Clarksville unveils new logo and slogan

City unveils new logo and slogan

Anxious crowd attends event at F&M Bank

By JAKE LOWARY
The Leaf-Chronicle

Clarksville is no longer the "Gateway to the New South."

The city is now "Tennessee's Top Spot."

On Friday at the downtown branch of F&M Bank, the new brand for Clarksville was unveiled to a room full of people anxious to catch a glimpse of the new brand that will follow the city in all of its marketing efforts for the next several years.

And the early reviews were stellar.

"The best comment I heard was it was a home run," said Jim Durrett, city chief of staff.

The new logo is clean and simple. It uses a compass pointer as the "I" in Clarksville, bringing attention to the geographic location of the city being Tennessee's northern-most city.

The colors are red and blue, which were no coincidence, according to Ward 2 Councilwoman Deanna McLaughlin, who also served on the communications committee that helped design the new logo.

"Red and blue are colors that are not going to fade," McLaughlin said after the unveiling. "We didn't want to go with the hot colors for now, we wanted something that we can have a long life with."

The slogan of "Tennessee's Top Spot" was also intentional - designed to be versatile with almost any marketing effort that might come about in the future.

Mike McCloud, president and CEO of MMA Creative, the design firm behind the logo, made the presentation and hinted at potential marketing ideas such as "Tennessee's Top Spot ... for tourism" or Tennessee's Top Spot ... for shopping."

"We're not looking at just creating a logo," McCloud said. "We're looking at creating a movement."

The concept of a new branding for the city came up just under a year ago at a planning retreat where one of the top initiatives the city had for the future was to "put Clarksville on the map."

City leaders, including McLaughlin, had also voiced their displeasure with the old brand and logo of a river passing by one of the city's coveted spires.

Mayor Johnny Piper was on hand and said the new logo will first appear on city letterhead and business cards, and will be phased in over a period of time.

The first place many residents will see the new logo will likely be on city vehicles, he said.

"The marketing capabilities of using this theme is significant," Piper said. "What a great marketing tool to use."