Calgary ushers in ‘Blue Sky City’ era with new welcome signs

Calgary is losing the energy and embracing the blue sky. New welcome signs to our city are being installed as part of a multimillion-dollar rebrand.

Calgary is making progress in its transformation into the “Blue Sky City” – unveiling new road signs featuring the revamped branding and slogan.

The city’s new branding was launched last year, but since March 17, city crews have been installing the new Welcome to Calgary signs.

“We’re really excited. Branding is a long-term process and you really have to allow everything to refresh,” said Jeff Hessel, senior vice president of marketing and destination development with Tourism Calgary.

“We’re kind of changing everything from the older brand of ‘be part of the energy,’ and that included the city signs as well.”

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The city says signs are being updated at nine locations while one new sign is being installed along 17 Avenue SE at the East city limit.

“The total cost of the sign replacement project is estimated at approximately $140,000, including production and installation,” the city said in a statement.

“Signs were produced in-house and used existing signposts.”

Work on installation is expected to be complete by mid-April.

The city added that the old signs will be recycled or repurposed, where possible.

The new brand investment itself cost millions of dollars – $4.8 million to be exact – and has been in development for over two years.

In 2022, city council awarded $1.8 million to CED and $3 million to Tourism Calgary to redevelop the brand, involving engagement work from 129 organizations across 26 sectors.

Brad Parry, president and CEO of Calgary Economic Development, says the money it has spent went into the development of the new brand.

“Unexpected possibilities, right? These opportunities that are unexpected when people come and go, ‘I had no idea this was in Calgary,’” said Parry.

“It’s about dreamers and doers and innovators who get stuff done and don’t let anything get in their way because nothing constrains us as a city because we are really a city to get stuff done.”

Parry adds that with the uncertainty in the U.S. and political tensions, CED is seeking out other partnerships around the world, tapping into new markets.

“There’s a chance for us to really fill the void and let people know what Calgary is about and get it back on the map in some of these other markets that traditionally we hadn’t maybe thought of before,” he said.

“Whether it’s in Europe or whether it’s South America or Korea or Japan.”

Hessel says the rebrand is about storytelling.

“Who are we? What does Calgary stand for? Or what do our people like and our values? And so, that’s where ‘Blue Sky City’ really started it,” he said.

“We can deliver on that promise because we’ve got wonderful big blue skies here in the city. Then the colour palette really came after that.”

Tourism Calgary says it wanted to play on being Canada’s sunniest city with approximately 333 days of sunshine annually.

But some Calgarians want to see the red remain.

“The red hasn’t gone anywhere,” said Hessel.

“It’s still a part of the branding and will come in at various different activations, and you’re going to see some yellows and whites and stuff like that as well.”

The transition has been fairly smooth, according to Hessel.

“We’re full on ‘blue sky city,’ and it’s being welcomed very much by all of our audiences. We’ve been everywhere with it, whether it be Philadelphia, Paris, in the Netherlands. We’ve been all over the world and nationally as well,” said Hessel.

A national campaign is set to get underway in Toronto next month, says Hessel.

The meaning behind the change was to evoke “blue-sky thinking” and portray the city as a place of “unexpected possibilities.”