The Leith Agency and Dalton Maag launch new Dundee vision
The Scottish city of Dundee has unveiled a new destination marketing campaign focusing on illuminating ‘discoveries’ about the city with the backing of a host of high-profile ambassadors.
Building on the ‘City of Discovery’ identity, which was first introduced more than two decades ago, the refreshed vision positions Dundee as ‘One City, Many Discoveries’- focusing on its modern, multi-faceted make-up and its ambitions for the future.
The £73,000 campaign encompasses a new brand identity, created by The Leith Agency with Dalton Maag, and a redesigned, interactive website – www.dundee.com.
The campaign focuses on ‘illuminating’ contemporary Dundee’s status as a diverse and dynamic home to a pioneering life sciences sector, groundbreaking digital and gaming industries and world-leading universities.
The Leith Agency's Alan Ainsley, said: “Dundee is a vibrant and creative city with a history of reinvention, constantly leading to new innovations. The creative aim of the campaign was to reflect Dundee’s position as a diverse, high achieving ‘centre of Scotland’, and we worked closely with representatives from Dundee’s many sectors in coming up with the vision.
“Essentially, we want people within Dundee to look again at their city and feel proud of its achievements, and encourage others to come and discover more. The ‘spark’ mark integrated in the new identity represents all that there is to be ‘illuminated’ about Dundee."
The campaign also features a host of Dundee Ambassadors, each connected to the city in some way, who reveal the stories they believe have helped to make Dundee what it is today. Their personal ‘discoveries’ about Dundee from individuals such as TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, Emmy-Award-winning Actor Brian Cox and gaming entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl, feature on the new website, which also acts as an information portal about the city and as platform for sharing stories, images and film about what makes Dundee tick.
Sharing his thoughts on Dundee as part of the new campaign, Actor Brian Cox, who was born in the city, said: “I love the fact Dundee’s got a Frank Gehry building in it. Maggie’s Centre is a brilliant piece of architecture and you can see the water from its situation, which makes it really special too. The city’s full of surprises like that.”
Dundee residents are also being encouraged to contribute their personal stories about the city as part of a local campaign, Dundee & Me. A selection of the submissions will be published on the new website, and also incorporated in a new guide to the city. The story considered to best represent the spirit of the city and its new vision will be selected by a judging panel and made into a short film.
Unveiling the new campaign, councillor Will Dawson, Convenor of City Development for Dundee City Council said: “While Dundee has been long been linked with the notion of ‘discovery’, it’s in recent years that the city has really excelled as a centre of innovation and creativity. What’s going on today in Dundee may surprise some people. We have thriving creative and digital gaming sectors, a world-leading life sciences industry, hugely respected universities and are undergoing a £300 million transformation with our Waterfront development. Our new ‘One City, Many Discoveries’ campaign builds on our heritage and gives us a new platform from which to tell the tale of a diverse, innovative and world-leading city – that of modern Dundee.”
The new Dundee campaign is led by the Dundee City Council Economic Development team, and overseen by a Strategic Advisory Group made up of private and public sector partners, including: Alliance Trust, Dundee College, University of Abertay, Dundee, University of Dundee, DC Thomson & Co., Tayforth Consulting, CXR Life Sciences, Scottish Enterprise and the Overgate.
The new-look Dundee vision has been funded with a £73,000 investment from the Economic Development’s existing city marketing budget.