Indio, California
For those seeking 360 days of sunshine and opportunity in every direction, Indio, the traditional gathering place and largest city in the Coachella Valley, bears the fruit of cultural exchange and youthful energy, showing you that your growth and prosperity belong in the desert.
Category
Community WideAbout This Project
Key Challenge
Indio hosts some of the largest and best music festivals in the world—Coachella and Stagecoach—but people don’t know where they are when they attend. Indio proves again and again that it can do big things well, and not just festivals. Unfortunately it is overshadowed by its smaller neighbors. The City committed resources to presenting its advantages and elevating awareness by hiring a Marketing and Communications Director and investing in a research initiative to provide a strong foundation for marketing work moving forward. Indio has suffered a reputation as the largest Coachella Valley city, with all of the urban negatives and no recognition for any of the advantages. How can Indio, with limited resources, get the ovations it deserves? And how can it add meaning and relevance to its ‘City of Festivals’ moniker for audiences beyond concert-goers? Would that even work?
Indio is the largest and most authentic center of the Valley, and it has served as a gathering point for cultures, commerce, and creativity for centuries. It invites the world to infinite cultural exchange with signature events and a diversifying economy. It is a place of opportunity built on agrarian traditions with an energetic, youthful eye towards the future. Indio demonstrates the scale of opportunity in the Valley amidst the beautiful desert landscape. Now, it has an opportunity to leverage its most well-known advantage (‘City of Festivals’) to communicate the breadth and depth of how people, their interests, and their businesses can step into the spotlight to garner the respect and regard they deserve in Indio, the Valley, and beyond.
Brand Identity
Indio’s distinction is tied to its historic relevance as a place for cultural exchange and its youthful energy that continues today. Indio’s Take Center Stage brand is an invitation for residents, visitors, and businesses to do exactly that: put their family or business interests front and center. Messaging must communicate that their prosperity belongs in the desert. The brand also is a rallying point for the community. The community needs to advocate for themselves and take their rightful spot at center stage in the Valley with confidence and aplomb.
The logo mark has a festive and welcoming feeling that matches the personality of the community. It pays homage to Indio’s long history as a gathering place in the desert offering respite, entertainment, and cultural exchange The unique letter shapes tie to festivals and celebrations with their notched edges calling to mind tickets or streamers while the strong lines tie to Indio’s agricultural roots. The dynamic logo showcases the cultural diversity and traditions that make Indio so special
The tagline imperative serves as an invitation and compels the reader to act. Center defines Indio as being the center of the Coachella Valley. Center stage gives a nod to festivals but focuses clearly on the opportunity in Indio, a strong economic development message. It rightfully promises that your business will be important here. It is also a hardworking line for talent recruitment. And it has good energy and can play well with ‘City of Festivals.’