lebanon missouri branding project: why this was never just about a logo

I think a lot of people are focusing on the wrong thing.

The City of Lebanon didn’t spend $75,000 on one logo.

They hired a company to help rethink and reposition the city’s brand as a whole.

That includes:

• research

• focus groups

• strategy

• identity

• messaging

• branding systems

• and yes… eventually logos too

At the same time, I completely understand why people are frustrated.

BOTH sides have valid points.

The main takeaways:

• The Lebanon Missouri branding project was much bigger than a single logo

• Public frustration mostly comes from perception and presentation

• Municipal branding is very different than designing for a business

• Local agencies realistically were not built for a project of this scope

• Branding conversations matter because identity matters to communities

The Lebanon Missouri branding project was never just “design a logo”

I think this is the biggest misunderstanding happening right now.

When most people hear:

“The city spent $75,000 on a logo.”

Their brain naturally processes:

“Someone got paid $75,000 to draw a picture.”

That’s not really what happened here.

What the city actually hired was a branding initiative... aka brand strategy or brand development.

And those are two VERY different things.

From my understanding, this project included:

• focus groups

• community discussion

• market research

• stakeholder feedback

• identity conversations

• branding strategy

• long-term positioning

• visual systems

• department consistency

• and eventually logo development

That process has reportedly been going on for over a year.

That’s not small-scale graphic design work.

That’s city branding.

Municipal branding is completely different than business branding

This part matters a lot too.

A city logo isn’t really supposed to function like:

• a restaurant logo

• a clothing brand logo

• a sports logo

• or a YouTube thumbnail

Municipal branding has to consider:

• tourism

• economic development

• future growth

• residents

• city departments

• signage

• consistency

• digital presence

• public perception

• long-term implementation

That’s a massive undertaking.

I think people underestimate how complicated that process becomes once government, public identity, and long-term city planning all start overlapping.

At the same time, I completely understand the public frustration

I think that part matters too.

People are emotionally connected to their hometown.

So when a city changes identity systems publicly, people naturally react emotionally.

That’s normal. People generally dislike change. We're creatures of habit.

And if we’re being fair, the rollout probably didn’t help.

The first time many people saw the logo was through:

• cellphone photos

• angled presentation shots

• screenshots online

• incomplete context

Branding is heavily influenced by presentation.

A logo viewed on a slanted cellphone picture

is VERY different than:

• on signage

• merchandise

• digital systems

• tourism campaigns

• city vehicles

• department branding

• coordinated rollout materials

Context changes perception tremendously.

I actually participated in one of the focus groups

And honestly, after leaving it, I felt optimistic.

The discussion itself felt thoughtful.

There were conversations around:

• identity

• growth

• perception

• community

• direction

• and where Lebanon is headed long term

That’s why I think reducing the entire conversation to:

“this logo cost $75k”

misses a huge portion of what the project actually was.

Again… that doesn’t mean people have to LOVE the logo.

They’re absolutely allowed to dislike it.

But the logo itself was only one visible part of a much larger process.

Could a local designer have created a logo? Absolutely.

Do BOTH sides of the aisle have valid points?

Lebanon has talented creatives.

Talented photographers.

Talented marketers.

Talented designers.

If the project was simply:

“Create a new logo.”

Then yes, local creatives absolutely could have handled that.

But from everything I’ve seen, this was much bigger than logo design.

This was:

• strategy

• research

• positioning

• implementation

• systems

• long-term municipal branding

And honestly?

I don’t think local agencies were realistically built for a project of that magnitude.

LEBtv certainly wasn’t.

That’s not self-deprecation.

That’s just understanding scale.

There’s a difference between:

• helping businesses grow locally

• and

• leading a long-term municipal branding initiative

  
  

Those are completely different categories of work.

The internet usually discusses the visible part

People naturally focus on the visible part:

• the logo

• the graphic

• the slogan

• the final design

But the visible part is usually the last layer.

Underneath it are:

• strategy

• research

• planning

• positioning

• conversations

• revisions

• systems

• implementation

Most people never see that part.

We're all guilty of that. We have information overload and noise everywhere we turn and it's in the palm of our hand.

The visible part is what communities emotionally react to first.

I don’t actually think this conversation is a bad thing

If anything, I think it shows people care deeply about Lebanon.

That matters.

Communities SHOULD care about identity.

Communities SHOULD care about perception.

Communities SHOULD care about how they present themselves moving forward.

Communities SHOULD care how their tax dollars are spent.

Honestly, I think the bigger takeaway here is that Lebanon is starting to think more intentionally about:

• growth

• perception

• branding

• tourism

• visibility

• future positioning

Whether people love the logo or not, THAT conversation probably matters more long term.

The Lebanon Missouri branding project is really about where the city sees itself going

And honestly, I think that’s the deeper conversation underneath all of this.

Branding isn’t really about:

“making something look cool.”

Good branding is usually trying to answer:

Who are we?

Where are we headed?

What do we want people to feel here?

What story are we trying to tell?

How do we become more recognizable?

That’s a much bigger challenge than simply designing an image.

Final Thought

I think both sides of this conversation have valid points.

People are absolutely allowed to dislike the logo.

They’re allowed to question the spending.

They’re allowed to wish local creatives had been more involved.

At the same time, I also think many people are misunderstanding the scale of what the city was actually attempting to accomplish.

This was never just:

“pay somebody to draw a logo.”

It was a much larger branding and identity project tied to the future perception of Lebanon itself.

Whether people realize it or not, that’s a really important conversation for a community to be having.

watchlebtv.com

ramsey@watchlebtv.com