Rollingwood selects firm for rebranding

Rollingwood’s goal to rebrand the city and make it a destination is another step closer. The City Council on Aug. 15 approved a contract with Buie & Company, the first step in the city’s rebranding process.

Mayor Roxanne McKee said the project started because she felt the city needed signage along Bee Cave Road that says, “Welcome to Rollingwood” to make it clear where the city is located.

“A lot of people in West Lake Hills know where we are, but there are plenty of folks in Austin that don’t know exactly where we’re located,” McKee said. “If they knew how close we were to MoPac (Loop 1) and Bee Cave Road, they might hop over here to go to one of our businesses or holiday celebrations.”

McKee said the company would help the city establish community and city branding. The city will select an official seal that will be printed on stationary, business cards and city decals.

“Community (input) is important in a selecting a city logo, signage, color incorporation and a city website,” McKee said. “There are a lot of different options, and it’s a matter of determining which ones we want them to pursue.”

The project will be broken down into four phases: discovery, branding, city signage and roll-out.

The initial phase of work, discovery, is primarily focused on research and gaining a thorough understanding of the values of Rollingwood, as well as how the community would like to see itself positioned with outside audiences, city documents said.

A community survey and branding workshop will also be part of the first phase of the project.

Once enough information is gathered from both city officials and residents, the branding portion of the project begins. This is where the company will begin to sketch out logos, colors and other necessary elements needed.

Creating a welcome sign will be the next step in the process, which will also be developed using city official and community input.

The contract also includes website rebranding, which will be coordinated with the company the city chooses to perform that task.

A roll-out could take up to five months, but company officials said it will depend on how long it takes to gather input and research.

McKee said they will begin research and community engagement in September.

The $33,500 contract will be funded through a joint effort from the city of Rollingwood and the Rollingwood Community Development Corp.