The marketing and branding of the City of Youngstown. This presentation will show you how RJ Thompson rallied a city and created relationships to help with the marketing and branding of the City of Youngstown.

1. RJ Thompson
Assistant Professor,
Department of Art,
College of Creative Arts & Communication
Youngstown State University
http://iamrjthompson.com
twitter: @studentofdesign
facebook: /studentsofdesign
instagram: @robertjthompson
#thecityofyou

2. The Point of Origin
Economic Development Administration
Youngstown State University was the recipient of a
2-year, $250,000 federal EDA research grant. Per their
proposal, they created a budget within their grant to
produce a publication that documented all research
conducted.
This publication was called
“The City of Youngstown: Strategies for
Economic Development.”

3. The Point of Origin
YSU’s Graphic + Interactive Design program has an
practicum program called Youngstown Design Works,
a student-run agency that serves local area small
businesses, startups, and non-profits.
Youngstown Design Works was commissioned to
complete the design work for the EDA publication for
$8,000 – all of which went back into the YDW program.

4. Lack of Identity
Youngstown had no branding to speak of.

5. Much Needed Rebranding
Lack of an attractive brand presented many problems
The students in Youngstown Design Works could
create a publication that met the standards of the
grant as well as the reading audience. However,
settling for mediocrity in this project sat well ]
with absolutely no one.
We had an opportunity to innovate – and to
innovative creatively!

6. Outside Looking In
In Youngstown, I am an outsider – but on the inside.
I don’t live in Youngstown. I didn’t grow up there. I
don’t have all the connections, know all the sites,
really know the culture in deep, way. I’m still learning.
The reality though is that I’m fully invested in the
prosperity of Youngstown and it’s citizens.
You can’t rebrand a community you don’t care about.
You can’t truly rebrand a community you don’t love.

7. Citizen-Connected Community
There are great people here doing great things.
Through the journeys this campaign has taken me so far,
I now know many of them.
But, I want to know more of them. I want to know the
ones that have been here forever, have great stories to tell,
but have kept a low profile.
I want to know everyone and connect them all together.
Sharing stories, with each other, about their lives – they all
have something great to contribute, and we want to
discover what those contributions were, are, and can be.

8. Citizen Builders + Leaders
Building is contagious.
More so, Youngstownians are excited to help them build.
Build quickly, build passionately. They also want others to
be just as interested or invested in building great things in
Youngstown as they are.
Building things in Youngstown can be challenging,
but it is contagious.
By accessing those interests with the “City of You”
campaign we can assist in the marketing of projects and
help the builders build in a non-invasive, fun, interactive,
and engaging way.

9. Each of Us Has a Story to Tell
The City of You gives them the venue to share.
Many citizens throughout Youngstown have a
compelling story to tell about their life here.
Whether it is full of highs or lows, each one of them
has something to say about how Youngstown helped
transform them from the person they were into the
person they are going to become.

10. New Blood
I created the ‘City of You’ campaign in one of the
least likely, strangest places to be on a weekend.
Sitting in a waiting room at 7am on a Saturday
morning waiting for my wife, Erin, to undergo several
blood tests related to the pregnancy of our first child.
The people of Youngstown give the city it’s life. Their
stories are the foundation of what Youngstown is built
on and grows from. Without them, Youngstown
would have no soul, no fighting spirit.

11. The New Story of Youngstown
In Youngstown, I am an outsider.
I live in Pittsburgh, but work in Youngstown. I was
aware of the perceptions Youngstown was fighting –
“broken steel city”,

12. City Branding, Alpha

13. Campaign Narrative, Beta

14. CITY COUNCIL
JOHN A. MCNALLY, MAYOR
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Departmental Branding

15. OLD FURNACE DISTRICT
ROCKY RIDGE
CRANDALL PARK NORTH
Branded Neighborhoods

16. Variation Neighborhood BrandingVariation Neighborhood Branding
GARDEN DISTRICTCENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT
CRANDALL PARK NORTH
ROCKY RIDGE
IDORAOAK HILL
INDIAN VILLAGE ARLINGTON
BROWNLEE WOODS
BRIER HILLRIVERBENDPERFORMANCE PLACE
SHARON LINE TRANSITION ZONE

17. CRANDALL PARK NORTH INDIAN VILLAGE ROCKY RIDGE IDORALANDSDOWNE
BROWNLEE WOODS OAK HILL BRIER HILL GARDEN DISTRICT RIVERBEND
PERFORMANCE PLACE SHARON LINE LANSINGVILLE HEIGHTS
Variation Neighborhood Branding

18. Initial Advertising Concepts
Rounds One and Two
The following two concepts were initially created at
the beginning of the campaign. The full scope of the
campaign, at this point, had not been fully realized, so
while these two concepts may convey the essence of
the campaign in simple, digestible ways...they are
now incredibly limiting, but still useful in certain
contexts or communication channels.

19. I CAN
PLAY LIVE MUSIC
START A RECORD LABEL
GO ON TOUR
BUILD AN INDIE CINEMA
BE A DAD
IN
YOUNGSTOWN
DAVID POKRIVŇÁK, THE LITTLE YOUNGSTOWN CINEMA
“I Can...in Youngstown”

20. “Build Your Best Self in the City of You”

21. The Pitch
Seeking the Mayor’s approval
Surprising the Mayor with a rebranding effort drawn
out of an approved publication design project was a
rather interesting turn of events – an opportunity that
was certainly welcomed by the Mayor, but absolutely
required in-depth conversations regarding the
over-arching brand applications and the development
of a strategy that sought approval from what seemed
like nearly everyone in the City of Youngstown.

22. Focus Groups + User-Testing
Seeking community feedback
Putting total faith in a design concept can be risky –
particularly on such a public level as this project, and
also more particularly without any constructive
criticism – this campaign NEEDED criticism.
There were two focus groups for the public which
featured a racially diverse and gender diverse
selection of citizen leaders – unfortunately they
weren’t designers, but the campaign concept clicked.

23. Community Buy-In
Community trust and approval`
‘City of You’ t-shirts were made for a public
presentation of the rebranding effort, deployment
strategy, and business community buy-in.
These shirts were
a massive hit.
Businesses will
have unique
designs to sell.

24. City Council
Last Stop
With the ‘City of You’ campaign fully vetted,
researched, discussed, and critiqued publicly, it was
time for City Council to approve this rebranding effort
for implementation. This required another
presentation that fully explored the scope of the
campaign, feedback, criticism, and deployment
strategy.
This was not a budget meeting. Budget wasn’t even
something capable of being discussed at this point.

25. Politics and Relationships
I’ve made a lot of great friends.
One of the greatest things about working at YSU is
that I genuinely care about the Youngstown
community. These are my people. I understand them.
I was raised like them. I feel at home here.
Through all of my public interactions, I’ve been told
that my passion for the City and the rebranding
project is evident – and inspiring.
This isn’t a project for me, it’s a mission.

26. Proportional Scaling
With full approval, the work really begins.
After dozens of community meetings, neighborhood
meetings, focus groups, meeting with the Mayor and
other politicians, countless press interviews,
television interviews, public presentations, grant
writing sessions, readings on Youngstown history,
community planning, economic development, design
revisions, and an unexpected gallbladder surgery, etc..
Just as I feel like it’s manageable in scale, it grows
bigger and better.

27. Budget Proposals
Art faculty doing a budget for a
city/county/state-wide advertising campaign?
As per my responsibilities as the creator of this
campaign and director of Youngstown Design Works,
the responsibility to produce an advertising budget
came down to me. I created a budget for $100,000.
It was approved by City Council.

28. Grant Awards
We are the first organization in Northeast Ohio to
receive an NEA ‘Our Town’ grant valued at $100,00.
Plus another $100,000 matching from local
non-profits, for-profits, grant institutions,
and local government.

29. Grant Awards
The award is among the largest of 64 grants – out of
nearly 250 applicants!
NEA’s Our Town program supports creative projects
to transform communities into places with the arts at
their core.
The project will provide commissioned community
art works and a storytelling campaign by community
members focusing on arts engagement and on the
rebranding and marketing campaign led by the city of
Youngstown, known as the “City of You.”

41. FOR MORE INFORMATION....
Go to CITYOFYOU.ORG and watch all the videos & podcasts!
City of You advertising presentation
(first generation):
http://bit.ly/2aTgGba
6 Mins
City of You website presentation:
http://bit.ly/2awPABe
21 Mins
#thecityofyou