Recognizable branding enhances a city

Last weekend was my seventh annual Memorial Day trip with my big group of friends from Wisconsin. Many of us went to high school together; some we picked up in college, and some have joined via marriage.

Other than two early trips to New Orleans and Panama City Beach, Florida, we’ve typically found ourselves staying in some remote Midwestern town.

Three years we stayed in Minnesota. Northern Minnesota is usually the easiest to find a nice place on a lake for boating and fishing. Our first year was in Motley, Minnesota, a town of 688 people. One of our favorite stays was a 10,000-square-feet mansion in Frazee, Minnesota, with an indoor atrium. That town is home to 1,308.

Our last stay in Minnesota was the biggest city — 14,701 in Hutchinson. Last year we gave our Wisconsin friends a break, choosing to stay close to them in Wild Rose, Wisconsin. This village holds 920 people.

Finally this year, it was our turn to host as I couldn’t go too far from home this late in my pregnancy. We stayed in Webster City. I know what you’re thinking — what is there to do in Webster City?

But for us, we prioritize the house and what it can offer us. While we normally stay near a lake, some people wanted to do a pool this year for clean water. Not everyone is unbothered by murky lake water.

We found a house big enough to fit all 14 of us comfortably with a fenced-in heated pool, dart board, foosball and pool table all located on the property.

With a population of 7,713, Webster City is very close in size to Creston. Being in a small town forces us to shop local, which isn’t a bad thing.

In the mornings, we visited Empower Nutrition, a loaded tea place similar to Hanson Nutrition in Creston. The owner was there the first day, and she was so grateful for us stopping by with our group.

Then we headed over to Mornin’ Glory Cafe for our coffee drinkers. Again, the owner thanked us profusely for coming in and supporting them. You could tell they know their customers and could recognize us as out-of-towners.

One of the first things I noticed in Webster City was their welcome sign and branding. Their logo, a capital WC, features waves of yellow, light green, light blue and deep purple.

Throughout the city, these colors and the wave pattern could be found on wayfinding signs, buildings and even the playground. The playground immediately caught my eye as I recognized those same colors of yellow, light green, light blue and deep purple.

Webster City isn’t some fancy big city, but by utilizing their branding, it created a recognizable and memorable presence. I hope this is what Creston will be able to do as we begin to use the city brand designed by Ben Muldrow with funds from a BOOST grant.

The main logo features rolling hills, part of the restored depot and a hot air balloon in colors of warm yellow, light blue, dark blue, rust orange and green. Under reads the words “Historic Creston.”

While that is the main logo, like in Webster City, there are a plethora of smaller logos or logos for different areas of town, including an Uptown logo.

I know whenever the town spends time or money on something that is related to visual appeal or restoration, there is typically outcry that money could be better spent on roads. Let me tell you this, as a visitor to Webster City, I didn’t notice road condition for a single second. But the branding stood out.

That’s not to say roads aren’t important, but it is to say if we can spend a small amount of money to make Creston stand out as somewhere to visit, it’s worth it. And if you don’t believe people would visit Creston, just look at the random places we’ve brought our big group.