BIDDEFORD — On Tuesday and Wednesday, numerous meetings with residents were held at the Saco Transportation Center to assist with identifying the assets of Biddeford and Saco.

Representatives of the South Carolina firm Arnett Muldrow & Associates used this input to develop some material to be incorporated in branding the two cities as different parts of one community.

The two communities have much in common: A Main Street lined with historic buildings that runs through both cities; a shared mill district; a coastline, farms, woodlands and industry; and each is bordered by the Saco River that divides them.

In creating a single brand for the two cities, a challenge was to highlight the commonalties between the two cities while maintaining their unique identities, said Tripp Muldrow.

One of the sticking points, he said ”“ and it was the first time he came across it ”“ was what to call the community.

Some said Biddeford-Saco, others said Saco-Biddeford. No matter which side of the river one is on, both versions are used, said Muldrow.

Once the Wednesday afternoon meeting was over, Tripp Muldrow and his colleague Ben Muldrow got down to business. After mulling it over, they decided Biddeford-Saco or Saco-Biddeford is a dynamic place “no matter how you say it.”

That sentence became the tagline they developed that will be used as part of a marketing campaign to promote the cities as one place, both to residents and to those “from away.”

The logo they created, which is a visual identifier, will use both versions of the city names within a rectangle, with the names facing each other in opposite directions.

Signs and banners that use the logo can be hung in either direction, depending on which side of the river they’re placed.

The collateral material the men developed plays on the “two sides” aspect of the logo. One proposed ad uses imagery of both tigers and Trojans, in reference to the cities’ respective high school mascots. Another shows a lobster and a cow, both of which can be found in the area.

Although some local companies competed for the contract, said Craig Pendleton, the executive director of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce & Industry, he was very pleased with what Muldrow & Associates presented.

“These guys prove we made a good choice,” he said. “The material proves it.”

The next step, said Pendleton, is for the groups that commissioned the branding project to meet and discuss how to fund the marketing component.

Local companies will be used to create ads and other materials to implement a marketing plan, he said.

Along with the two cities, the chamber, the downtown revitalization organizations the Heart of Biddeford and Saco Spirit and the Biddeford-Saco Area Economic Development Corporation commissioned the branding project. Each organization contributed to the total $12,500 cost.

The material that the firm developed was to serve a two-fold purpose, said Tripp Muldrow: “To have people who live here realize how much the community is already progressing, and to leverage that progress into more growth.

“We hope this will achieve that,” he said.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.