Examples of what the tagline for a new branding and marketing campaign might look like for the city of Jamestown. Submitted photo

The branding, strategy and content agency hired by the city of Jamestown to create new marketing materials wants to get community residents involved in the campaign.

During a meeting last week of the Jamestown Local Development Corp., Block Club Inc., a Buffalo-based branding agency and design firm, employees Patrick Finan, Brandon Davis, Alex Sperrazza and Julie Molloy presented their ideas for the marketing and branding campaign to city officials. The marketing campaign will focus on the National Comedy Center and will also highlight other local attractions.

Finan, Block Club co-founder and principal, discussed the objectives, which includes developing a key message, a tagline, a brand campaign, a website and how to prepare for a post-pandemic rebound. He said the primary audience for the campaign will be potential visitors with the secondary audience being city residents and potential local investors.

Molloy, Block Club art director, said the tagline for the campaign will be “Comedy’s Hometown.” Possible advertising slogans to go along with the tagline will be “Come for the funny, stay for the eats” or “Come for the funny, stay for the hops,” which will highlight local restaurants and craft beer establishments.

Sperrazza, Block Club brand manager, said the campaign will use members of the community in the advertising materials. The campaign will also include asking local residents to nominate businesses they would like to have featured.

“We wanted something that stands out, is memorable and fun,” Finan said. “We believe this is effective in achieving that.”

In other business, the board approved two new loan programs. One program is an update to the other loan funds the JLDC has offered in the past, which have been rolled into one. The maximum loan will be for $75,000 and will have term lengths of five, seven or 10 years. The other new loan program will be a business start up fund. New businesses will be able to apply for a $10,000 to $15,000 loan. This program will also include applicants working with the Small Business Development Center at Jamestown Community College or Chautauqua Opportunities to assist them with paying off their loan and having a sustainable business model.

“This makes the loans a lot more flexible than in the past,” said Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist.