Creating a public works brand to highlight a cohesive vision during construction
About this project
Client
City of San Luis Obispo
Services
Community Outreach, Strategic Communication, Creative, Media
The opportunity
In 2022, the City of San Luis Obispo began six capital projects in and around their downtown area. The improvements included roadway paving, ADA accessibility enhancements, wastewater infrastructure, a bike greenway and a neighborhood park.
The City knew the impacts to the residents would be noticeable and wanted to coordinate the outreach effort to keep residents informed while underscoring the investment it was making in the community.
The approach
Given the geographic relation of these six projects, the team quickly realized the opportunity to present them as a unified series of projects as well as communicate holistically about the inherent challenges of fast-moving construction activities.
Because these projects were the first of several on the horizon, there was a unique opportunity to build community trust and confidence in the City’s ability to manage these types of comprehensive projects.
JPW developed a comprehensive outreach strategy and branded campaign that allowed the City to communicate about all projects under one umbrella. Dubbed “SLO in Motion,” the approach focused on developing a creative identity and tagline for the set of projects that provided a visual cue to the community that these improvements together were intended to connect, improve and move the community in the right direction.
The solution
Since its implementation, staff have adopted the “SLO in Motion” campaign for all notable public works projects throughout the City. The campaign has resulted in a high level of engagement from stakeholders, leading to a segmented interest list of nearly 500 people; fielded more than 100 emails and phone calls from SLO community members; and made 150 outreach contacts with the community during construction of “SLO in Motion” projects.
Further, residents are referring to the campaign in their inquiries and the projects have enjoyed an 91 percent positive and neutral sentiment since construction started.
500 segmented news subscribers
700 community survey respondents
700 project video views on YouTube
85 percent overall positive/neutral sentiment during project lifespan
The reward
Since its implementation, city staff has adopted the “SLO in Motion” campaign for all notable public works projects throughout the City. The campaign has also resulted in a high level of engagement from stakeholders, leading to a segmented interest list of nearly 500 people; community survey results from more than 700 people; and more than 700 views of the campaign video. Further, residents are referring to the campaign in their inquiries and the projects have enjoyed an 85 percent positive and neutral sentiment since construction started.