(JACKSONVILLE, IL) — The Jacksonville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau has rolled out a new brand identity to promote the city as a top choice to visit, live, and work. The refreshed brand blends the city’s storied past with its innumerable opportunities for new businesses, students, and residents to position the Jacksonville area as a premier destination for shopping, dining, and outdoor recreation. The CVB recently launched a redesigned website, visitors guide, tent cards, illustrated map, and brand standards guide.
“Jacksonville is a city that’s steeped in its history, but at the same time, remains mindful of its future and the possibilities that lie ahead,” said Brittany Henry, Executive Director of the Jacksonville Area CVB. “We’re excited to show off a brand that we feel is truly representative of Jacksonville, one that honors its past while uncovering its possibilities.”
Creating the Brand
The CVB worked with Pekin, IL-based McDaniels Marketing — an experienced tourism marketing firm — to create a brand that highlights the city’s most attractive attributes. McDaniels Marketing gathered input from community leaders and area residents across all walks of life to determine the current perception of the Jacksonville area. Based on this feedback, stakeholders identified the city’s most desirable qualities — including local boutiques and antique shops, an up-and-coming culinary scene, wonderfully preserved historical sites, and opportunities for outdoor recreation — that would ultimately become the focus of the brand messaging.
The New Brand Logo
The brand package was inspired by the city’s history as a Midwest manufacturing hub, from the Eli Bridge Co. to Capitol Records, as well as the 19th-century architecture that defines many of the downtown storefronts and structures. The new brand honors the city’s past and present with a vintage-inspired serifed font while the parallel lines emphasize the stability of the community, and the sunrise that shines a light on the city’s bright future. Finally, the logo calls out “IL” within the word Jacksonville, identifying the city as an Illinois fixture and setting the city apart from other destinations of the same name.
The Tagline
“Uncover the Possibilities” represents Jacksonville’s status as a “hidden secret” in Central Illinois with many historical sites and stories that haven’t been widely told. Here, new residents, visitors, and businesses can discover those remarkable sites along with the opportunities that lie ahead. This tagline will be used by the Jacksonville Area CVB in outbound marketing efforts to encourage tourism and growth in the city and Morgan County.
Additionally, the tagline will be used in future print and digital campaigns across numerous verticals.
Brand Promise Statements
Four distinct brand promise statements were also crafted to attract new residents, visitors, businesses, and youth sports leagues. These brand promise statements will influence the core messaging moving forward, epitomizing the best traits of the Jacksonville area.
New Residents
Looking to make your mark in a right-sized community as resilient as it is authentic? The legacies we pass down to our children have the power to instill a sense of conviction, community, and pride. In the long history of the Jacksonville, IL, area, we’ve been molded by such trailblazers whose ingenuity came to define the region, evidenced in the magnificent, stately homes standing over State Street leading to our gorgeous town square. While steeped in history, Jacksonville isn’t a city that dwells on its past — here, you’ll find a city committed to a brighter future, from inclusive education for all children to employment opportunities across a wide spectrum of economic sectors. From art galleries to county fairs to downtown festivals, entertainment options are never at a shortage, nor are the occasions to enjoy the great outdoors at Nichols Park or Lake Jacksonville. When you make a home in Jacksonville, you write your name among the pioneers who came before to forge a new legacy.
Tourism/Leisure
In the Jacksonville, IL, area, uncover the legends that helped define life in Central IL as we know it today. Tales of Illinois’ frontier days reverberate throughout the halls at the remarkably preserved Gov. Duncan Mansion, as do the harrowing accounts of people escaping the chains of slavery and those who aided their quest for freedom at the city’s Underground Railroad sites. A legendary past flawlessly blends with new investment taking place around our gorgeous downtown square, where new, independently owned businesses occupy storefronts that have stood over the city for generations — monuments to a storied past now fostering a thriving present and an exciting future. The area’s brightest artistic minds are highlighted — as are those who came before — in a stunning, Second Empire style mansion at the David Strawn Art Gallery. The latest blockbusters fill audience’s minds with excitement and wonder in the historic Illinois Theater, the city’s longest-running cinema. Live music and local flavors fill the air at Waters Edge Winery & Bistro. The melodic sounds of the Jacksonville Symphony Society and performances from the campus-run Illinois College TheatreWorks engross captivated audiences. Alluring flavors occupy repurposed spaces, from woodfired pizza in a refurbished storefront to locally sourced American fare at the city’s historic train depot. Experience the down-home, rustic charm of the agritourism destinations growing fresh blueberries and pumpkins, an indicator of the farming heritage that fuels our local economy and helps feed the nation. Feeling adventurous? The city’s outdoor spaces at Nichols Park and Lake Jacksonville provide plenty of common ground to stretch out, bike, or hike through the natural, Central Illinois beauty — as well as some of the best bass fishing in the state. And in nearby Meredosia, nature lovers get up close and personal with majestic bald eagles soaring high above the Illinois River. No matter what your idea of a good time is, you’ll find that creating your own experiences comes as easily as discovering those that came before.
Economic Development
Bring your vision to life in a community that supports and rallies behind you. Businesses thrive in the Jacksonville, IL, region. After all, our businesses are just as much a part of our communities as the residents who work for them, from large-scale, industrial manufacturers to small, independently owned boutiques to farms that have been passed down from generation to generation. Here, you’ll find workspace is as varied as the businesses that make a home here — refurbish a classic storefront casting shadows on a historic square or explore wide-open space waiting to be developed. Our educational institutions promise a skilled, highly trained workforce to set your business up for success. Manage your business operations seamlessly with the city’s broadband access. Stay connected to rest of the United States and the world via Interstate 72 with nearby air freight service. When you locate your business in the Jacksonville area, you join a pantheon of economic trailblazers who forged a new path for the city, taking up their mantle and carrying on their legacy for a new generation. Now it’s time to join a business community that is teeming with life — our citizens and leadership will welcome you with open arms.
Sports
Do you embrace the competitive spirit that lives in us all? In the Jacksonville, IL, area, we live for the thrill of athletic endeavors, from our kids’ youth baseball games to NCAA Div. III football. But don’t just watch from the sidelines — take the field yourself at our state-of-the-art athletic complex, where the Future Champions of baseball and softball begin their journey to the big leagues. Revel in heart-pounding, full-throttle action at the city’s half-mile dirt track. Play a round — or two — at the city’s beautiful, spacious golf courses. And while you’re here, explore all the area has to offer, from delectable eateries you won’t find anywhere else to unique, independently owned shops that promise a rare find unlike any other. Take a timeout in our outdoor spaces like Nichols Park, Lake Jacksonville, and nearby Meredosia, where eagles soar and the fishing is out of this world. Who knows — you may even just fall in love and want to extend your stay beyond extra innings.
Brand Standards, Messaging, & Merchandise
The Jacksonville Area CVB has developed a brand standards guide to keep brand usage on track. To view the CVB’s updated brand standards, visit JacksonvilleIL.org.
For more information or images, please contact:
Brittany Henry
Executive Director — Jacksonville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau,
at visitors@jacksonvilleil.org or call 217-243-5678.