WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — When you travel to a new town, you take in all of the sites and sounds. Since earlier this year, Warner Robins has worked to create a new brand identity through what you see and hear around town.
Warner Robins goes by a couple names. "The International City" and "The city of planes, trains, and heroes," are just a couple of examples.
As they work to develop a downtown space, this will guide a lot of the branding you see throughout the space. They hope to capitalize of of this new brand story, which will also be a catalyst for branding as they continue to grow.
The city paid a Nashville based company thousands of dollars to help them meet their goal.
"The Air Force Base is the most notable asset, hands down," Greg Fuson with Chandlerthinks shared at an October council meeting.
With an F-15 plane at City Hall, the Museum of Aviation and street names like Armed Forces Boulevard, there's no denying the base is part of Warner Robins identity.
"We'll be having something with aviation in our branding. That is true to our identity," Mayor LaRhonda Patrick said.
When the city paid Chandlerthinks $77,000 they went in eyes-wide open. While they are big supporter of Robins Air Force Base, they originally hoped to create a brand beyond the base.
"We just need to own it. Robins Air Force Base is Warner Robins," Patrick said.
After 17 one-on-one interviews, four focus groups and about 1,400 survey responses, the base is a key point. Fuson says they should lean into this sports, diversity, faith and being a family friendly community as they create their brand story.
The survey also showed that people felt parts of town, specifically farther north were run down.
"If somebody is driving through and they pass through, you don't want to be known as the place that looks tired," Fuson told leaders.
Patrick said they will use all of the feedback given to guide future initiatives.
"When it comes to the branding of what our city is, the data they've collected is helping us improve, not just in branding, but it helps us improve and fill in gaps. We may not have graded as high as we feel like we should have, so this gives us a good gauge on what we need to do," Patrick said.
Councilman Derek Mack says issues with blight, is something they are actively working to tackle, especially out of town landlords.
"We've made some adjustments with the council as far as taxations for blighted properties. We're aggressively addressing that issue. We're all concerned about that," Mack said.
Results also showed that people that live outside the city view Warner Robins in a more positive light, than those who live in the city. Many people viewed the current administration as a positive boost to the city, and overall feedback was good.
Mack says he thinks this survey was a good accountability partner, and feels it is a great tool to create a better experience for visitors and folks in town.
"It gives them something to look forward to. They can go online and see exactly what we're known for, what opportunities are there for them to come and enjoy while they're here," Mack said.
The company is only halfway through the rebranding project. Now the company will work on creating graphics, like city logos and creating a brand story. The city hopes they and local businesses can start rolling out this story in 2025.
Chandler thinks has worked with other Central Georgia cities like Macon and Perry.