STERLING FAIR-HAVEN, NY Community Connection Trail Brand Development

STERLING FAIR-HAVEN, NY

Community Connection Trail Brand Development

Tasks:

– Conduct stakeholder interviews
– Analyze interviews to identify themes, opportunities, concerns
– Create qualitative research findings report
– Develop audience personas and messaging pillars
– Present brand creative brief with naming/identity options
– Design final trail brand logo, color palette, style guide

Approach: Allieway partnered with real estate consultants Colliers to immerse ourselves in the Cayuga County community. We conducted in-depth interviews with residents, businesses, officials, and other key stakeholders to understand their perspectives on outdoor recreation, tourism priorities, and visions for the new trail system.

The qualitative insights were analyzed to surface common themes around economic impact, quality of life, environmental protection, and community connectivity. This analysis also defined key audience groups to be engaged.

Our findings were compiled into a comprehensive research report that included audience personas, messaging recommendations, and proposed naming/identity directions for the new trail brand.

We presented the strategic brand platform recommendations to Cayuga County’s steering committee. With their input and responsiveness to a highly localized design concept, we refined the trail’s name and developed logo concepts, color palettes, and usage guidelines – all visually capturing the trail’s brand essence. The county liked our naming suggestions so much, they decided to use some of the alternative names for other trails in the system.

Results: The strategic brand platform lays the foundation for aligning all communications around a consistent vision.

Key deliverables included:

• Qualitative findings report detailing interviews and analysis
• Audience personas and messaging recommendations
• Brand creative brief with Trail naming/identity options
• Final Trail logo, color palette, and brand style guide

Cayuga County now has a distinctive, research-backed brand identity to launch their new trail experience. The cohesive logo, visuals, and messaging resonate with residents while elevating the trail as an economic driver and amenity for the region. Additionally, Allieway’s naming work provided a bank of names to use for other trails or headline purposes in content and community engagement.