The Columbia Pike corridor through Arlington, VA faced a branding challenge. Despite being one of the DMV's most authentic and culturally-rich communities, the 3.5-mile stretch through South Arlington lacked a cohesive identity.

Columbia Pike Partnership, the group responsible for stewarding the economic development and vitality of the corridor, recognized this gap and the untapped potential. They knew Columbia Pike had something special to offer, but neither CPP nor the neighborhood had the words or visuals to articulate it. So we got to work.

While local businesses and residents had clear affinity for their community, without a tangible icon or unified brand, the neighborhood struggled to build the pride and recognition it deserved. The organization needed more than just a logo—they required a brand strategy that would bolster community pride, support stakeholder engagement, build excitement, and foster opportunity for both CPP and The Pike community at large.

Strategic Discovery & Brand Foundation

The placemaking brand strategy process began with research and discovery. Our team conducted competitive analysis, stakeholder interviews, and regional research to understand the intrinsic value of the community and areas of differentiation. The process revealed a clear directive: businesses and residents wanted their identity to reflect the area's eclectic, welcoming character while distinctly differentiating from neighboring communities like Rosslyn and Pentagon City.

We developed Columbia Pike's Brand Message Framework, a communications foundation that defined the essence of the community brand. Recognizing that the brand would only succeed with genuine community buy-in, we implemented a structured feedback process designed to surface potential issues before public launch while building stakeholder investment in the final identity. This approach balanced efficiency with inclusivity, ensuring diverse perspectives while maintaining productive dialogue.

Developing the Visual Identity

With the brand messaging framework established, we moved into visual identity development. This phase required attention to both strategic positioning and design execution to ensure the new brand would resonate with the community while standing out in the regional landscape.

We mapped existing logos and color palettes across Arlington's neighborhoods and business improvement districts to identify opportunities for differentiation. Through feedback sessions with stakeholders, we fine-tuned design elements based on community input—an iterative approach that improved the final product and built confidence with the community as active participants in the process. "The Pike" brand and resulting logo is simple yet memorable, modern yet timeless, and flexible enough to work across all applications while maintaining strong visual impact.

Implementation & Ongoing Support

While there was significant work to create the new brand, launch rollout and implementation were equally challenging. We led the brand launch and strategic direction through weekly collaboration calls with the Executive Director and CPP marketing teams, developing subsequent sub-logos and collateral to ensure brand consistency across all CPP initiatives.

The scope included developing the complete Pike brand ecosystem: a central logo design along with a family of sub-logos for signature programs like the Pike Blues Festival and Farmers Market, brand standards guidelines, and initial brand assets including email templates, social media graphics, and newsletter designs.

Impact & Results

"The Pike" community placemaking brand has changed how the corridor presents itself, providing the tangible icon that was missing to unify this diverse community. The new logo and messaging framework authentically capture what makes The Pike unique, becoming a source of community pride that appears on storefronts, marketing materials, and throughout the corridor's signature events.

Most importantly, the brand has given Columbia Pike Partnership and the broader community the tools to tell their story with clarity and confidence, transforming fragmentation into a unified identity that celebrates the corridor's diversity, authenticity, and vibrancy—truly embodying what residents and business owners have always known: The Pike is something special.