As a brand strategist, every now and then you encounter a special project that touches your heart from the very beginning. You get a sense right away that this work could lead to something truly impactful. Big. Bright. Energizing. 

For me, idgroup’s selection of the Pensacola Cultural Center as its 2021 Brand on Us^® recipient led to just such a feeling.

The Pensacola Cultural Center is an iconic building in downtown Pensacola, Fla. that is home to a host of diverse organizations in the performing arts realm and beyond. These include the Pensacola Little Theatre, Ballet Pensacola, Liberty Church, West Florida Literary Federation, IMPROVable Cause, EntreCon^®, Pensacon, the Stamped LGBTQ Film Festival, and more.

The Cultural Center’s leadership and board members approached idgroup with a vision—a vision to celebrate the arts in Pensacola, create a sense of arrival downtown, and open their building up to new opportunities for community-focused activities and events. In short, they wanted to reposition it in the minds of the locals as Pensacola’s cultural hub.

Their goal was to launch a capital campaign to fund the reimagining of the interior and exterior spaces, but they knew the first step was to educate the public about all that the Cultural Center offers; then rally the community around the rich history and exciting future of the building. That’s where we came in.

idgroup set out on a research journey to discover the heart and soul of the Pensacola Cultural Center through our Branding from the Core^® Dialogue Process. We uncovered stories of togetherness and belonging. We learned about the far-reaching positive effects of creativity and expression within a community. We witnessed pride and emotion in performers, volunteers, students, leaders and board members as they spoke about the impact that their involvement with the Cultural Center has had on them.

Following our research process, the idgroup creative team dove into the creation of a high-impact campaign that would showcase the Pensacola Cultural Center for all that it is. It would express the idea that arts and culture are at the center of community, and that community can be found in many ways at the Pensacola Cultural Center—Now known as, “The Center”. And finally, it would extend an open invitation to anyone to “Find Your Center” at the Pensacola Cultural Center.

The campaign, which launched with great fanfare alongside a truly magical, larger-than-life projection at the 2021 FooFoo Festival, was an integrated communications campaign developed and deployed with the help of our production and media partners. Campaign components included a video, landing page, print collateral, social and digital media, print and outdoor advertisements, radio, experiential design, and a launch event.

To explore the campaign landing page and learn more about the future of The Center, visit https://www.findyourcenterpensacola.com/.

Brand on Us™ would not be possible without our partners’ donations of their time and talents each year. Thank you to our 2021 partners:
 

• ABC News 3
• Ballinger Publishing
• Cat Country 98.7
• Cox
• Calliope Films
• Izon Models
• Lamar
• Nancy’s Catering & Events
• News Radio 92.3
• Nick Gray Multimedia
• Pensacola News Journal
• Pensacola Sign
• Schurr Sails
• Speed-D-Print
• The Southern Creative