BACKGROUND

Discover St. Louis Park, a destination marketing organization (DMO) in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, promotes tourism to boost the local economy. When their scope expanded to include neighboring Golden Valley, the organization instantly outgrew its name. Adding to the challenge, at national tourism and travel events, they were often mistaken for St. Louis, Missouri. Even after learning that the town was in Minnesota, potential visitors could not point to it on a map.

To solve these issues, Discover St. Louis Park turned to Pollywog for a rebrand. Research had revealed that visitors were drawn to the area largely due to its proximity to Minneapolis. The task was to create a name that alluded to this connection while reflecting the energy, culture, and welcoming nature of the community.

BRAND STORY

Where can you stay in the Twin Cities that’s hassle-free? Where it’s easy to get around… from the airport to hotels to stadiums to anywhere else in the metro? Go west. We’re a culture-rich community with free parking, an abundance of hotels, restaurants, breweries and distilleries, attractions, venues and more than 80 parks and nature centers. You’ll find walkable areas with big-city amenities and surprisingly charming neighborhoods, directly west of downtown Minneapolis.

NAME

Westopolis is a contraction of the phrase “West of Minneapolis.” While most people may not recognize that the “polis” suffix means “city” in Greek, they commonly associate “-polis” with city names, such as Indianapolis and Superman’s Metropolis. The urban feel of Westopolis suggests the vibrancy of St. Louis Park and Golden Valley while being intentionally disruptive and impossible to ignore.

HOW THE CLIENT CONTINUED THE STORY

Brand identity was masterfully executed by This Is Folly, one of our favorite partners for graphic design. Here is some of their work.