TUPPER LAKE – A new logo of a hemlock cone is just a part of an overall “rebranding effort” underway in this community.

A year in the making, the new branding, or a unique image and message meant to increase awareness, was created to increase tourism and economic development.

“It’s really important how visitors perceive you,” said Michelle Clement, Tupper Lake marketing director for the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism. “Your branding is meant to attract visitors, potential future residents and potential business investors.”

The logo is a hemlock cone with the scales beginning to open with the words “Tupper Lake” with the tagline “Connect and Discover.” Clement said it is built on four key concepts of authenticity, nature, connection and discovery.

Just about a year ago, ROOST launched a brand study to figure out a cohesive message for the community to embrace. They held public forums, roundtables and sent out electronic surveys to garner feedback from residents, visitors, business owners and elected officials on how they felt about Tupper Lake and its strengths and weaknesses.

Tupper Lake has gone through a lot of different brands or logos from the “Tip Top Town of Tupper Lake,” “Crossroads of the Adirondacks” to “Home of the Lumberjacks,” but this time, Clement said she wanted a logo and message that would resonate with people and would stick around.

“We’ve had many logos through the years … too many,” Clement said. “So rather than just having another one because we think it’s a cool design, we did the research and went through the process and came up with one that we can grow with and that does not date itself in a few years.”

Out of all the feedback and focus groups, four themes emerged that went into the new logo: that Tupper Lake is an authentic place full of real, hardworking and adventurous people; it is a place of discovery, a nod to the Wild Center and local Adirondack guiding businesses; and it’s set in nature.

Clement said a lot of residents loved the sunset from the municipal park looking toward Mount Arab.

“But how do you incorporate a sunset into a logo without it looking like just another sunset logo,” Clement asked. That is why the words “Tupper Lake” in the logo actually are drawn using two different tones where you can subtlety see the skyline in the text.

Tupper Lake village Mayor Paul Maroun said the concept captures the authentic elements “that define Tupper Lake. “We welcome its launch at a time when our community is undergoing dramatic improvement and growth. It is both professional, timeless and indicates a promise of a successful future,” he said.

Clement said the branding will be incorporated into current and future municipal projects including the new Park Street upgrades and the revamping of the waterfront park on Demars Boulevard. There are new gateway signs in the works for the three main entrances into Tupper Lake that will all have the new logo on them, as well as “wayfinding” signs in the uptown and downtown business districts.

The hope is that local business owners will use the hemlock logo in their marketing efforts as well. Clement is encouraging people to add it to their website or print materials, and is directing Tupper Lake businesses to tupperlake.com/brand where one can find a complete description of the concept and approved usage of the logos, fonts and colors.

Raquette River Brewing’s co-owner Mark Jessie already began using the new logo and said hopefully down the road it would become Tupper Lake’s version of the Nike “swoosh.”