How do you rebrand an entire city and have the citizens that live there actually embrace it? This was the challenge that Staart faced when The City of Pori in Finland approached them to help give the city a refreshed image. Staart knew that to getting the people to accept the rebrand would require the people getting involved in the process. So they developed a unique and engaging process that used data and community involvement at every step to guide the rebrand.

How do you rebrand an entire city and have the citizens that live there actually embrace it? This was the challenge that Staart faced when The City of Pori in Finland approached them to help give the city a refreshed image. Staart knew that to getting the people to accept the rebrand would require the people getting involved in the process. So they developed a unique and engaging process that used data and community involvement at every step to guide the rebrand.

First, they did a deep dive into the history of the city and conducted workshops with stakeholders in the area. This provided a baseline of data and insights that helped them understand key historical milestones and meaningful elements that made Pori beloved to its citizens.

Next, Staart worked with local influencers to build their Pori stories. Using the hashtag #PORIUUDISTUU, they gathered some 5,500 stories from citizens via social media channels. These stories helped Staart tap into the emotional connections that the people have with their city and provided invaluable insight into the demo- and psychographic aspects of the community.

From the historical and stakeholder data and the community stories, Staart developed four different treatments for the rebrand using the message, “Pori gets under your skin.”

Rather than simply present these options to Pori city officials, Staart wanted feedback from the true client–the city’s people. So they created a pop-up ad agency, called PORIs, and invited everyone in the city to come in and voice their opinion on which rebrand they prefered.

They placed ads in the local newspaper and promoted the agency through digital channels, which not only brought in numerous people from the community but also garnered a great deal of press for the initiative.

The community made their voices heard, and a final selection for the brand was revealed! The new branding can now be found throughout the city on posters, fliers and on all digital channels. Staart also helped the City of Pori develop branded merchandise–bags, t-shirts and hats–which created a new revenue stream for the city.

As a final gesture to give back to the city, Staart turned the Pori logo into a font and made it available to all citizens.

Now, the people of Pori are using that font to create their own merchandise to show just how deep Pori goes under your skin.