Chicago Suburb Seeks Brand Agency

The Village of Tinley Park, located 25 miles southwest of Chicago, with a population of 58,000, is a dynamic metropolitan community offering a wide range of entertainment options, cultural opportunities, superb dining, great shopping and a convenient, enviable location – all within easy reach of Chicago’s world‐renown attractions. The community is conveniently situated with two interchanges off of Interstate 80 and boasts two stops (each housing a gorgeous train station) along the Chicago Metra Rock Island commuter rail line. The Tinley Park Convention Center and 1,000‐room hotel district draw tens of thousands of visitors annually.

The Village of Tinley Park recently completed a robust branding initiative and as a result of much research and planning, has chosen to put music front and center as the core focus of Tinley Park’s brand. As part of the process of developing the Village of Tinley Park’s musical brand, a general logo and branding design were created, intended to give the Tinley Park community an easily recognizable identity – a symbol and message that represents the community and the experiences it has to offer. Whenever the logo is used, it should bring to mind consistent images of Tinley Park and what it stands for. The Village seeks a qualified firm to create a Brand Style Guide or Graphics Standards Manual that will guide implementation of the Village’s brand identity: music.

Recognizing that continuity and consistency are critical to creating top‐of‐mind awareness when developing a strong branding program, the Brand Style Guide or Graphics Standards Manual will contain graphic design standards for logo identity and slogan use, guidelines for website page layout and the production of printed sales and marketing materials, as well as the proper use of key marketing, advertising and promotional messages.

Repetition helps reinforce the viewer’s perception, but consistency is the only way to ensure logo and brand recognition. That is why the Brand Style Guide should be a highly detailed document, providing specific instructions on how to use the graphics.

Organizations that market Tinley Park need to do so with consistency in the look and feel of their marketing. The Brand Style Guide will be the Bible every organization will use to create continuity with the Village’s brand direction. It will provide the necessary guidelines for how the brand concept should be promoted, defining the characteristics of recommended photography, layouts, and the look and feel of the marketing pieces and messages to accurately and consistently portray the image of the community. In addition to proper use of the graphic identities, examples of wrong usage of the logo should also be defined.

Overseeing proper use of the graphic identity and conveying the proper messaging of the brand through the photography, images and styles used is critical to maintaining the brand identity. This highly detailed document will provide the official guidance for how to use the graphic identity and maintain the consistent messaging that is so vital for a successful brand.

The Village is seeking a qualified firm who will expand the look and feel of the brand promise, brand identity, taglines and marketing messages that were created during the branding initiative and develop a comprehensive Brand Style Guide, which would include:

• Final identities for the Village, the Downtown plaza and partnering organizations with variations in full color, two‐color and black and white ‐‐ in various formats.
• Brand identity and variations including proper usage of logos, tag lines and key marketing messages
• Brand identity usage guidelines: clear space, color usage, improper uses, proper uses, identification of brand fonts and colors; color schemes, patterns, font styles for headlines, body text and other elements of websites and printed materials; guidelines for photography styles, brochure covers and other imagery.
• A business cabinet (letterhead, envelope, business cards, labels, email signatures)
• Printed marketing materials guidelines: The grid system, advertising concepts, marketing materials concepts, an economic development opportunity brochure.
• Environmental graphics: Wayfinding and other signage, pole banner concepts, billboard concepts.
• Sample Brand Style Guide usage agreement

Proposal due by March 31, 2017 to:
Village of Tinley Park – Clerk’s Office
16250 South Oak Park Avenue
Tinley Park, IL 60477

Major Chicago PR firms include Zeno Group and Edelman PR.