Arlington Heights' horse head logo stays put for now
Arlington Heights is seen as a well-established, traditional community among Chicago's suburbs, but can it also be regarded as innovative, forward thinking and progressive?
A consultant hired by the village as part of a rebranding initiative recommends a shift from the traditional to transformational, as work continues on a new tagline, logo and marketing materials.
It's an approach most village board members agreed with Monday night during a committee of the whole review of Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy's rebranding efforts for village government.
"If you just take a certain segment of the community like the older part of our community - which now includes myself - you would have a little more traditional, right brain way of thinking," said Mayor Tom Hayes, who was among the stakeholders interviewed during Springboard's focus groups to get a gauge on perceptions of the village. "I know we've got a lot of young people in town now - a lot of young families that are thinking a little bit differently than I do and the other older segment of our society. So in order for us to do this right, I think we need to address all segments of our community and really find some way to bring everybody together and come up with a common brand and tagline that represents everybody, not just a certain segment of society or of our community."
Following the five focus groups late last year that included village officials, business owners, residents and educators, Rob Rosenberg of Springbreak on Monday presented the mayor and trustees with taglines that could replace the existing "Discover Arlington" messaging used in current marketing efforts and developed by a different consultant 16 years ago.
Among the choices: "Live it up!", "Take it to The Heights!", "AH mazing!" and "As Unique As You."
Rosenberg, whose firm was founded in 2002 and is based in downtown Arlington Heights, said branding typically has a shelf life of seven to eight years, and can take up to two years to fully implement.
The board agreed in February 2020 to hire the marketing firm for $35,000 to create new logo and tagline concepts, especially because there are seven different logos in use across village departments. That includes an image of a horse's head in the shape of the letter A on the official village seal - a nod to Arlington Park.
"The brand identity is pretty fragmented, and it's in need now of something strong, updated, timely and differentiating," Rosenberg said. "In today's branding world, it's really important to have consistency and streamlined communications. People just don't pay that much attention, and when they do, we want them to resonate and quickly recognize that this is from the village of Arlington Heights."
The focus groups took place from August to November - around the time the last horse race was held at the racetrack and property owner Churchill Downs Inc. announced the pending $197.2 million sale to the Chicago Bears. Rosenberg didn't present any new logo concepts to the board Monday night, so for now, the horse head remains.
But he said the village's branding shouldn't be tied to a specific feature or attraction in town, "because we all know those all change."
Similarly, a number of trustees said that branding efforts shouldn't just focus on the village's popular downtown, but be inclusive of the entire community.
"It's really important that everybody who lives in town feels as much a part of Arlington Heights, than say, because they're on the north edge, they feel like they're more in Buffalo Grove," said Trustee Robin LaBedz.
The board didn't make any official decisions on rebranding Monday night, as the consultant planned to further develop concepts based on the feedback received.