“It’s teetering on obliqueness.”

“The perfect symbol of gentrification run amok.”

“God forbid they fix the roads, this is far more important.”

This is just a sample of the Nederland community’s reaction to a Facebook post on the Nedheads page on Wednesday, January 3, 2024. The post contained a single image, a presentation of the Town of Nederland’s potential new branding identity, which included a logo, a font, and a tagline.

Within one day that post garnered more than 400 comments; as of the writing of this article the post has a total of 190 individual “reacts” and 630 comments, and not a single positive response among them. On average, posts of popular or controversial content on Nedheads will yield up to 150 comments.

With members of Town staff, the Board of Trustees (BOT), and the firm responsible for the designs, Godot Communications Inc., all feeling the pressure of an incensed community, further progress on the project has been halted so Godot can go back to the drawing board.

Why are we “rebranding”?

“So, we paid for a re-blanding? This is what happens when you get rid of everything that gave the town “character” and “brand” and convert it into a soulless, bland, boring bedroom community.”

“There goes the heart and soul of Ned.”

The Colorado Tourism Office (CTO) selected Nederland for their tourism management initiative, the Reimagine Destinations Program, in July, 2022. After a community workshop held in November, 2022, Town staff developed a workshop summary report and ascertained that Nederland residents desired a focus on “community-based tourism.”

The summary report included suggestions for short- and long-term action items related to tourism management, which also involved a request for a brand identity to be created that would coincide with continued tourism initiatives and promote “responsible and respectful” tourist visitation.

The next steps in the Reimagine Destinations Program involved entering into the Destination Blueprint Program to help the Town form medium- to long-term initiatives for its tourism structure.

A branding and marketing campaign was also suggested by CTO, to form a creative visual identity for Nederland as well as marketing materials that would protect and uphold Nederland’s defined values by educating visitors in important stewardship topics, from fire prevention to backcountry safety.

CTO offered Nederland the opportunity to be enveloped into a variation of their “Do Colorado Right” branding campaign, which was tentatively named “Do Nederland Right.”

In the interest of protecting and enhancing Nederland’s unique identity, and to separate from the “Do Nederland Right” campaign’s focus on marketing, Town staff opted instead to use $20,000 from the Tourism Management Grant awarded to the Town in April, 2023, to contract with a consulting firm to develop the branding campaign.

The Money

“Goodness, I hope we didn’t pay someone to come up with this?!”

“Grants come from taxes collected. Taxpayers pay those taxes. So we are paying for it.”

The Town of Nederland provided a $5,000 match to the $20,000 Tourism Management Grant offered through the CTO, which is funded by the federal government and therefore funded by taxpayers across the country.

The grant is eligible to those applicants who can be considered “Colorado destination organizations,” or “government entities in Colorado engaged in tourism promotion, development, and management.”

Projects eligible for the grant include anything that “advances the development, enhancement, or management of visitor experience in Colorado,” and can be completed in a 12-month period.

The funds from the Tourism Management Grant may be used for tourism product development, visitor education programs, tourism workforce development, tourism-related strategic planning, tourism research, and infrastructure that directly enhances the visitor experience.

In addition to the branding campaign contract awarded to Godot, Nederland’s inclusion in CTO’s programs has also helped Town staff create the Public Engagement Manager position, as well as a Tourism Advisory Board, soon to be developed.

The full $25,000 amount of the grant was awarded to Godot on September 5, 2023, after their fixed bid was approved by the BOT.

According to Godot’s “scope of work” listed in their original proposal, the $25,000 covers educational outreach, 80 hours of community engagement, online outreach, 80 hours of design and creation, 40 hours for a “marketing plan,” and 40 hours for education and further outreach.

The work for the “marketing plan” involves the creation of an actionable six-month plan, with guidelines, as well as the conducting of area market research. The work for “education and outreach” involves the production of a short documentary film, which will highlight their community engagement process.

The financial breakdown included in Godot’s original proposal also stated that they accepted the job despite being at a reduced cost.

“It’s work we want to be doing, but also the structure of community engagement leading into practical creation lends itself to streamlined output. The mini-documentary, for example, would not be possible in this scope without the community engagement baked into the process,” the proposal reads.

According to a Forbes report published in 2017, the cost of contracting with branding agencies can range from $1,000 to $50,000. The cost for the design of a “visual brand,” which typically includes a logo and/or website, was stated to range from $1,000 to $3,000. The cost of designing a full brand, however, was stated to range from $15,000 to $50,000, and involves the creation of visual elements to represent an entity’s identity.

The Request for Proposal

“This project should not have left the Ned Community. There are amazing artists here in the mountains, some of them in this thread.”

“Taking into consideration all the artistic, creative folks who call Nederland home and create the most amazing art, this is absolutely unacceptable.”

“I don’t envy any designer trying to please Nederland residents. Getting any kind of majority to agree on anything is laughable.”

Before Godot was ever considered for what Town staff was calling the “Branding and Marketing Strategy Plan” project, the Town of Nederland released a Request for Proposal (RFP) on July 12, 2023, with a deadline of August 3.

A few posts were made in July on the Town’s official Facebook page “Nederland Colorado Town Hall” concerning the release of the RFP, though the Housing Needs Assessment survey was heavily promoted during the same timeframe. The posts did not garner much feedback from the public, with the exception of one commenter who asked, “Wise expense?”

The RFP states: “The Town of Nederland is seeking branding and marketing design services which, when complete, will illustrate and communicate the unique character and qualities of the town.

“The Town seeks to contract with brand and marketing professionals to assist with developing a brand identity and a creative campaign that showcases Nederland’s community values and to produce print, digital, and social content that highlights what it means to be a Nederland resident and visitor.

“The successful firm in this project will be required to work with the Town and stakeholders to capture and convey a new brand and marketing strategy.”

Those considering submitting a proposal or bid were required to provide a detailed scope of work that addressed the Town’s requested “deliverables.” Such deliverables included brand development based on the input from Town stakeholders, a brand logo, and a marketing strategy.

Applicants were also required to provide such details as the number of expected public engagement meetings, the total amount of time and services expected from Town staff, and a detailed schedule and cost breakdown for each deliverable.

A total of 15 proposals were submitted by the August 3 deadline. All of the proposals were received from design firms, and none of them were from Nederland.

“Having that many felt good, like we had the opportunity to find the best consultant for the job without being locked in with a design group that didn’t meet our goals,” Nederland’s Public Engagement Manager Peter Cacek told The Mountain-Ear, regarding the total number of proposals the Town received.

“We did see some talk through social media from locals interested in the RFP, but ultimately, of the 15 we received, nine were from in state, with six being from out of state. Of the nine from Colorado, four were from Boulder,” Cacek said.

Local artists and designers spoke with The Mountain-Ear about the RFP, the Branding and Marketing Strategy Plan, and the aftermath over Godot’s offered design.

“I appreciate how it is bringing people out to discuss this and to all agree for once. It shows local artists that the community does care and sees our efforts,” a local artist with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design said.

“I don’t remember seeing any call for artists about this project,” Heather Taylor-Lande said. “There are so many artists in Nederland. I think it would have been cool if all the artists had a chance and then the people would vote.”

“Not all ‘artists’ are trained graphic designers who understand logo design and branding. So even though we have a lot of artists up here, many may not have felt qualified in areas of branding and logo design,” Kristen Conrad told The Mountain-Ear.

“The whole project of designing a Nederland identity was a part of a larger and controversial project to brand Nederland for purposes of increasing tourism,” Conrad continued, expressing that such a focus on tourism revenue is creating a rift between the community and their representatives, which causes a lack of participation for town-sponsored projects.

“Residents feel forgotten as their simple and repeated requests for better roads and other residential amenities have been ignored for years in favor of catering to tourists and their dollars,” Conrad said before expressing how facing the community’s perceivable inevitable ire acted as another deterrent from entering a proposal with the Town.

“Social media tends to bring out some of the snarkiest and meanest voices in any town, and there were designers I know that simply did not want their names drug through the mud.”

Conrad added that the poor communication of the true intention of the Branding and Marketing Strategy Plan project may have left some local artists and designers feeling disenfranchised.

“The Town board has not communicated a strong reason for this identity program. In fact, it was posted on local social media at about the same time as a half-dozen other Town surveys and requests for feedback from residents on wildly different topics. There seems to be no overarching plan behind the plethora of grants and surveys coming from leadership, and chasing so many of them at once simply dilutes attention spans from residents and comes off feeling like we have leaders who are throwing spaghetti at a wall to see what sticks.

“If our leaders are not even on the same page about why we need a new Nederland brand/identity and what they intend to do with it, then many feel it is another example of the Town wasting our money on ill-defined, feel-good projects that will soon be forgotten,” Conrad concluded.

The selection process

“This is what you get when you hire an outside group to do your design.”

“The company hired to produce this was having a huge laugh at Nederland’s expense.”

“It looks like there is much more involved in the creative identity campaign than a logo for the town.”

Town Administrator Miranda Fisher, Public Engagement Manager Cacek, and Trustee Nichole Sterling presided over the selection process of the 15 design firms who bid for the project.

The RFP stipulated how the proposals would be reviewed and judged, stating that the Town will “review and approve the most cost-competitive proposal,” ensure the applicant’s compliance with the RFP, and select two to three proposals for a final review, while reserving the right to reject any proposals for failing to meet the requirements of the RFP.

The proposals were rated by how well they adhered to the RFP instructions in relation to timeliness, completeness, overall quality and level of professionalism, and overall response. Design firms were also rated on their understanding of the project and demonstration of competency, with firms having to provide examples of successful branding campaigns they have completed and of how they have met client requirements in past projects.

The overall scope of work, fee summary, and the applicant’s plan for an education campaign were also factors in the selection process.

“We compared notes during our scoring process, and came to the realization that we all had the same two proposals in our top three: Godot and CivicBrand out of Salida,” Cacek told The Mountain-Ear.

“We also had a potential third candidate that was high on all of our lists, HUB Collective. We were impressed with their work and approach, but ultimately felt it would be hard to coordinate a proper engagement strategy with a group that was based in Portland, Oregon.”

Godot’s original proposal states: “People fetishize travel. We visit places convincing ourselves that we will return changed. There is a certain entitlement to it. Meanwhile those communities are the ones fundamentally changed by our visits through sheer numbers.”

“One person’s wandering becomes thousands upon hundreds of thousands of visitors. Businesses can no longer afford to cater to their own neighbors. Communities change.”

“As Nederland looks inward with this rebranding and messaging initiative, the town should not give in for a moment to the whims of tourism. This is about your identity. It’s not about trying to become something else.

“Our role as an agency is to facilitate those conversations, uncovering and articulating not just the features of Nederland but the values... the things that the community defines itself by and takes genuine pride in. The illustration of those values becomes Nederland’s visual identity.”

During their meeting on September 5, 2023, within the consent agenda, the BOT voted to approve contracting with Godot Communications Inc.

“It was a very tough call between CivicBrand and Godot,” Cacek explained. “Both showcased a diverse amount of work, but it ultimately came down to the interview.

“Godot brought an excitement towards this project that none of the other proposals had. The variety of work they showed off, the most intimate knowledge of Nederland of any of the firms, and a desire to help our community explore its identity, were important factors in our final decision.

“It also helped that they already did work in the Peak to Peak area, and had someone on their team that lives in Gold Hill. Out of all the firms, they had the best understanding of our needs, our history, and our present,” Cacek said.

The conversation between Town staff, Trustees, and Godot on September 5 was centered on changing the language of the project and moving away from the marketing aspect of the initial ask.

“Everyone on the team fully and completely understands that the goal of this project is not more,” Beckett Taylor, Creative Director for Godot, said to the BOT in reference to concerns, mostly raised by the public, of the branding project acting as a gateway to increased tourism and tourism revenue.

“We’re removing language around marketing and advertising because the goal of this is not to reach 2,000,000 people so 50,000 more people can flick a cigarette butt out their car window as they drive by.

“We’re approaching this as a banner that the people of Nederland can stand behind, we’re coming into this with the understanding that the goal is not to sell everyone and their brother into coming to this small town,” Taylor said.

“Godot blew us out of the water,” Fisher said during the meeting. “They truly understand the uniqueness that Nederland is navigating; the importance of that resident-first communication, and that it’s not about transforming the community into one that’s striving to bring in more tourism, but rather one that wants to honor and recognize the value that is Nederland.”

“I think that the work they’ve already done up here has given them a great foundation and I appreciate that they take a creative approach. It’s really about who Nederland is and they’re going to work to get to the heart of that,” Fisher continued.

“I couldn’t be more excited to work alongside them and the final product is going to be something I know this whole community will be proud to really rally behind.”

Please look for the conclusion of this story in the upcoming January 18 edition of The Mountain-Ear, which covers Godot’s engagement with the public throughout the Fall and the creative process that led to the design that inspired so much disapproval from the Nederland community. Members of Godot Communications Inc. address the unanimous feedback, and detail their plans to reassess and redesign.