Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau is getting a fresh look after approving a new logo and slogan at Tuesday’s board meeting.

Frances Glenn, tourism director for the CVB, presented a proposal to the board, which included a new logo for Visit Columbus and the new slogan, “The Storybook South.” The board approved the new branding, and it will now be used in new materials made for the office as older materials are phased out, Glenn told the Dispatch.

“Our old logo doesn’t tell anything about Columbus,” Glenn said. “That could be any Columbus, any town, and we feel like with this new branding you’ll get the feel (and) the essence of our town.”

The new branding will feature “The Storybook South” slogan – inspired by the Tennessee Williams House Museum and Welcome Center – beneath the Visit Columbus logo, which will have stars behind it, Glenn said. She hopes to unveil the new logo and slogan March 10 during the Tourism Partners meeting.

The rebrand came as a recommendation from the Gulfport-based advertising agency The Focus Group. Contracted in 2024, the agency has assisted in identifying ways the CVB could improve its advertising efforts and marketing to be more effective, Glenn said.

The group also met with local community leaders from organizations, including Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, Columbus Air Force Base and Mississippi University for Women, to identify aspects that make the city unique that could be used in advertising materials.

Glenn said the group has also worked with the CVB to determine areas where they can more effectively market Columbus as a tourism destination.

“(The Focus Group is helping) identify target markets for us, to identify group travel, small meetings and conventions, and then we’ll target those areas with marketing campaigns,” she said. “And what’s (most) effective, in the past, we’ve done a lot of print media, and we’re moving more towards digital.”

The CVB’s contract with The Focus Group, which extends until the end of the year, was funded through part of the board’s more than $1 million the CVB received in American Rescue Plan Act funding in 2023, Glenn said.

The CVB launched an advertising campaign in August 2024, featuring the new slogan “Catch You in Columbus,” which Glenn said will continue to be used in marketing materials, primarily for recreational sports events.

“We’ll continue to use it because it’s – pardon the pun – catchy, and it’s a call to action,” Glenn said. “And so we’ll (use it) especially in sports tourism because it’s just a really good fit there with Ultimate Frisbee, fishing (and) baseball.”

The hope for the rebranding is to create a stronger tie to what makes Columbus a unique destination for visitors. Glenn aims for all new materials to be ready for the spring tourism season.

“We have some ads in production that we’ll go on and push out, our new collateral material it’ll have our new logo on it,” Glenn said. “… Spring is busy for tourism, so (there is) a lot coming up and we can start getting it out.”

Other business

The board, during Tuesday’s meeting, also approved reallocating $6,500 from Columbus Air Force Base’s Thunder Over Columbus airshow and the base’s Breakfast with Santa event to go toward a fireworks show July 4 at the base.

Sharon Johnson, business director for the CVB, said the decision was made after CAFB leaders to reallocate funds towards the fireworks show was made after learning neither of the other events are happening this year.

“We’ve decided internally that we want to shift those funds from those events to the one that we are … sure is going to occur,” she said.

CAFB will also be hosting an open house that day so locals can come on base and see the fireworks show, Johnson said, along with the other events planned.

Johnson also presented the board with a $6,500 proposal to cover travel costs and the performance fee for Jimmy D. Lane, a Blues musician and the son of Jimmy Rogers, to serve as the headlining act for the Catfish in the Alley Festival this year.

The event on April 10-11 will also feature local talent Kyia King and Company, Dorothy McClung Lewis and The Anointed Songbirds and Honey Boy and Boots.

“Catfish in the Alley is really an event where we focus on entertainment, really the blues, … but this year we kind of wanted to focus on local entertainers coming up to our headliner performer,” Johnson said. “We’ve always believed in local performers, but this year, we made an extra effort before the headliner to seek out local performers in the area.”

Johnson said she is currently looking to land one more local band to complete this year’s lineup.