City Attorney Clears Dunedin 'E' Brand for Discussion

Citywide branding is back on the city’s agenda.

And with an all-clear from City Attorney Tom Trask, the citizen-selection committee is expected to move forward at Thursday's city commission meeting in support of the “Dunedin” brand image with a curvy tri-colored "E." 

Bob Ironsmith, city economic & housing development director, will look to city leaders for direction on how to proceed with the image. If it is approved, the design contractor Wilesmith Advertising will prepare a marketing portfolio and plan for rolling out the brand on city materials.

Officials were surprised to learn just before its March 1 discussion that the committee's preferred brand for Dunedin depicting a curvy tri-color “E” closely resembled the wavy, flag-like tri-color “E” in the St. Pete Pier's brand. Officials immediately postponed the discussion so it could research whether Wilesmith's image, presented a possible copyright or trademark infringement.

Trask found that enough significant differences exist between the St. Pete Pier logo and the Wilesmith Dunedin design, according to a city memo. Dunedin officials met with officials from the St. Petersburg Creative Marketing Department and Wilesmith, and all parties agreed the image would not be a copyright infringement.

“The proposed Dunedin logo does not infringe any St. Petersburg trademark  because there is no likelihood of confusion,” Trask wrote to city officials in an April 4 letter.

Margaret Wilesmith pointed out how the designs differed in a March 14 email to Trask:

“From a design perspective, which is our area of experitise, the conceptual difference is germane to the distinction and any perceived similarities between the logos is coincidental. [St. Pete Pier’s] utilization of the E as flags and ours as water is an important point of distinction. In addition, the letter form the E is significantly different in its rendering and style. The typefaces are from different families, each with their own distinctive properties.”

The differences, along with the fact that the St. Pete Pier logo retires when the pier is demolished in May 2013, give the branding selection committee and other city staff a large degree of comfort in moving forward with the preferred “E” design, according to the city memo.

Three variations of the “E” logo will be presented to officials in the city commission meeting Thursday, each using different colors.

The potential brand depicts just the word “DUNEDIN” in a clean, all-capital-letter, san-serif font with a curvy, tri-color “E.” Underneath is a caption that reads: “Home of Honeymoon Island / Life Flows Your Way.”

Wilesmith Advertising of West Palm Beach was  to help establish a unified branding and marketing strategy for Dunedin.

 — a blue and green osprey in the shape of a heart, with the caption “DUNEDIN / Home of Honeymoon Island / We’ll Steal Your Heart” — was met with immediate public outcry when it was revealed Jan. 19.

The Branding Selection Committee, made up of 11 citizens and four city staff members, believes the alternate design “would prove to not only be more representative of Dunedin’s brand statement, but also simpler, fresher and far more versatile,” according to a Feb. 22 letter to city commissioners.

The branding selection committee settled on the curvy "E" design on Feb. 17 after sifting through community feedback from several community groups including:

• the Arts & Culture Committee
• the Visit Dunedin Committee
• Dunedin Chamber of Commerce members and the board of directors (in a separate meeting)
• the Community Redevelopment Advisory Committee
• the Public Relations Advisory Committee
• the Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee
• the Branding Selection Committee

Thursday's city commission meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at .