More than 2 years ago, the Branding Subcommittee, comprised of myself and Councilman Mario Guerra, set out to find a new brand identity for the City of Downey. We wanted to find a brand that represented our changing demographics while preserving our history and local culture. To say this has been a long process is a bit of an understatement. We can give a lot of excuses of why it took so long to finish our branding initiative, but the real reason is that we were not willing to settle. We knew we had one chance of doing this once and we wanted to do it right.

I must give credit to Councilman Guerra who was not willing to settle as we were presented hundreds of proposals. However, nothing ever seemed to properly represent us.

We learned a lot about ourselves throughout this process. Not to sound corny but I do think that the stars did align to make great things happen. Honestly, I was almost done with this entire process until Downey Art Vibe (DAV) stepped into the process. It has been day and night for me since they became our new brand consultants. Rather than hiring outside of our city, we learned that it truly matters to be local when it comes to branding. This group knows Downey, they grew up here, they know what we are trying to accomplish as a community and municipality, they know our challenges, and they know our strengths.

We are very excited to announce the City of Downey's new branding initiative, "Discover Downey". Discover Downey is a community development initiative meant to promote Downey as a unique place to live, work, and play by centralizing community-wide events, attractions, shopping and dining options, and other useful information through effective branding and media platforms. It also provides Downey with a modern 'look and feel' while paying homage to our deep-rooted history.

It invites residents, businesses, and visitors to rediscover, redefine, and reimagine all of the possibilities that Downey's bright future has to offer.

I believe this is a very important and necessary investment for our community. It is crucial to have a unifying identity. It is important to be proud of who we are and where we are going.

After watching their (DAV) presentation last week, I got very emotional. I am very proud that we have locals with the type of talent that can properly represent our city's culture and identity. I encourage everyone to Discover Downey.

By Councilman Mario Guerra We are very excited to introduce the City of Downey's new branding initiative, "Discover Downey".

We believed that our incredible culture and history deserves a modern brand identity to represent our community's bright future. This doesn't mean that our values or history have changed, it just means that our future has changed, and that is something very exciting!

Downey will always remain 'future unlimited'. Discover Downey is a new brand identity that offers our city a new feel, a new look, a new energy, a new identity, while paying respect to our rich past. There is so much thought and detail that has gone into Discover Downey and I cannot thank our city staff and Downey Art Vibe (DAV) for the incredible work that they have done. We are proud to be working with a local group that truly understands Downey.

We are very excited for this brand rollout. Throughout this process, we saw hundreds of proposals. We almost settled a few times but then a great story came together when we began to work with DAV.

These are very exciting times for Downey. I'm very proud of the Discover Downey initiative. I'd like to thank Councilman Brossmer, city staff, and Downey Art Vibe for all their hard work. I invite everyone to visit www.discoverdowney.com to learn more about this great initiative.

Last week I posted some of the photographs during DAV's first Discover Downey presentation at City Hall and, apparently, it caused the video that they created to go viral. I encourage everyone to check out this incredible video that DAV has produced. It received more than 5,000 views in the first few days!

We welcome and encourage everyone to join us as we Discover Downey together. Discover your Downey, Discover OUR Downey!

********** Published: Feb. 27, 2014 - Volume 12 - Issue 46