Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

To:	David Corliss, City Manager
From:	Megan Gilliland
cc:	Diane Stoddard Cynthia Wagner Ernie Shaw
Date:	April 3, 2014
Re:	Naming of recreation center at Rock Chalk Park

Since the construction began at Rock Chalk Park, city staff has worked to identify proper naming which would help distinguish the recreational facility from the University of Kansas’ facilities at Rock Chalk Park. In late 2013, city staff enlisted the help of a professional /PR firm, Miller Meiers, to help formalize the naming. This contract was approved via a Request for Proposals (No.1315, Phase II).

Background

The city’s newest recreation center at Rock Chalk Park is designed as a multi-use facility for local residents’ recreational needs and as a premier tournament facility for team sports. Certain key words were identified by staff to capture the how we want patrons to feel while using the facility. These experiential words were then applied to the development of a name for the facility:

After our initial brainstorming, we met again with Miller Meiers to review potential facility names which included the following:

AdAstra or Ad Astra or Adastra (meaning “to the stars”)

OneLawrence

Freedom

Kanza

Victory

SportsOmni

SportQuest (or SportsQuest)

SportsPlex or SportPlex

Recommendation

Throughout the creative process, Miller Meiers recommended that the city choose a facility name which sets the recreation center apart with a distinct persona from other facilities in the state and region – this is also important and adds value to potential entitlement sponsors – and will help define the brand image of the facility (a city facility that provides a dynamic setting for tournaments and attracts aspiring young talent and their families).

City staff and Miller Meiers are recommending the City Commission name the recreation center SportQuest (emphasis on the Q). There are several reasons why staff chose the name of SportQuest as the recommended naming strategy. As mentioned, the facility will serve a dual purpose as a sporting facility and house recreational programming for residents to achieve their health and wellness goals. Many people see health and wellness as a life-long journey or mission. By definition, a quest is “a search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something.”

Staff felt that the combination of these two words “sport” and “quest” summarized the dual goal of the facility, was a unique phrase, and were simple terms that had multiple meanings when used for marketing purposes. For example, the users of the facility may be on a quest for excellence, personal health, fun, learning, wellness, victory, balance, a goal, strength, endurance or a sports championship. Staff would incorporate the words like this into the marketing (social media, website, facility information, etc.) to help further the experience and brand image of the facility. For example, when marketing sports tournaments, we might use phrasing related to “a quest for championships, victory and excellence” or when marketing the recreation programming, we might use phrasing such as “a quest for wellness, balance and personal health.”

SportQuest can also be paired with or without an entitlement sponsor:

Example: ________ SportQuest at Rock Chalk Park

Example: Lawrence SportQuest at Rock Chalk Park

Staff is currently identifying possible social media handles and unique uses for SportQuest. Staff will also perform a trademark search to ensure usage in this capacity is allowable.

If this naming is acceptable, the city will move forward with creative work including the development of a logo mark, style guide and brand guidelines for the facility for use in all digital and print applications. Miller Meiers has offered to perform the logo mark design for the facility at no additional charge to their original contract for Phase II of the original RFP (see attached).

Recommendation

Approve the naming of the recreational center at Rock Chalk Park as “SportQuest” and direct staff to develop needed marketing materials in preparation for facility opening.