New Lincoln city branding unveiled

A new logo and branding guidelines for Lincoln were unveiled on Thursday by the Visit Lincoln Partnership.

The new graphical identity is meant to help grow Lincoln’s tourism economy, with a £10,000 campaign that includes a new logo and signage across the city.

The branding has a typeface inspired by the city’s gothic architecture (particularly the letter n) and an icon based on the Fleur-de-lys on the City Council’s logo.

The first of such signs is now in place on the A57 at the edge of Lincoln, next to the Grandstand, listing upcoming events over the coming months (pictured).

Put together by Visit Lincoln, the new identity was launched at an event on Thursday, attended by more than 100 local officials and business people.

(L-R): Andy Clayton, Project Manager at Ruddocks, Emma Tatlow, Manager of Visit Lincoln, Mark Hollingworth, Visit Lincoln Chairman, and Paul Banton, Managing Director at Ruddocks

The City of Lincoln Council, the Lincoln Business Improvement Group, the University of Lincoln and local company Ruddocks have joined the initiative.

It is hoped that by 2020, Lincoln will bring 4.8 million visitors in a year, up from the 3.3 million tourists who came to visit during 2011.

Visit Lincoln estimates the local tourism economy at £131 million, with a target revenue of £150 million by 2015.

[poll id=”14″]

Emma Tatlow, Visit Lincoln Partnership Manager, said: “There is no consistent way that Lincoln is portrayed nationally, regionally and locally.

“The new Lincoln brand has been created to offer the city just that. The brand toolkit is available for all businesses to use within their own marketing, it consists of a range of elements that can be tailored to the needs of each business.”

Chris Dunbar, Communications Manager at the City of Lincoln Council, said: “One of the key drivers for us is to get that consistent message out there about Lincoln.

“By getting together this brand, it symbolises the city perfectly, and we will be using it on any information we put out,” he added.

Mark Hollingworth, Chairman of the Visit Lincoln Partnership, explained the success of the campaign will be measured in footfall in the city and spend per head.

He said: “Our visitors underspend, in comparison to many of our comparable cities, such as York, where visitors spend twice as much than they do in Lincoln, so the new image is a key thing behind driving this up.”