Looking to build off its longtime success as a popular North Shore destination, the Chicago Botanic Garden is embarking on a new branding campaign.
The goal of the new branding is to combine the appearance of the main campus, science, learning and urban agriculture programs but letting all of the different parts continue to make their individual mark, according to the Garden.
“We have grown so much, in so many ways over the last five decades,” Garden President and CEO Jean Franczyk said in a statement. “The refreshed branding recognizes that growth and provides a new way of seeing the Garden by elevating the full breadth of its work.”
The Garden’s programs including the Negaunee Institute, Regenstein School and Windy City Harvest will be part of the updated branding.
The specifics of the new campaign include a new logo that is an abstract depiction of a flower, originally inspired by the center of a coneflower (Echinacea).
“The vibrant colors of the logo are inspired by colors found within the Garden. Each color holds symbolic meaning, representing our key programs and concepts. The petals of the six core colors overlap, creating an additional six colors,” reads a note on the Garden website.
The new tagline of Plants. People. Planet. represents the center of Garden activities and initiatives, according to the Garden.
Lake Forest College Business Instructor Beth Clemmensen, who previously worked in brand management at Kraft Foods, liked what she saw in the updated presentation.
“This broader logo allows them to delineate the different aspects of the brand in a better way,” she said. “They tried to update it to be more inclusive of who they are. This is very common for companies to want to delineate different parts of their organization with different colors.”
Clemmensen noted a potential downside about changing a brand is the possibility of individuals getting confused as they move away from the previous presentations.
“It will take time for people to get used to it,” she said. “You have to seed a new look. If you think about a new logo it is more than just the symbol, it is everything that we have to come to associate with that brand.”
The Garden planned a series of events heralding the new branding for the week of March 18.
“Visitors will continue to see the rollout of the refreshed branding across all of our locations and programming throughout the year,” a Garden spokeswoman wrote in an email.
After its 1972 opening, the Garden has steadily grown to 385 acres and 13 urban farms. A Garden spokeswoman said attendance was approximately 1.22 million in 2023.
The new branding comes just over two years since the Garden started charging an admission fee for the first time.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press,