The Petal Area Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with growth strategy and marketing company Own Your Hill, unveiled a brand new website on Wednesday. The new site is set to launch today.
Petal Chamber Director Valerie Wilson said having a website of this quality is a first for Petal, but is something that the city has certainly needed for some time.
Wilson explained the Chamber has grown through the years, and has typically had a shoestring budget in the past. This meant whoever was the director or on the board was tasked with piecing together web content.
She said the quality of the content was ultimately dependent on the talents of whoever happened to be working with the Chamber at that point, and it has never had a sense of continuity.
“Now, when we realized how important that first image is for someone who might be looking online at us as a possibility to either relocate a business or a family, that first impression is absolutely critical,” Wilson said. “Plus, it’s not just about having a good website, but somebody has created this website that will draw people into it and lead them where they need to go.”
Own Your Hill founder Bethany Byrd, along with her team of designers and strategists, created the website.
“What Bethany is doing for us is not just about a website, it’s really about a complete branding campaign,” Wilson explained. “It’s a big package.”
Wilson explained that the website will feature designs that she believes accurately reflect the City of Petal, and will include numerous resources for information that are presented in a way that is user friendly and streamlines communication.
Ethan Manning is a graphic designer and petal-native, and he played a big role in the project’s overall creative design through Own Your Hill.
“My creative process on this project was very similar to any branding project that hits my desk,” Manning said. “Bethany was able to give me excellent direction from the meeting she had with the Chamber to discuss the rebrand. I was able to take this information and go to a creative process of sketching ideas on paper, ideating and creating different iterations of my ideas, and then executing my ideas in the computer.”
Manning explained that his certain creative style for the project was inspired by the city’s family-focused and community-driven way of life.
“It’s a small town, but the people embrace a level of pride for their town that is unmatched,” he said. “We really tried to capture that with the look and feel of these marks.”
Additionally, Manning added that they really wanted to utilize the strong athletic history that the school system has implemented within the community.
“From the Optimist Park, to the Petal High School football fields, to the kids playing ball with their dad in the backyard – that’s what we wanted to capture in this mark,” he explained. “It’s the strong families, the hard-working middle class and the relentless spirit of pride that the city evokes.”
As someone who grew up in Petal, Manning said that he was honored to have the opportunity to work on this project.
“I never thought that one day I’d be asked to help out with telling the story of my hometown. I feel very privileged and grateful to be a part of this,” he said. “I honestly just love my hometown and the hard-working people and families that are there. I’m very blessed to have been a part of this wonderful community.”
