Rebrand Fact vs. Fiction

Fiction: The rebrand will cost 1.2 Million dollars
Fact: The rebranding exercise, which included research, consultation, design, revisions, videography, photography, editing, template creation, and more, cost $65,000. These funds were approved in the 2022 capital budget. In 2023, City Council approved $50,000 in the capital budget for implementation. Existing assets, such as park signs, street signs, and printed materials, will be replaced once they reach the end of their useful life.

Fiction: The City is ignoring arts and culture in the rebranding outcomes.
Fact: Thoguh arts and culture may not be listed as some of the headings in the branding document, the brand presentation documents are pulling from the public consultation and community feedback sections. Not every sentiment is captured in a headline, but arts and culture is not being ignored or forgotten.

Fiction: This is the third time consultants have created brand concepts.
Fact: This is the first time the City of Welland has undergone a professional, comprehensive branding exercise that included public consultation, research, municipal auditing, and professional design.

Fiction: The rebranding exercise has a $300,000 price tag.
Fact: The rebranding exercise, which included research, consultation, design, revisions, videography, photography, editing, template creation, and more, cost $65,000. These funds were approved in the 2022 capital budget. In 2023, City Council approved $50,000 in the capital budget for implementation. Existing assets, such as park signs, street signs, and printed materials, will be replaced once they reach the end of their useful life.

Fiction: There was no community input for the rebrand
Fact: In 2022, the City of Welland hosted a digital survey on its engagement platform, www.engagewelland.ca. The survey was open for several weeks and allowed for input from everyone. Additionally, one-on-one interviews and focus group sessions were conducted. All of the feedback received during this process was implemented into the proposed brand.

Fiction: There hasn’t been any information about this rebrand until now
Fact: The rebrand was first brought forward to Council in 2021 as part of the 2022 budget review committee process. Council approved the decision unit and provided direction for staff to conduct the rebranding exercise. The City of Welland created an Engage Welland page for information, updates, and hosting a digital survey and left the page open for questions during the year. Now that the exercise is complete, information about the findings is being shared leading up to the final report on March 21.

Fiction: We just rebranded a few years ago
Fact: The City of Welland did not rebrand a few years ago. In 2016, a community design contest was held to design a logo. A logo is not a brand. A brand is a framework that drives and streamlines how a corporation presents itself. The logo contest did not meet best practices, undergo the research and professional design required, and was widely panned by those in the graphic design industry. You would not rely on a community design contest for architectural designs, so why do it for a corporation’s identity?

Fiction: A logo is a brand.
Fact: A brand is not a logo, product, or service. A brand is an emotional connection continuously created through experiences delivered and stories told. If you think of a brand as a book, the logo may be on the cover, but the brand is all the pages of the story that follow.