Breathing Life into our Downtown; “OUR DWTN”

In spring 2023, City of Victoria Council asked staff for a program to attract more residents and visitors to the downtown core by boosting vitality, community safety and well-being in the neighborhood.

City staff developed OUR DWTN, a largescale, long-term revitalization program to fund projects led by the Business and Community Relations department, supported by a variety of other City departments. OUR DWTN was launched with four pillars: Beautification, cleanliness, safety and programming.

OUR DWTN’s brand was developed to celebrate Victoria’s dynamic, welcoming downtown community and encourage residents, visitors, and tourists to come, stay, and enjoy downtown as their own. The playfulness between the bold typeface, vibrant colours and dynamic graphics are used to elicit a sense of pride, inviting the viewer to explore their downtown
The OUR DWTN brand was applied to a wide range of marketing tools including:

1. Stickers (handed out at events and by the Feet on the Street team)
2. Tote bags (personally delivered to local businesses with OUR DWTN information)
3. Window clings (supplied to downtown business owners)
4. Kiosk and parking pay station ads
5. Transit ads (These ads, applied to BC Transit buses, were designed specifically to reach people across the region).
6. Print and digital ads in a variety of local/ regional newspapers, newsletters and websites.

This brand was also adapted for multiple projects within the OUR DWTN project portfolio, including the inaugural Scrub Up event, Feet on the Street, and the weekly Summer at Ship Point series. These projects were branded using the same OUR DWTN colour palette and theme – folding them visually into the OUR DWTN brand.