The Peekskill Brand Champion’s Guide
Welcome to our Brand Playbook
The Playbook is a simple guide for everyone who’s engaged in promoting Peekskill, NY as a great destination for:
- business, entrepreneurs, talent and investment;
- unique hospitality and visitor experiences; or
- celebrating hometown pride.
Peekskill has powerful stories to share. And great stories need storytellers like you.
This Playbook is designed as an east-to-use primer on the Peekskill story, our new marketing identity system, resources available to you as a city champion, and tips on how to integrate them in your own communications.
The Role of Peekskill’s Brand
The City of Peekskill sparked this initiative to grow awareness of all that our communities have to offer. But the content came from you, our community, through numerous interviews, roundtables and workshops. What we heard, loud and clear, is that Peekskill needs a collective story that captures our strengths, ambitions, and one-of-a-kind spirit.
We’re a dynamic community on an exciting trajectory. What you’ll find in this Playbook are the fundamentals of our brand story, backed with proof points, and inspiring examples of how we can bring the story to life for different audiences, from businesses to visitors, and our own communities.
Our brand is not just about a logo. It’s about giving people meaningful reasons to live, work, play and invest in Peekskill. But the most important ingredient of all is the passion, creativity and ambition you embody as a Peekskill champion. Together, we can take our story to the world.
Market Context
Our brand initiative was funded by a Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) award from New York State. It’s a recognition that place branding and destination marketing are important engines of economic growth. Cities and towns compete, just like businesses, for visitors and investment.
Perceptions, whether they’re accurate or not, drive decisions and real economic impact. Research* cited by CityNationPlace, a hub for industry experts, estimates the potential of a 25-37% increase in the value of economic development investment with an effective place brand strategy. And the most agreed on element impacting place perception is culture: art, heritage, traditions, gastronomy, history etc.
Why choose Peekskill? A consistent, authentic narrative, and the marketing tools to support it, will give Peekskill an economic advantage by consciously promoting what our city has to offer today, and what we’re building for the future. That’s why this initiative—and your participation—is so important.
(*Research: – Bloom Consulting, Nov 2024)
Defining Our Brand
A Community-driven Process
From the start, this work was grounded in community input via interviews, focus groups, surveys, plus advice from a community advisory group and numerous resident brand and marketing experts. Thanks to all who participated to make this such a collective effort!
Brand Model
Through interviews, surveys and workshops, the core elements of the why-choose-Peekskill story came into sharp focus. Our story (shaped and validated by the community) is built on three key pillars which anchor our messaging and storytelling. Relevant for all audiences, together they differentiate Peekskill today, and well-aligned with our future ambitions.
Brand Pillars
River City with the natural edge
Peekskill’s lively downtown, paired with our scenic riverfront, parks, and access to all-season adventure make us the natural basecamp for exploring the Hudson Highlands.
Only 1 hour from Manhattan by train, Peekskill’s lively downtown entertainment, shops, studios and restaurants pair naturally with the city’s scenic riverfront and parks. Minutes from Bear Mountain and the Appalachian Trail, it’s the region’s natural basecamp for exploring the abundance of iconic trails and all-season adventure of the Hudson Highlands.
Historic center of creative “makers”
Artisans and artists have been drawn to Peekskill’s “maker” community for centuries. Today, we’re a burgeoning cultural hub for creators—from culinary to the arts, performance, media, and related technologies.
Peekskill’s renowned arts community features galleries, art studios, Hudson Valley MOCA, a thriving Artists Alliance, plus a new wave of creators in the media arts… from photographers, videographers, sound engineers to a broad range of designers in lighting, costume, graphic arts and gaming.
Powered by community and commitment
People are our strength. Peekskill’s multicultural makeup, entrepreneurial history, and size have always attracted city builders and engaged “doers” who want to make a difference in their community and forge a more sustainable, inclusive future.
Peekskill’s history of civic-minded and creative initiatives reflects its strong community spirit, welcoming diversity, and family-friendly character. New housing, support for creative industries, downtown revitalization, and waterfront enhancements demonstrate the city’s commitment to community-led economic development.
The Cultural Heart of the Hudson Valley
Voice & Messaging
Sample narrative
Only one hour from Manhattan, the City of Peekskill sets an upbeat tempo as the cultural heart of the Hudson Valley. Perched on a dramatic waterfront, Peekskill’s downtown entertainment, shops, studios and restaurants pair naturally with its unmatched access to the area’s one-of-a-kind experiences… Bear Mountain, the Appalachian Trail, West Point and more.
With roots reaching back to the 1600s, artisans, artists, community-builders and entrepreneurs have been drawn to the city’s “maker” culture for centuries. Today, it’s a burgeoning, multicultural center of art and entertainment. Catch headliner performers at the iconic Paramount Theater. Feast at an eclectic collection of restaurants, pubs and cafés, many with live music. Home to numerous artist studios and the landmark Hudson Valley MOCA, Peekskill has also emerged as a hotbed of innovators in media and technology.
Life in Peekskill flows easily between its pristine setting and its ever-evolving urban character. Powered by a sense of community, that flow of possibilities is what motivates long-term residents to be engaged in city-building and attracts civic-minded newcomers to put down roots. It’s evidenced by the city’s fresh approaches to housing, downtown revitalization, and riverfront enhancements.
Peekskill’s multicultural profile, family-friendly environment, creative character, and right-size scale – all in a setting of natural wonders—enables this place to continually renew its historic role as the cultural heart of the Hudson Valley.
Our Character
What defines Peekskill-ness? Through our communications, marketing and experiences, we want to convey experiences as…
- Engagingly authentic: Genuine, spirited, original.
- Creative, with a dash of quirky: Expressive, inventive, with an unconventional bent.
- Community builder and booster: Collaborative and civic minded. Multiculturalism, working-class roots, and community warmth are part of the city’s DNA.
These are useful filters for continuously enhancing the Peekskill experience. Ask yourself, can we make this more engaging, more creative, more community-minded and collaborative?
Visual Expression
For many years, Peekskill has relied exclusively on our municipal seal for identifying the city. Our visual “toolkit” had many gaps: no official typography, colors, graphics or a coherent look that makes our content easy to recognize. Peekskill now has a vibrant place identifier, story, and marketing toolkit designed to showcase our unique advantages and spirit while standing out in an ever-evolving media landscape.
Visual identity elements
Our Peekskill identity ingredients include:
Municipal seal
Our seal remains the same. It will only used for official municipal purposes.
Community Identity Symbol
A dynamic ensemble of colorful tiles, representing Peekskill’s diverse communities and rich heritage, that come together in a unique P shape, imprinted by waves symbolizing our riverfront.
Peekskill Wordmark
Customized typography reinforces Peekskill’s one-of-a-kind spirit.
Community Identity System
Our community brand system is designed to support our marketing efforts to build stronger awareness across the region to support the local economy and community pride and attract businesses and visitors.
Flexible and versatile, the identity system creates a platform for showcasing Peekskill’s many advantages, from location to art, history, culinary, outdoors, events, and more. To reflect the city’s creative character, the distinctive P shape can house many types of images and video and be rendered in a range of digital and physical formats.
Looking Ahead
It takes time, commitment, and engaged partners to bring a brand to life for a place as diverse and multi-faceted as Peekskill.
How to Get Involved
Our story is best told by the people who live it every day. This is a community brand. It came from our community and it will take our community to sustain it.
Our ask is simple. Help us tell the story. By working together to reinforce Peekskill’s story, our entire community wins—residents, visitors, businesses, and investors alike.
Be a Brand Champion
Over the coming months, the city will be introducing our new brand messaging and identity system across various media, from social channels to banners, visitor materials, economic development and marketing campaigns.
To help our partners amplify the Peekskill story, we’re creating a broad range of resources—key messaging, guidelines, photos, video, templates, postcards, buttons, a Peekskill online store with branded gear, and more.
To use any of elements of our growing brand toolkit in your marketing and communications or find out more about future resources, contact: Carol Samol, Director, Planning and Development or Johnathan Zamora, Site Manager & Director of Community Hub.
We’d ❤️ to hear from you!
