Notice Something New? We are Now The Osceola Chamber.

Recently you may have started to notice some changes to the Chamber’s branding popping up on some of our publications, and you can expect to see many more in the coming weeks.  These changes are part of the exciting rebranding initiative that we undertook starting at the beginning of 2020.  The pandemic provided a slight setback, but for the past year a task force of member volunteers has worked hard to make sure this rebranding process – a major goal of 2020-2021 Board Chair Adrianna Sekula – would become a reality.

A Brief History of Our Rebrand

The Chamber Branding Committee began by working together to create an RFP that cleanly outlined what our Chamber was looking for in our new brand, and then made it available to marketing and branding agencies from around the country. They narrowed the resulting proposals down to their top five agencies, whom they then invited to participate in in-person interview/Q&A sessions. They finally settled on North Star Place Branding & Marketing.  Over the next several months the Chamber surveyed the membership and community, hosted North Star for a site visit, convened focus groups, and arranged one-on-one interviews between North Star and representatives of our business community.  The Branding Committee met regularly throughout the process as they received updates from North Star, and offered feedback as the process progressed to help narrow and focus North Star’s work.  The first step in the rebranding process resulted in our Chamber’s new DNA statement. This statement forms a basis on which to align all programs and strategies within the Chamber going forward:

For dynamic businesses and leaders committed to Central Florida, The Osceola Chamber, the largest business advocate in the fastest growing part of the region, champions businesses working in Osceola County by extending their reach and bringing together a network of diverse talent for greater access and belonging in the community.

A New Name & A New Logo

With the DNA statement in mind, and continued reference to our community and membership surveys, focus groups, and conversations, the Branding Committee settled on the name “The Osceola Chamber,” and the following logo and strapline were developed and selected:

Many areas of consideration went into choosing this new name.  Simplifying the Chamber’s (admittedly rather long) name makes it both more memorable and more encompassing of the areas we serve.  The addition of “The” creates a strong sense of ownership and importance for the Chamber community-wide. Going forward, The Osceola Chamber will do business under this new name as a dba.

Similarly, many aspects were considered when choosing a new logo.  This monogram logo creates a sense of things coming together around a central focus and  generates the idea that a Chamber membership brings together the most meaningful resources for each member.  The monogram mark in particular offers a feeling of movement and forward momentum, which are important considerations for any future-facing organization.

The strapline “Business Works Better Together” is a straightforward sentiment that clearly states that our Chamber and its membership group help improve business results and relationships.  It boasts a strong sense of community and belonging and indicates the positive impacts of the organization on both business and community.  This fits nicely with the The Osceola Chamber’s continued mission to be “Champions for Business and the Osceola Community.”

A New World of Color

A new brand means a new color palette, and The Osceola Chamber now has a dynamic palette of shades to reflect our forward motion and strong community presence.

The primary palette is developed around blue tones that portray strength, stability, and confidence and rounded out with secondary tones that include some stimulating colors (orange and greens) for an active and forward-looking feeling.

Tertiary shades are included to distinguish our eight area councils and any potential logos developed in the future for additional Chamber organizations and events.  This expanded color palette extends from the primary and secondary palettes with additional tones in the same family in order to provide each area council with a strongly related but unique look.  Each area council has also been granted a brand new logo.  A few area councils have undergone a slight name change at the discretion of their boards of directors.

An Exciting Future

The Chamber administration, staff, and board of directors are looking forward to our future as The Osceola Chamber and further implementing our new brand, logos, colors, and name.  Pay close attention in the coming weeks as wet start to roll out more and more of these elements and cement our place in the community as The Osceola Chamber.  You will gradually notice changes on our social channels, at our events, in our personal correspondence, and in our community presence.  Please be patient with us, as the complete brand transformation will not happen over night.

We appreciate the dedication and hard work of the branding committee and the leadership of Past-Chair Sekula throughout the process, and finally, welcome to The Osceola Chamber!

2020-2021 Board Chair, and leader of the Chamber Branding Committee, Adrianna Sekula, shared a few words about the rebranding process at our recent Osceola Update: