A new brand identity has been established for Belfast city.

In an effort to attract investors, tourists and events, Belfast City Council has spent stg£180,000 - less than 1 per cent of the city’s marketing spend - on research, logo design and the creation of a brand guidelines book.

The branding will be used for the next five years in all of the city’s marketing communication to its key audiences: investors, citizens, visitors and the media.

The logo - a heart-shaped ‘B’ which will be used in conjunction with phrases such as ‘be here now,’ ‘be welcome,’ ‘be inspired’ and ‘be responsible’ - was created by international brand consultants Lloyd Northover.

Designed to reflect wit, sociability, warmth, boldness and inspiration, the mark will appear all around Belfast city, in a television advertising campaign and on shopping bags, buses, flags, and billboards. Belfast Visitor * Convention Bureau (BVCB) - a nonprofit making organisation that offers free and impartial conference and event-planning advice - was charged with overseeing the project on behalf of Belfast City Council. The branding project was put to tender in January 2007.

Lloyd Northover was appointed to the consultancy position in June the same year. It spent 12 months researching the perception of Belfast in current social, economic, physical, political and cultural terms, and how the city wanted to be perceived with regard to those areas in the future. Primary research and consultation was undertaken with representatives from the arts, business, development, culture, tourism, media, education and sport communities.

BVCB chief executive Gerry Lennon said the branding will also be used to help make and form policies for key decisions on city development. ‘‘There are attributes attached to the branding such as responsibility, determination, energy, awareness and enterprise,” said Lennon.

‘‘If a potential investor does not meet these and other requirements of the brand, then we will have to seriously consider whether we’ll want them to be directly involved with Belfast.”

The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Tom Hartley, said that the new identity was not just about a logo on a piece of paper.

‘‘It is an opportunity for us to embrace a new, vibrant and forward-looking identity and ethos which says: ‘Belfast has come of age’,” he said.