Webb: New Springdale Logo Feeds Into Attempted Revamp of Citys Image

Every few years, the Springdale Chamber of Commerce sponsors a leadership retreat event called CityFuture, with aims to form a consensus on the city of Springdale’s needs.

The fourth installment of the three-day retreat took place November 2014 in Eureka Springs. At that meet, Springdale leaders answered in resounding accord: “The biggest challenge facing our city is its image.”

It was the top concern, by far, for local leaders, said Perry Webb, president and CEO of the chamber.

Since then, the chamber has been plugging away at assembling a rebranding program, which it revealed to the public at its annual chamber luncheon on Jan. 22.

The rollout includes a new logo and tagline, created with the help of the Little Rock-based marketing firm, CJRW.

The logo consists of a green diamond, with two sets of parallel lines in two shades of blue, intersecting in the middle. The city’s name appears below the image, and the tagline “We’re Making It Happen,” appears beneath it.

The words are meant to reflect the can-do spirit of the historically blue-collar town, Webb said.

 And the generic nature of the “it” within the slogan makes the concept relatable to most of the constituencies in the city. 

“The schools are making excellence in education happen; the police force is making public safety happen; public works is making good streets happen,” and the examples could go on and on, Webb said.

In addition to the work with focus groups, the ad man hours, and the production of stickers, mugs, mousepads and more that feature the new logo, the chamber is running an art initiative to help promote the rebranding program.

The Best of Springdale Chamber Art Series will feature at least three paintings this year, with prints ranging from $75 to $175.

The first painting, available now, is by Little Rock-based artist Tyler Arnold.

All in all, the initiative rang up a $150,000 price tag, Webb said, pointing out that, as an independently run nonprofit, the chamber operates on private donations, not taxpayer money.

Webb says the price reflects the amount of work that went into the process and his belief that the rebranding will be helpful to the city.

“It’s not a fly-by-night process. We’re not throwing a bunch of things against the wall to see what sticks. There’s a lot of science behind it,” he said.

Webb and the chamber’s vice president of communications and special projects, Bill Rogers, both say the positive narrative for Springdale is there. It just needs be brought to light, not only for the benefit of other areas, but for the city’s own residents.

“We want to reinvigorate the pride, which was once tremendously felt,” Rogers said.