Branding campaign: Tassiff explains effort to Mansfield City Council, Richland County commissioners | Community Development

The message to both governments was largely the same — Mansfield Rising is still at work and has helped produce a colorful and versatile brand and story that can be used in every segment of the county.

The branding effort began in 2019, born from ideas found in the Mansfield Rising downtown investment plan, a citizen-led effort that has been the blueprint for local improvements since its inception.

One of the initial goals in the Mansfield Rising document was a simple action plan: Create a brand for downtown Mansfield “to weave a powerful and positive story to raise awareness about why this is a great place to live and conduct business.”

As organizers began working on the plan, it became clear the branding campaign needed to encompass far more than just downtown Mansfield. It became a true countrywide effort, including all cities and villages and rural locations.

The goal was to produce a brand that reflects the entire county and allow it to speak with one voice.

Tasseff told commissioners and council members the effort, aided by financial support from many local entities, succeeded with the help of Medium Giant, a brand agency with offices in Texas and Oklahoma.

The $100,000 effort gained financial support from the Richland County Foundation, Destination Mansfield-Richland County, Richland Area Chamber & RCDG, City of Mansfield, Mechanics Bank, OhioHealth, Park National Bank, Richland County Commissioners, and Richland Source.

“What we created was basically for universal use. We can use it. RCDG can use it. The Chamber can use it. It doesn’t matter. Nothing gets wasted.

“And it shows you also the versatility of the brand. It doesn’t matter what you put up there. We just have bright colors. We have a theme and everything promotes the area in a positive way,” he told the city council during an economic development committee meeting.

The campaign can be used in a variety of ways, including attracting visitors to Richland County, in attracting and retaining business and industry and also in workforce development.

“The brand comes first. The story comes first. We get you hooked to get you interested. Come on in,” Tasseff said.

“All this stuff can be utilized, not just by tourism, but also for talent recruitment. You read this stuff and if you identify with it, you’re like, “Hmm, somebody’s recruiting me to come in,'” he said.

“You might get a more agreeable (potential visitor) or somebody who would accept living here or really be drawn to it because they’d learned more about it. This stuff takes a while to sink in, but right now, we’re just getting started,” Tasseff said.

He told commissioners that the branding message is crucial to competition.

“Every community must compete. Some people, not as many anymore, wonder why did we do a brand? Why’d you spend so much time and money? Well, every community’s gotta compete with every other community for time, talent, resources, capital, you name it. It all starts with having a story.” Tasseff said.

“What’s your brand? Who are you? And then how do you portray it? Beyond that, it goes to the implementation thing. Frequency and reach are hallmarks in marketing. You’ve gotta be out there and you’ve gotta be out there consistently, constantly over the long haul.

“You just don’t throw it up there and then walk away from it. What it’s also saying in these words, it’s an ongoing process. It doesn’t stop. If you’re missing from the marketplace, somebody else is taking your place,” Tasseff said.

The campaign has a logo, a “spark” with nine “long” measures to represent the nine cities and villages found in Richland County, also representing the “creator” archetype.

“We felt that really spoke to our strong past of entrepreneurship, ingenuity, hardwork … as well as what’s happening now in this kind of revitalization moment,” Jodie Perry, president and CEO of Richland Area Chamber and Economic Development, told Richland Source in late May.

The logo, flexible enough to be used in many different settings and in all nine communities, includes key elements like “community” and a script “Ohio” that will play well outside the Buckeye state.

“The script Ohio, of course, there’s a lot of brand equity in that. Just recognizability and for us in economic development, that is important, because there’s other Mansfields and Richland Counties,” she said.

Initial uses of the campaign can be found in the new visitor guide produced by Tassiff’s organization. He delayed the printing and publication of the guide a few months to include the logos and brand storytelling.

Live like a local. community roots. From the fields. Fabric of opportunity. Outer space. Space for (fill in the blank). Space to (fill in the blank).

Tasseff used the brand storytelling throughout the new guide, including “biographical” sketches of four local residents with a variety of backgrounds.

“We start looking cohesive all the way through. The brand story when you read it, it hits in the same way. It’s a video script. So that’s part of the creativity that’s coming through this stuff.

“Take that, put the images to it. And now you’ve set the community up in a very positive way in a multitude of niches and faces that makes us all look good,” Tasseff told city council.

Laura Burns, 1st Ward councilwoman, thanked Tasseff for going over the branding effort results and for sharing copies of the new visitors’ guide.

“I think it’s absolutely spectacular and it’s really great to go through every single page and see faces of people that I see in the grocery store, that I went to high school with … these are real people. Real stories.

“I think that it solidifies the story that we’re trying to tell about our area. But as I was flipping through it, I was reminded that I had used these in the past. I am a creature of incredible habit and do not change my path very often.

“But this is a resource for me to pull up restaurants that I maybe haven’t been to because it’s not my usual and try something new. I would assume that other people in the community are doing that, too. So keep it up, Burns said.

3rd Ward Councilman Rev. El Akuchie said the branding effort was amazing, but also said he saw nothing about the spiritual aspects of the city in the visitors’ guide.

“You have named all the pillars and important things that attract people to the city. Mansfield is the city of churches. You say there’s more to come and maybe that’s something that’s coming later on,” Akuchie said.

“But I would like to see that be a part of the project that somebody coming into Mansfield is gonna look at the spiritual aspect of the community and realize that this community is a place where people can safely raise their children in a Christian community,” Akuchie said.

Tasseff said Akuchie’s point was well taken.

“That’s a different storytelling aspect. It wouldn’t necessarily make it into our tourism guide, but that all those areas have not been fully explored yet. And there’s lots more storytelling to come, so I appreciate your comments,” Tasseff said.