Toronto Branding Project introduces Toronto Unlimited brand
By Adnews Staff
The Toronto Branding Project unveiled its brand identity for the city yesterday: "Toronto Unlimited." The brand is intended to "celebrate the infinite potential of the people and the endless opportunities they offer the city." The project to formulate a brand strategy for Toronto was undertaken 13 months ago by Tourism Toronto, the City of Toronto, the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation and the Toronto City Summit Alliance. The $4 million project included local and international focus groups, surveys and interviews intended to gauge the ways in which Toronto is viewed by residents and visitors. The resulting brand strategy was developed by Brand Architecture International and TBWA of Toronto. The branding materials include an overall Toronto Unlimited logo, which consists of a stylized letter "T" that forms a circle with itself, plus five icons in the same style representing music, food, film, festivals and the arts. All the stakeholders involved in the project will use the new brand in their marketing, communications and product development.
Tourism Toronto will be the first organization to do so. The organization has prepared a new campaign called "Toronto Stories" that will consist of print ads in the travel sections of the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and Time Out New York. The creative features well-known individuals with a connection to Toronto. The ads present collages of images along with hand-written notes in which these people describe what the city means to them. The first ads feature architect Frank Gehry and musician Paul Shaffer. These ads will run from June 26 to Aug. 7. The campaign will also make use of branded calendars of events labeled "July Unlimited" and "August Unlimited." These will run concurrently in markets along the Canada-US border, as well as opposite the "Toronto Stories" ads in larger markets. Supporting transit shelter ads will also run in New York, Chicago and Washington from mid-July to mid-August. "Our Toronto Stories campaign evolved directly from the new brand platform, and evokes the unique combination of people, places and things that make up the Greater Toronto Area," said Bruce MacMillan, president of Toronto Tourism. "Taken together, the summer campaign ads leverage the new Toronto Unlimited brand by telling our story in a cohesive, strategic and powerful way. They serve to reinforce the message that Toronto is an intimate metropolis, a cultural capital and city of imagination."