The City of Columbia has hired a branding firm.
Chandlerthinks, a Franklin-based company that specializes in what it calls place branding, has been contracted to help develop a unified brand identity for Columbia. The city is holding a public informational session on Tuesday, July 21, at 5:30 p.m. in the Columbia City Hall Council Chambers at 700 North Garden Street.
This is not the first time Columbia and Chandlerthinks have worked together. In 2017, the same firm conducted a tourism and branding study that led to the 2018 launch of Visit Columbia TN and the embrace-the-mule identity that has shaped how the city markets itself to visitors ever since. That work produced a tourism website, a visitor guide, and a digital presence that has been in place for nearly a decade.
The city is paying Chandlerthinks $49,500 for the new work, plus up to $3,500 in reimbursable travel costs. That is a modest sum as municipal contracts go, but it is public money spent to shape a public identity, which is all the more reason the public should have a hand in the result.
This new initiative appears to be broader in scope, extending beyond tourism to a comprehensive city brand that would shape how Columbia presents itself for economic development, talent attraction, and community identity as a whole. There is a small gap worth noting in how it is described: the city's public framing reaches wide, into economic development and talent recruitment, while the signed agreement's scope of work is written around tourism marketing consulting. Which of those the final product actually serves is part of what residents will want to watch.
The city describes the goal this way: to develop a unified brand that authentically represents Columbia and helps position the city to compete for investment, tourism, talent, and new opportunities. The process will include community engagement, focus groups, surveys, and market research before any final direction is set.
That community engagement piece is the most important part of what the city just announced, and it is the reason residents should pay attention.
A city brand is not just a logo or a tagline. It is a decision about what story gets told, and who it gets told to. Get it right and it reflects who the people of Columbia actually are. Get it wrong and it reflects who someone outside of Columbia thinks visitors might want to find here. Those are not always the same thing.
Chandlerthinks has worked with dozens of Tennessee communities including Clarksville, Franklin, and Spring Hill. The firm's approach emphasizes uncovering what it calls the authentic story of a place rather than imposing one from outside. That is the right instinct. Whether the process delivers on it depends in part on how many voices from this community actually show up and participate.
Columbia is growing fast. New residents arrive every month. Businesses are opening downtown. The city's identity is in genuine flux, and a branding process that happens now will shape how the next chapter of that story gets told for years.
If you cannot make the July 21 session, it will not be the only chance to weigh in. The process includes surveys and focus groups in the weeks ahead; watch the city's official channels at columbiatn.gov to add your voice.
The July 21 session is where residents get to weigh in before the story is written. Columbia City Hall, Council Chambers, 700 North Garden Street. July 21, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. It is worth an hour of your evening.
Sources: City of Columbia official announcements, July 2026. Fox 17 Nashville. Chandlerthinks portfolio and case studies. Chandlerthinks – City of Columbia project agreement. PR Newswire, Visit Columbia TN launch, August 2018. City of Columbia website.