In an effort to become better recognized for its efforts to support local business, the Alliance of Portland Neighborhood Business Associations (APNBA) changed its name to Venture Portland. The branding move, officially made on Friday, August 12, also includes an updated logo that features the names of Venture Portland’s member business districts. Venture Portland’s leaders hope that the switch will increase the organization’s presence in the area, result in greater benefits for its 34 current business association members, and attract new members in the future.
Last October, Venture Portland’s 12-member marketing and branding committee set out to improve the organization’s visibility. Key to the discussion was how to change from the difficult-to-remember acronym of APNBA to something more user friendly. A key question, says Brian Alfano, chair of marketing and branding committee, was “how can we make that name easy to roll off the tongue and the brand easy to identify within all of the communities that we serve?”
Beyond being easier to remember, Venture Portland represents the spirit of the organization itself. “We hope that folks will take the name and venture into neighborhood business districts,” says Heather Hoell, Venture Portland’s executive director. “Getting out and exploring a new neighborhood, a new business district in the city is a great way to spend your time.”
Hoell says that while the official process began less than a year ago, board members acknowledged the need for an image change during the first stages of the national recession. “In response to the economy, Venture Portland implemented a new strategy to best meet the economic and social needs of Portlanders,” she says. “When the [economic crash] happened, we looked at how we can best support the businesses and the neighborhood business districts, and therefore the overall economy.”
initiatives in 2010.
Formed in 1986 as APNBA, Venture Portland’s support for local business districts comes largely in the form of grants, technical assistance, and general publicity. Member districts pay annual dues in exchange for the support. Darice Robinson, president of the Division/Clinton business association and member of the marketing and branding committee, says that the name change will be helpful in advancing the interests of member districts. “We really want to remind people how many businesses we really do have. We have 16,000 small businesses, we have over 200,000 employees that work for these small businesses,” she says. “We’re here, we’re not going anywhere, and I think that really is part of Portland, part of Oregon. We want people to come to where we are and realize they can shop, buy … We’re just really trying to show our strengths.”
For Venture Portland’s president, Justin Zeulner, the name change also represents a philosophical shift made possible by the success of Portland’s many business districts. He says that because many districts have become so well established already, the next step for Venture Portland is to take them to even greater heights. “Those emerging areas are now defined, and we’re really looking at potentially other growth,” he says.
Nevertheless, says Alfano, the organization’s mission will remain largely the same. “We’re still committed to the same work, which is making sure we’re taking care of the business districts,” he says. “It’s part of being a key partner in the city’s economic development plan in helping to create jobs and stimulating the neighborhood business vitality.”
Partly in an effort to embody its mission, Venture Portland chose local advertising agency Grady Britton to design the new logo and help with marketing. “[Grady Britton] spent the whole day with all of our board members and guests and took feedback as far as how we saw ourselves, how we wanted to market ourselves,” says Robinson. “They were there, took all of that information, whittled it down to our new tagline and our new logo and our colors, and did a wonderful job.”
“We needed an easy name for people to be able to talk about it,” says Alfano. “And with that, a brand identity that really resonates with the city and the biz districts that we serve.”
