Area Main Street programs stand to benefit from an upcoming rebranding campaign coordinated by Mississippi Main Street Association
To do this, MMSA has received $90,000 from the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area to update and improve branding packages used to advertise and promote local events, logos, graphics and campaigns in 23 towns in the state. Columbus, Starkville and West Point will be the first stops for the project beginning on Feb. 6, Main Street Director of Marketing Communications Jeannie Zieren said.
“Our Main Streets represent the best of what our communities have to offer in multiple respects, and this project will assist them in communicating their vitality to visitors and residents alike,” MHNHA Executive Director Mary Cates Williams said in a press release issued Thursday morning. “This effort is yet another example of the outstanding work Mississippi Main Street does to enhance our communities, our region and our state.”
The project will hire Community Branding Specialist Ben Muldrow of Arnett Muldrow and Associates to speak with local Main Street boards, economic development and tourism partners as well as local residents to learn about the communities and develop strategies to improve local interest for new people coming into the area.
Columbus Main Street Executive Director Barbara Bigelow told The Dispatch her team wants to develop more ways to better tell her team’s role in the community.
“We all are individuals and have different things that we want to discuss with him,” Bigelow said. “We are built upon revitalization and economic development. And although we are associated with events, we are equally important to economic development, and we will meet with Mr. Muldrow to hopefully find out how we can better make our public aware of our specific importance in the community.”
Starkville Main Street Director Paige Watson said the project will help improve her team’s current campaign graphics for local events and will assist with new ideas to build interest from out-of-towners.
“You’ll just start to see a few new things; we’re going to have some more graphics for new events that we’re doing like Music on Main and other things,” Watson said. “It will just add on to it. So we’re going to get some logos, some more graphic pieces, more photography, more advertising content to showcase Starkville.”
Each visit will include an online survey and assessment of what works with each town’s advertising and branding. At the end of the visit, those towns will receive a package of new brand guides, resources packages, packets on how to use the new branding materials and a set of community photographs, the press release said.
In West Point, the project will provide suggestions for new logo designs and graphics to better represent the local community and could attract higher attendance to events like the Prairie Arts Festival held every summer, Growth Alliance Director Lisa Klutts said.
“As the landscape of West Point has changed, we (The Growth Alliance) should reassess that our logos reflect those changes,” she said. “Sometimes a whole new branding is needed, but in this case, just a refresh will be nice.”
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