Bargersville town logo, branding almost ready to reveal

Bargersville town officials are preparing to reveal the results of an almost year-long process to develop the town’s new branding strategies and logo.

Town leaders worked with Franklin, Tennessee-based marketing consultant Chandlerthinks on a $60,000 rebranding effort, which included community feedback from more than 750 people, conversations with town officials and a variety of designs and concepts regarding not just a logo itself, but prominent themes for the town to embrace. Members of Chandlerthinks also surveyed community members and worked with town officials to establish a motto for the town: “Bargersville: A Growing Legacy.”

Town officials will unveil the new logo early next year as part of an overall brand that will be incorporated into future advertising of the town, such as information for tourists, merchandise and signage on town buildings. The brand will embrace the town’s rural heritage, even in the face of new development and the completion of Interstate 69, said Steve Chandler, owner of Chandlerthinks.

Chandler’s company has worked with municipalities in 27 states over the last 12 years, he said.

“We specialize in helping municipalities with how to tell the most compelling story to move economic development and tourism forward,” Chandler said. “Agricultural roots and heritage are super important to the people of Bargersville. The small town feel, knowing change is coming and how much of that we will lose, those are tensions of what needs to be addressed. As development occurs, we have to make sure there’s a way to preserve that story and not turn it into something it’s not.”

The five-member Chandlerthinks branding committee surveyed more than 400 people from Bargersville during the first phase of the project, which took place from February to April. The committee also surveyed about 300 people who don’t live in the town to get an outside perspective. Respondents were asked about how they would rate the town and if they would recommend people visit or live there. They were also asked open-ended questions about what they found most important about the town, Chandler said.

“We spent the first couple of months listening to people through surveys, interviews, and the nature of it was a storytelling perspective,” he said. “We found open space and land, the people, the schools and getting away, not being in Indianapolis (were important).”

The second phase of the project, which took place in April, involved conducting research to see what other municipalities had done to preserve their heritage. During a town council meeting in November, Chandler discussed the Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas, where city officials incorporated silos into the backdrop of the up-and-coming downtown shopping center.

“They have silos and grain bins, and they serve as art. Not everything has to look like a super big urban setting, that’s for Indianapolis. As Bargersville evolves and builds new stuff, it can still give a nod to the agricultural heritage. That’s where we advise them to look at that route,” Chandler said. “If you’re building a brand new downtown, which is basically what they’re doing, you make decisions to make it look like a place that has a rural heritage. It doesn’t have to be mirrored metal buildings.”

The branding committee spent about five months, from May to September, on the creative process, which included logo design and the town’s motto.

“Municipalities like to say ‘it’s a great place to live, work and play.’ It’s safe, but it doesn’t capture anything unique and interesting about the community,” Chandler said. “As an outside firm, we want to make recommendations based on the strongest story for Bargersville.”

The process to decide a logo and motto for the town went through several drafts, with members of the committee working with the town council on numerous ideas. An early idea, for example, included incorporating the Bargersville grain bin into the logo, but they decided against it, Chandler said.

“The whole municipality being literal with that image felt a little too isolated on one little thing, so we went away from that,” he said. “Finally, we realized we needed to be more abstract and represent not only the agrarian history, but a new day, tomorrow and moving forward.”

Town officials asked to refrain from publishing the logo until the public reveal.

The committee and town leaders landed on “Bargersville: A Growing Legacy” as a nod to the changes in the town while acknowledging its roots, he said.

“A growing legacy is about doing things today that you’ll take with you when you grow. Let’s build that legacy,” Chandler said. “It’s tied to families and helping each other, doing stuff now that will help later on.”

Ultimately, the long-term success of the town’s brand will depend on the community’s willingness to embrace it, Chandler said.

“A product like this can’t be any one person’s product. A person can leave, but a community, bragging about where you live should be fun,” he said. “That’s why you live there, to enjoy it. It should be fun to tell your story, and the success of these projects occur when the community enjoys it.”