Brand’s greater vision of Geelong launched

A NEW brand extolling the great stories to be found in Geelong has been revealed and is intended to attract migrants, businesses, students, and tourists to the region.

The “Greater Geelong, Greater Australian Stories” brand was officially launched at a packed event at The Pavilion at Eastern Beach on Thursday last week.

The campaign includes stories of people who have chosen Greater Geelong as a destination to live, work, invest, study and visit.

They include Masterchef contestant and celebrity chef Simon Toohey, who has recently relocated to Newcomb with his partner.

“This was the greatest thing we could have done. The Geelong people accepted us with open arms and then some. We have met some of the most amazing people,” Mr Toohey said.

Mr Toohey spoke at Thursday’s launch alongside Aayushree Kharel, a Nepalese student who has completed a Masters in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics and is a PhD candidate at Deakin University and also features in the “Greater Geelong, Greater Australian Stories” campaign.

“It is my course that brought me to Geelong, and I must say, that is one of the best decisions because I have fallen in love with this place,” Ms Kharel said.

Other speakers at the launch included Hamilton Group director Andrew Hamilton, Geelong MP Christine Couzens, Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation chief executive officer Paul Davis and City of Greater Geelong deputy mayor Trent Sullivan.

The brand also raises awareness of the traditional Aboriginal name for Geelong, Djilang, which means a “tongue of land” in Wadawurrung language, into its identity.

Local industries, businesses, and stakeholders have been invited to join in by downloading a free suite of assets online.

Sixteen leading local organisations known collectively as the Vision Partner Group are backing the brand.

Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine is among them, and executive director Brett Ince said the concept of “Brand Geelong” dated to at least 2017 but the “Greater Geelong, Greater Australian Stories” brand had been developed over the past 18 months as part of efforts to continue the momentum of Geelong’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s a really contemporary, fun, playful style of brand to show what the essence of what Geelong is.

“There are times in the past when many different organisations would position Geelong or promote Geelong in different ways, so the opportunity with that is to ensure we all come together as one with one voice and one position with which we market Geelong.

“We’re not just speaking about Geelong as a place, we’re speaking about Geelong in terms of the stories and the community that we have and the different styles that are there.”

The Victorian government through Regional Development Victoria and the City of Greater Geelong supported the delivery of this stage of the project and the initial implementation campaign.

For more information, head to greater-geelong.com.au