Rebranding is a staple of the marketing and advertising industry, taking something old and making it feel new again by rehabbing its image or reputation. But that was not the case with Norwalk, said Gary Seve Esposito, a partner in the Zunda Group, the firm behind the city”™s rebranding.
“While other cities and towns have tried to reinvent themselves recently, Norwalk didn”™t need to be reinvented,” Esposito said. “It simply needed to be understood.”
Norwalk has been undergoing a renaissance, especially within its downtown district where major residential and commercial development is occurring.
Residential developments are bringing hundreds of housing units, including the Ironworks on North Water Street, which is also adding 20,700 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
The Waypointe District in downtown Norwalk will add 500 apartments and 100,000 square feet of retail, medical and commercial space once completed.
In addition, Datto, the billion-dollar evaluated data-backup company, has committed to the city by expanding its already tremendous presence along the Route 7 corridor.
The mission to rebrand the city began in 2015 when Economic Development Director Elizabeth Stocker sat down with Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling and an array of city stakeholders.
“It was just time for us to do a rebranding,” Stocker said. “If we are going to promote the city of Norwalk to businesses and visitors as a destination and to our residents as a community we can all be proud of.”
“A brand was necessary to help reposition Norwalk,” Rilling said. “(It) will influence and shape the way the community and others think, feel and respond to the city of Norwalk.”
Thus began the process of what would eventually lead to Norwalk”™s new logo and slogan, “Sound of Connecticut.”
According to Esposito, the rebranding took between nine and 10 months and involved detailed research and investigation into the perception of the city from both residents and neighboring communities. No one was available to disclose the cost of the rebranding at press time.
The majority of feedback was positive, Esposito said, but one point of criticism was the negative perception of the city.
“We needed to correct that,” he said. “A lot of other cities have repositioned themselves and rebranded themselves and in the process have tried to skew their image in a different direction, to build on business only and or residential only and try to change the impression of a given city. In the case of Norwalk we didn”™t need to be something we weren”™t, we needed to just get the message across better.”
That posed a challenge for the Zunda Group as Norwalk has more attractions than can be captured in a single catchphrase, he said.
“There are a lot of cities nationally that can hang their hat on maritime and waterfront and we were not going to be another Mystic, because we are not another Mystic,” he said. “We have more to offer.”
“We solved the problem by making the slogan, the ”˜Sound of Connecticut”™, playing off Long Island Sound, but also having all the support materials and media play off of that ”“ the sound of education, entertainment, dining, business, success, discovery,” he said. “This gave us an opportunity to extend all those different offerings and benefits that Norwalk has and sets us apart.”
It was by no means an easy task, Esposito said.
From the beginning, challenges faced the Zunda Group. With clients such as Barbasol, Newman”™s Own and Chobani, Zunda”™s core competency is in rebranding consumer good products and it has never worked on a municipality-sized project such as with Norwalk.
One of the first questions raised in the competitive bidding process to select the city”™s new marketing company was why the Zunda Group should be trusted with the rebranding having no experience with similar projects.
“My response was about five or seven years ago no one knew what Greek yogurt was and the founder of Chobani came to us and said I need a package,” Esposito said. “Our job is to take the unknown and make it known ”“ make it understood. We launched Chobani and what happened is he is the number one selling brand and now Greek yogurt is a category.”
While Esposito believes the rebranding has been a success, the company”™s work with the city isn”™t done, he said.
The 35-year-old company has been in the city for the last 20 years, and following the launch of the city”™s new brand, has signed on to remain as a consultant with the city to advise the rebranding as it continues.
“We are attached to this town and this project more than on just a business level,” he said. “I feel more connected to Norwalk now more than ever.”
