With eclectic restaurants, a foodie-centric farmers market and dozens of newly-renovated apartments, Easton is becoming a haven for millennials.
So city officials want to market the city that way.
They took the first step Wednesday by approving a new logo.
The Centre Square bugler standing atop the city name will be a key piece for a $42,000 marketing campaign in the works by the Easton firm Kudu Creative. The campaign will promote the city on the Internet.
“I appreciate all the work that was put into this, the decisions that were made by people that were involved,” said Councilwoman Sandra Vulcano. “I commend you for using Easton residents to do this work for us. It’s very encouraging when we can hire our own people.”
The logo was approved 6-1 with Councilman Peter Melan dissenting.
He felt the bugler wasn’t cutting edge enough for a millennial-driven campaign.
“I think what we voted on tonight wasn’t anything I would consider to be hip or cool,” he said after the meeting.
ilbet Drone’s view of Centre Square monument in Easton
Vulcano and Mayor Sal Panto Jr. called the logo a “refreshed” version of the one approved back in 2006. That logo designed by local artist Anthony Marraccini also had the bugler and some stars.
By rebooting the logo rather than scrapping it, there’s no pressure to replace everything with the old logo on it, Panto said.
“Most products refresh every 10 years,” Panto said. “They change the design of the product but it’s still the same. Take a Hershey bar. About every 10 years they change the wrapper.”
Melan said if the city is investing in a new logo, then there’s no reason to do it halfway.
The mayor said the city seal will stay the same. Only the logo will be “refreshed.”
The rise, fall and rebirth of Easton’s silk mill (TIMELINE)
In 2006, the city hired the Easton-based Stevenson Group to redo the logo through a marketing grant from the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.
Volunteers with the city’s Main Street program hated the Stevenson Group logo and worried the tagline, “Easton. On the Edge of Pennsylvania” would become a punchline.
So city council had the Main Street Initiative run a contest to pick a logo.
Marraccini’s was the best logo of the 73 entries. William Marley and Davon LaCombe Williams submitted the winning tagline, “Easton: History. Heritage. Home.”
Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
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