BRUNSWICK

Five months after deciding Brunswick needed a new “brand,” an amalgamation of local professionals, business owners and marketers led by municipal Business Development Manager Denise Clavette has unveiled a new municipal theme.

The new slogan — “Our Town. Our Story.” — is the start of a themed stream of content that is intended to be consistent, Clavette said.

It was developed by a group of more than 30 participants and ranges from tourism (“Your Vacation”) and occupation (“Your Livelihood”) to recreation (“Your Healthy Lifestyle”) and learning (“Your Education”).

Brunswick Development Association, Morton Real Estate, Parkview Adventist Medical Center and the town split the $750 cost of paying Bill Fall Design of Bath to work up a new image that will differentiate Brunswick from other communities.

Fall’s image depicts “Brunswick” and “Maine” — with a lower-case “m” — separated vertically by a swoosh.

It was the lower-case “m” that piqued atlarge Town Councilor Benet Pols, the only one who voted against endorsing the slogan during its unveiling Monday.

“Because it’s sloppy,” Pols said, asked later why he opposed the marketing plan. “‘Maine’ is a proper noun. … It should be capitalized. We spend 63 percent of our tax revenue on the schools, and they teach proper punctuation.”

For flexibility, there eventually will be a library of graphics and photos accessible for anyone to use in promotion of the town and its amenities.

“Originally, we didn’t even want a slogan,” Clavette said, “because some slogans can actually narrow the way people view a community. But ‘Our Town’ just kind of evolved during discussion. It didn’t narrow the field.”

“It lends itself to change,” said Debora King, executive director of Brunswick Downtown Association and one of the members of the rebranding steering committee. “We didn’t feel like we were hemmed into anything.”

Brunswick’s previous slogan?

“It didn’t have one,” King said. “I think just getting out a really consistent message is a good start. That was defined by the group as a need when we first started to meet.”

Now that the message is ready, the next step is measuring its effectiveness.

“We’ll be looking at measureable outcomes, whether through visitation or advertising buys,” Clavette said. “I think people will see the intrinsic value that Brunswick has. We’re more than just Bowdoin College and restaurants for ‘foodies’,” she added, employing a term that connotes a degree of culinary snobbery.

Various businesses are contributing money for a collective advertisement in several regional publications, such as Downeast, Yankee or Maine magazines.

The first example of Brunswick’s new brand will be in the November edition of Bowdoin Magazine. However, some businesses — Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, for example, which manages the Amtrak Downeaster — already have started using the Fall Design type in their promotions.

jtleonard@timesrecord.com