San Francisco had become the poster child of downtown downturn. City Hall and a coalition of influential business leaders asked us to help the city change its global narrative
Our place brand campaign evokes the city’s powerful ability to change the world and invites us all to “make your place in the future, make your future San Francisco”
Haven for wild imagination
With newfound freedom to work from anywhere, downtowns all over America are losing favour with workers. San Francisco was hit particularly hard, with one of the slowest recovery rates. But anyone who knows San Francisco knows that it’s a city that has always reinvented itself, emerging stronger than before. We needed to remind the world about the San Francisco mindset and its culture of radical innovation.
We ran a workshop with city officials and influential business leaders — from Bank of America to Gap Inc, Golden State Warriors to San Francisco Opera, local businesses to Mayor London Breed — where they identified that the city’s openness and mindset are what nurtures a unique culture of innovation.
Make your future San Francisco
Working with the City of San Francisco, the Bay Area Council, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and Advance SF, we launched a national campaign to boost the City’s efforts to appeal to new businesses. The 90-second film, narrated by hall-of-fame Giants announcer Jon Miller, captures the call of San Francisco as a place that invites you to be your true self — a city with the culture, community and concentration of innovators to change the world.
A celebration of its progressive roots in championing LGBTQ+ rights and its obsession with the future as the start up capital of the world, the film and campaign culminates in a powerful message to business leaders: make your place in the future, make your future San Francisco.
We worked with SF-based director Nick Stone Schearer on the campaign film, which was broadcasted to forty major US business markets at The Business Journals’ Future of Cities event.
An identity for a city on the rise
We designed a future-forward logotype and campaign identity to match the City’s aspirations. The upwards stroke signals the sense of progress that belongs to the city that’s always on the rise. The angled device also makes a playful nod to its hilly streets: the truly distinct feature of San Francisco that always offers a new perspective.
The striking RGB greens and blues bring a fresh attitude and stand out across digital mediums, complementing the warmth of Northern California’s landscape. The result is a powerful campaign that reflects San Francisco back to its community, and confidently reminds the world why this is where the future is made.
“Working with DNCO has been a pleasure. From the beginning, they have understood the spirit of San Francisco and what makes it so special and have been an important partner as we’ve charted the City’s economic recovery efforts.”
Wade Rose, President of Advance SF
