Advertisement. Advertise with us

CITY UNVEILS MARKETING SLOGAN

‘We’re Onta Something’

Trampline Ad Agency Seeking

To Capture Oneonta Quirkiness

Kathy Meeker watches one of Trampoline Advertising & Design’s videos outlining Oneonta’s program during the launch party May 6, at the B-Side Ballroom. Meeker, director of SUNY Oneonta’s Grants Development Office, participated in a Trampoline focus group. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)

By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

ONEONTA – “We’re onta something.”

Get it?

“Phonetically, we don’t say ‘we’re ‘on to’ something,’ we say we’re ‘onta’ something,” said Derek Slayton, Trampoline Advertising & Design creative director. “It’s fun, it’s informal, it creates a warm, friendly vibe.”

Trampoline, based in Glens Falls, unveiled the city’s new marketing campaign Monday, May 6, at the B-Side Ballroom, the culmination of “several months” of research, focus groups and tours of downtown.

“It communicates that Oneonta has an energy that is different from other towns and it is not afraid to say it,” said Mayor Gary Herzig.

“From the moment I saw the symbol, I liked it,” said Council member Joe Ficano, Eighth Ward. “It’s bright, it’s colorful, it’s useful. It’s slanted upwards – not downwards, not an arc – and I like that.”

Touring the city and meeting with focus groups, Trampoline built the design on personal observations, assets and obstacles, and goals for the campaign, Slayton said.

Among Oneonta’s strengths were dining options, arts,  culture and affordability, with “vacancy,” lack of momentum and “store churn” listed as obstacles.

But they kept coming back to one word that seemed to sum up Oneonta. “In every focus group we had, someone used the word ‘quirky’ to describe Oneonta,” he said. “We tried to capture that with this logo.”

The idea of the campaign, Herzig said, is not to replace the much-loved “City of the Hills” moniker (no mentioned was made of “Oneonta, Life Enjoyed”), but to market the city to anyone looking for a place to visit.

“It’s designed to capture the attention of someone outside of Oneonta and make them curious about what exactly we are onto,” he said. “It’s a way to reach people, bring them here and maybe when they’re here, they think this might be a good place to open their business.”

In addition to tourists and entrepreneurs, Trampoline also listed graduating students and boomerang families – parents whose children move back in with them after college – as a potential audience for the campaign.

In time, the campaign will be included on bus wraps, parking and wayfinding signs listing the downtown merchants, as well as gateway signs at the Lettis Highway and lower Main Street entrances.

And though vacant storefronts were a concern, Slayton had an answer. “We designed storefront wraps to put in the windows,” he said. “That way, it’s not an empty storefront, it’s a marketing opportunity.”

The logo – as well as the punny slogan – will begin making its appearance around Oneonta by the end of the month.

“We’ve designed coasters, napkins and tissue paper and we’re delivering them to merchants, free of charge,” said Slayton. “If someone from out of town goes into the bookstore, their book can be wrapped in this paper and that goes home with them. It gets the message out.”

In addition to the physical presence of the logo, Trampoline will also design a targeted media campaign aimed at drawing in outsiders to Oneonta.

Signage will have to be approved by the city and likely won’t appear until next year; however, Slayton said that the banners and bus wraps could be ready in time for the summer season.

In all, the project will cost $570,000, which includes all production and installation costs, paid for through the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

“Oneonta is colorful and vibrant,” said Slayton. “Why not show it?”

Posted

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Related Articles

SCOLINOS: It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide

COLUMN VIEW FROM THE GAME It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide Editor’s Note:  Tim Mead, incoming Baseball Hall of Fame president, cited John Scolinos, baseball coach at his alma mater, Cal Poly Pomona, as a lifelong inspiration, particularly Scolinos’ famous speech “17 Inches.” Chris Sperry, who published sperrybaseballlife.com, heard Scolinos deliver a version in 1996 at the American Baseball Coaches Association in Nashville, and wrote this reminiscence in 1916 in his “Baseball Thoughts” column. By CHRIS SPERRY • from www.sperrybaseballlife.com In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching…

Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told

CLICK HERE FOR MEMO TO SCHOOLS Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told COOPERSTOWN – In a memo released Friday evening, county Public Health Director Heidi Bond advised local school superintendents that sports can resume as early as Monday. “Effective Feb. 1, participants in higher-risk sports may participate in individual or distanced group training and organized no/low-contact group training,” Bond wrote, “…including competitions and tournaments, if permitted by local health authorities.”…

Killer Ricky Knapp Dies In Prison

Killer Knapp Dies In Prison; Guilty In SUNY Coed’s Death ONEONTA – Ricky Knapp, the man convicted of the 1977 death of SUNY Oneonta student, has died in Mohawk Correctional Facility, according to prison records. Knapp, 66, died March 8, having served 40 years of a 25-to-life sentence for a 1978 manslaughter conviction in the death of 18-year-old Linda Velzy, a SUNY student from Long Island. According to reports, Velzy was last seen Dec. 9 1977, hitchhiking in downtown Oneonta.…