requirements,” according to the city. Luxury Transportation, which was established in 2012, said they have provided services to events such as Super Bowl LIV in Miami and the Miami Grand Prix.

The city repealed the bid and awarded it to Maze on May 6. The company has been in operation in Florida since 2017 and is an approved vendor for Seminole County and Manatee County Public Schools. Maze is the preferred transportation company for Orlando Christian Prep and the University of Central Florida,. 

Maze’s total bid amount was $21,600.Planned trips for Club Oviedo Summer Camp include visits to WonderWorks, the Orlando Science Center, Gatorland and Dave and Busters in Orlando; Wekiwa Springs; Semoran Skateway in Casselberry; Planet Obstacle in Lake Mary; and the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne.