The City of Trogir unveiled a new branding strategy, a new visual identity and a new promotional video for the city. At an event in a crowded town square, a professional public and citizens presented the project that made Trogir the first city in Dalmatia. After a year and a half of work involving more than a hundred people in various ways, Trogir has become the first coastal destination to begin branding at such a serious and professional level.
„Welcome to Trogir, the city of masters“
The aim of the project was to identify the features that distinguish Trogir from other cities and to shape them into a new slogan, logo and narrative that will be talked primarily by the inhabitants of Trogir, tourist workers, residents of this Dalmatian region, local and foreign tourists and the media. The idea is that by using heritage and local peculiarities in a contemporary context and by enhancing authentic values, the city is positioned not only as one of the most desirable domestic but also Mediterranean destinations. The project is modeled after many European destinations, such as Glasgow, Eindhoven, Bologna, Berlin …, which after the branding have recorded a number of positive economic effects, all of which wants to achieve in Trogir.
“We decided to embark on this project because looking at foreign examples we realized the positive impact of quality branding on the lives of local people. We are also aware that the market is changing and that only those who respond to the needs of today’s tourists will be able to continue to develop without compromising the quality of life of local people. We wish through our branding to profile among a number of similar destinations in the Adriatic and to become recognizable by the range of special features we have. Trogir deserves it primarily for the people who live and create it, its beauty and heritage and the fact that it has been on the UNESCO list for 22 years, “said Mayor Ante Bilic, adding:
“We want to prevent Trogir from becoming a ‘fast food’ destination. I am proud that on such a high level we were the first in Dalmatia to launch such a complex project that is based not only on new and beautiful visuals, but on a strategy that should guide us in the coming years and, I repeat, bring great benefits to Trogir and our fellow citizens. There are still many steps ahead of us and we will certainly be learning on the move, but I hope that we will soon become a positive example and that other cities will follow us. “
The project was worked by the internationally award-winning Zagreb-based Fabular, a member of the REBRAND Hall of Fame ™ Professional Association among the top 25 brand consultants in the world, led by branding strategy director Anja Bauer, author of the proprietary “8 Branding Ingredients” formula and leading branding expert in Croatia. In a process that lasted more than a year, an extensive interdisciplinary survey was conducted on the perception, potential and challenges of Trogir, which analyzed historical material, conducted surveys with locals and tourists, talked to all meritorious people in the city – from historians, craftsmen, caterers, museum staff, City, Tourist Board, tourist guides …
Petra Despot, Fabular agency
Petra Despot and new city logo
“Working on the Trogir branding was interesting, intriguing, life-giving, instructive. Trogir is a place that fascinated us with its beauty and depth of meaning and we all enjoyed creating its story. Through our research work, we have identified three key things, impressive features that make up the identity of Trogir. These are the continuities of life over 3600 years, then the great masters who have been operating there since the Middle Ages and to this day, and the indelible traces that these masters leave. These are the three main elements, the so-called. sweet spot of Trogir, on which we created the strategy, “said Anja Bauer, owner and creative director of Fabular.
The author of the new visual identity of Trogir is Maja Bagic Baric, one of the most respected Croatian designers. Fabular found the signature of 13th-century master Muscardell in the interior of the Cathedral of Trogir. Nikola Đurek, Faculty Professor in Split and Zagreb, the most famous Croatian typographer, created a new font. In the creative process, a new city slogan was created: “MARKED BY MASTERS”, that is, “MARKED BY MASTERS”, and the ubiquitous rub was chosen as the logo.
“The new visual identity of the city of Trogir outlines traces carved in stone and unique, world-class fine art. The inspiration was found in the old traces, signatures and notes left by the medieval masters at the cathedral of St. St. Lawrence and the Church of St. John the Baptist. It is a trace of a mark in time that bears witness not only to the highest creativity, but also to life and play – a trill, a prayer – a sailboat and a permit and completion of construction – Radovan’s seal. The logo depicts a stone-carved trill, one of the common traces left by the masters at St. St. Lawrence and the Church of St. John the Baptist. She tells us about the simplicity and beauty of living in Trogir, and points out that along with magnificent buildings, the beauty of everyday life in Trogir is equally inspiring. A system of pictograms has been developed, inspired by the urban and artistic heritage of the city of Trogir, as well as outlining everyday life through the traces and graffiti of the medieval masters of builders, sculptors and stone-cutters who lived and created here, who centuries later vividly testify to the intertwining of the sublime and the living, ” explained Anja Bauer. .
The project has also introduced a new promotional video of Trogir, behind whose footage is the multiple internationally award-winning Split cinematographer Milan Latkovic. The shooting lasted for 30 days, with five hours of footage, the first of which was created in a series of videos showing Trogir in a new light. The video is special in that it involves many people, with an emphasis on craftsmen, both those who used to create it, and many contemporary craftsmen – sculptors, painters, coralers, tanneries, as well as children from Trogir schools and kindergartens, athletes, grandmothers from the market. and many others, olive growers, beekeepers, winemakers, chefs …, all who make up the city.
Antonio Franić and Milan Latković
“The shooting was interesting and fun, and sometimes even as dangerous as when we got into apiary in shorts. There were also ankle bends in the Trogir mounds, the cloud knew how to cover the sun when it was not needed, but we still managed to capture everything just as we had imagined. There were days when we were shooting at 12 o’clock, which at 35 degrees and in the highest sun can be quite exhausting, but in the lives of me and my colleague Ratko Ilijic this is common. All for a good shot. We met a lot of great people from Trogir and learned many things we didn’t know about the city, even though we had been there so many times before. We were most impressed by the craftsmen, craftsmen who work there and who did not indulge in the negative effects of mass tourism but hold on to tradition. It was challenging to reduce five hours of material to three minutes, but modern trends are looking for short forms. Fortunately, we have so much of it captured that the plan and desire is to make a series of small videos in the next year in which we will show everything we recorded. It would be a shame not to see it, too,” said Milan Latkovic.
Many community leaders, tour guides, hotel and agency managers and other tourism professionals had the opportunity to visit the city for the first time today. a masterful tour through which all the special features of the new branding of the city are shown, and the tour was led by an experienced guide, Ana Tomić from Trogir. The famous Trogir chef Robert Predrag Žmire joined the project, not only as a face in the video, but also as the author of a special, modern menu made up of traditional Trogir dishes. For this occasion, children from kindergartens in Trogir were working on a project to play traditional games such as rubbing all over the old town, with the aim of preventing them from falling into oblivion.
New T-shirts with a new visual identity
Kids play “školica”
Kids play “trlja”
Ana Tomić i majstorska tura
Robert Predrag Žmire
“Destination branding is a very important, especially when it comes to tourist cities, to which tourism is one of the main branches of the economy. I really liked what I saw in Trogir and this is the direction in which all Dalmatian cities should go in terms of developing their brand, and I can say that Split goes in that direction as well,” said Alijana Vukšić, director of the Split Tourist Board.
Alijana Vukšić and Ante Bilić
In the coming years, the implementation of this project will follow, which aims at what everyone wants – attracting the more affluent, the so-called cultural tourists who stay longer and spend more, through the revitalization of neglected and hidden locations, both in the city center and beyond, then lengthening the season, holding master workshops, organizing various events with the sign of “master” throughout the year, cooperating with universities, hosting art colonies, sports competitions …
Photos
High resolution images can be downloaded here: https://we.tl/t-25iryB8lxr
Check out the new promo video of Trogir