Lachlan Shire Council has a new Corporate and Tourism logo.

Councillors voted five to four to adopt the branding options at its Ordinary Meeting on Wednesday, 30 June., after community consultation was undertaken.

The full recommendation adopted was “1. The Director Environment Tourism and Economic Development Report No. R21/147 be received and noted; 2. Council adopt Option 1 for the Corporate Brand and Option B for the Tourism Brand; 3. A style guide and strategy be prepared to accompany and roll out the brands.”

One hundred and ninety eight (198) votes were received over the exhibition period, which includes both online and paper votes. Not all stakeholders voted on both the corporate and tourism branding options.

Option One garnered 78.9 per cent (156 votes), while Option Two received 2.53 per cent (five votes), Option Three 3.03 per cent (six votes), Option Four 13.13 per cent (26 votes) and 5.15 per cent voted for none of the above (10 votes).

There was a clear winner in the public’s eyes (collated votes) for the Tourism logo. Option B received 63.40 per cent (123 votes), while Option A attained 31.44 per cent (61 votes) and 5.15 per cent (10 votes) voted for none of the above.

in June 2020, at an Ordinary Council Meeting, Councillors resolved to prepare a new branding strategy for both Council and the visitor economy.

At the Ordinary Meeting of Council in September 2020, Council resolved to engage Orange City Council (‘the consultants’) to complete the branding/rebranding project.

As part of the project the consultant would create a new corporate brand for Lachlan Shire Council as well as a tourism brand, as listed as an Operational Plan Action item 2.1.1 of the current Lachlan Shire Council Community Strategic Plan.

“The community was asked what elements, colours, styles, icons and feelings that living in Lachlan Shire evoked for them. From this feedback the consultant produced three (3) options for the corporate logo and two (2) options for the tourism logo,” a Council Rebranding and Tourism Branding report, authored by the Economic Development and Tourism Officer presented to the Ordinary Meeting on Wednesday, 30 June said.

“At the Ordinary Meeting of Council in March 2021 Council resolved (resolution 2021/54) that the three options for the Shire corporate branding, plus the current logo, and the two tourism brand options be placed on public exhibition for a minimum period of 28 days to allow the community to vote on the preferred option. A further report was then to be presented to Council outlining the community vote results together with any feedback received during the public exhibition period.”

After the decision was made to place the Corporate and Tourism logos on public exhibition, Councillors asked that community consultation be undertaken.

“Following the resolution at the Ordinary Meeting of Council in March 2021, the three concept corporate brands, as well as Councils current logo, and the two tourism brands were placed on public exhibition from 13 May to 11 June 2021.

“A video and exhibition booklet were prepared for the exhibition period. The video/booklet explained the context of the brands and how they were derived. The video was available on Council’s website and was also available before the online survey (which was undertaken through Survey Monkey),” the report went on the explain.

“As well as being able to vote online, a series of pop up consultation sessions were held throughout the Shire to allow people to come and look at the brands, view the consultation booklet and to ask questions of staff on the branding process.

“The locations, times and dates for the pop up sessions were communicated to the community via Facebook, Council’s website and through advertisements in the local newspapers and through Tottenham’s Facebook page. Paper voting forms were made available at all of the pop up sessions. In addition, booklets and paper voting forms were displayed at several locations throughout the Shire.

“The notification on Facebook was reposted throughout the consultation period in case people missed it the first time. All of the votes have now been collated in survey monkey to allow Council to easily analyse the results.

“Staff were available to answer questions and travelled to Burcher, Albert, Tottenham, Fifield, Tullibigeal, Lake Cargelligo, Condobolin, Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation and Murrin Bridge.

“The exhibition material and voting locations were as follows: Lachlan Shire Council Website, Survey Monkey (which could be accessed via Lachlan Shire Council’s Facebook page or website), Tottenham Post Office, Council offices in Condobolin and Lake Cargelligo, Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation, Murrin Bridge, Burcher Store, Tullibigeal Co-op, Fifield Pub and the Rabbit Trap Hotel, Albert.”

As part of the voting process people could also provide comments on the branding and those comments were presented to Councillors as part of this report for consideration.

It was noted in the Council Rebranding and Tourism Branding report, authored by the Economic Development and Tourism Officer, that there would be costs associated with the introduction of new logos.

“There will be costs associated with the introduction of a new corporate and visitor economy brands for Council. These costs have not been quantified at this time and could be spent over several financial years by gradually replacing signage and other collateral rather than through an immediate rollout with subsequent financial impacts,” the report stated.
There were many positives to rebranding, the report said.

“Branding is a vitally important part of any organisation and a current, inclusive and cohesive brand reflects the community and helps to attract future residents and workers. It provides a catalyst for our community to be united and respected for their differences,” the report advised.

“Branding gives an organisation an identity beyond its product or service. It gives consumers something to relate to and connect with and it must remain relevant to the consumer and community. Branding also brings employees of an organisation pride. When you brand an organisation, you are not only giving the organisation an identity, you are also creating a reputable, highly-regarded workplace. Strong branding can assist in creating a great place to work which can assist with attraction and retention of staff.

“The risks to Council in not identifying/developing an appropriate brand/position are the same as any organisation. Branding assists in developing recognition, trust, consistency, respect and professionalism. Brand reputation is one of the biggest risks facing companies in the current economic climate and councils are no different. Branding needs to stand out, not just by being different but by being both personally relevant and emotionally important to people. There is risk in keeping the same brand over time that it will lose its relevance to the community and therefore its emotional attachment.”