Downtown Raleigh Alliance
Identity design and website design
The Downtown Raleigh Alliance (DRA) provides economic development, advocacy, marketing and ambassador services to promote the heart of downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.
ADDY Award, Ad Club of the Triad, February 2006
The Downtown Raleigh Alliance (DRA) provides economic development, advocacy, marketing and ambassador services to promote the heart of downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. DRA wanted to promote the dynamic environment at the center of the city, establishing it as a perfect place to live, work and play. The DRA called on Kelly MarCom to support their marketing and ambassador services by developing a downtown identity system. The new visual identity was to showcase the assets of Raleigh’s downtown districts and put in place a clear and functional way-finding system for the area. The DRA also wanted to enhance the functionality of their website to offer greater services to citizens, business owners and visitors by providing tools to generate greater awareness of the changes in the area. Information about commercial, residential, cultural and entertainment opportunities in the area also needed to be available through the site.
Kelly MarCom created an identity system using a clean, brightly colored, geometric style. The primary logo was developed to project a contemporary feel with crisp type and bold colors representing the unique districts found in downtown Raleigh. The extended identity system provides each district with its own variation of the downtown Raleigh logo that can be used by businesses within each of the districts. We also incorporated the identity into street banners that identified the district by integrated line art. These signs are based on themes from the respective section of town. Our website offered interactive calendars and other tools to engage and educate visitors on the many opportunities to live, work and play downtown.
Both the Ad Club of the Triangle and Triangle CREW recognized Kelly MarCom with awards for the Downtown Raleigh identity system’s visual appeal and functional strategy. Within the first 30 days of the site launch, page views of the website increased by 270% and visit duration increased from two minutes to 20 minutes on average. The site currently receives about 1,300 unique visits per day. The district-themed identity system visually positioned Raleigh as a progressive capital city, and the DRA brand is now in keeping with the city it serves.
“The identity system that was developed for us has made such an impact in the community and in our organization. Kelly MarCom listened to our needs and our wants and delivered a solution that was right on. That little identity package has snowballed into a complete new look for all marketing and wayfinding in downtown Raleigh.
Our website has been a resounding success, we went from a measly 200 hits a day to a consistent 1,300 unique visitors each day and each visitor spends an average of 20 minutes on the site. Kelly MarCom worked seamlessly with another contract partner to integrate our GIS-based mapping system into the website – the end product is more than what we could have asked for.”
– Nancy Hormann | Downtown Raleigh Alliance
