Branding, Boldness, and a Dash More: Fuquay-Varina’s Winning Formula
From a 2015 brand launch to an award-winning State of the Town video, how one community turned strategy into storytelling
Local government communications often struggle to balance transparency, engagement, and creativity. Many agencies are doing good work, but there’s an opportunity to take it to the next level. In Fuquay-Varina, NC, the communications team led by Susan Weis, with the full support of Town Administrator Adam Mitchell, has created a winning playbook that combines all three, rooted in a clear brand identity that informs everything they do.
Their 2023 State of the Town video, A-Dashmor, The Prescription for Success, provides a masterclass in creative communication. Not only did it win a prestigious 3CMA Savvy Award but it also demonstrated how humor and bold storytelling can be powerful tools for addressing public concerns while reinforcing a city’s brand and mission.
The Power of a Clear Brand: A Dash More
When Fuquay-Varina underwent a branding process in 2015, the result wasn’t just a logo and tagline—it became a guiding principle. The town’s A Dash More brand plays off its unique hyphenated name and embodies the idea that Fuquay-Varina is more than just another fast-growing community in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina.
“Smart, fun, creative, and ambitious are just a few of the words used to describe the lifestyle and business atmosphere Fuquay-Varina offers,” is how the city’s website puts it. “People are passionate about calling Fuquay-Varina home because they're finding a dash more of what they are looking for in Fuquay-Varina.”
This identity didn’t come easily. Mitchell, initially skeptical of a formal branding process that included hiring a consultant and conducting extensive community engagement, has since become one of its biggest advocates.
“I wasn’t 100 percent on board with this,” he admits. “Now? I am a believer. (Susan) made me a believer.”
They rolled out the new A Dash More brand at a gala in late 2015. It was a hit.
“It felt like the whole community showed up for it,” Mitchell said. “It was an awesome night celebrating our brand.”
Here’s the award-winning video from nearly a decade ago that kick-started the town’s love affair with A Dash More.
Using Humor to Engage: A Prescription for Success
Since the brand rollout, Fuquay-Varina began producing a State of the Town video instead of relying on a dry speech filled with data points. They saw immediate success using humor to deliver the annual overview of city business. The challenge now has become raising the bar on creativity, to provide a dash more each year, if you will.
“Each year, it gets harder to top ourselves,” Weis says.
The 2023 video took a bold step: a parody of pharmaceutical commercials that highlighted the town’s progress while poking fun at its critics. Complaints about traffic? Nostalgia for the past? The video embraced these issues in a tongue-in-cheek way while weaving in real facts about what the town is doing to address them.
The production quality was so high that one resident thought A-Dashmor was an actual medication. She called Weis to express concern about the town “pushing drugs.” After a long conversation about the town’s rapid growth and challenges, she concluded, “Maybe we do need drugs to live here. Where can I get A-Dashmor?”
That kind of reaction is exactly what Fuquay-Varina wanted. The video wasn’t meant to be safe. It was meant to be seen and shared. To provoke the viewer to say, “I can’t believe they just went there.” Boy, did they ever. They went there all right—and beyond.
Behold, government video perfection. A State of the City video does not get any better than this, dear readers.
Watch it again—there are so many clever, spot-on details that there’s no way you caught them all the first time.
The city invested $20,000 in a production company and professional actors, prioritizing quality over quantity—a philosophy Weis firmly believes in. The success of A-Dashmor—backed by strong metrics and the town’s other award-winning productions—proves that approach pays off.
The Results: Engagement, Conversation, and Community Trust
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