Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association by Willoughby Design, Inc.

CLIENT

A non-profit organization that markets the Greater Kansas City, MO, area as a favored destination for visitors and conventions, KCCVA is committed to promoting and elevating Kansas City’s status as a prime spot for conventions, meetings, tour groups, and business and leisure travel.

BRIEF

Create an exciting new brand positioning and visual identity reflecting Kansas City’s cultural explosion and the vibrant tourist destination it has become.

APPROACH

To draw out the qualities that make Kansas City truly unique, Willoughby led the KCCVA team and stakeholders through a series of brand vision exercises. The goal: define how Kansas City could put a stake in the ground as a tourist destination—a marriage of new energy and ingrained values. In short, Kansas City is a destination where energetic, cosmopolitan culture is anchored in fun, friendly, Midwestern hospitality. The“spark” visual identity is a reflection of Kansas City—a vibrant place with a world class arts and entertainment scene. The brand voice remains grounded in welcoming, midwestern values.

Willoughby Design excels at branding, but we were amazed at the journey they guided us through and their multifaceted skills: design, copywriting, concept testing, experiential design, and place-making. Through the process of research/discovery, brand audit, competitive analysis, stakeholder interviews, brand positioning, concepting, testing, refinement, and application across all customer touch-points Willoughby created Kansas City’s logo identity on a solid brand positioning foundation. Once we had the foundation, it made choosing the right logo direction an easier decision. We received a beautiful system of fonts, colors, textures, icons, and logos that now accurately reflect Kansas City’s arts and entertainment renaissance. — Doug McClain, Director of Marketing of KCCVA