Peekskill’s new logo was unveiled at the Common Council meeting on Feb. 17. Now begins the work of getting the word out to the world that Peekskill is the place to be.

Great restaurants, the Paramount Theater, a scenic bay on the Hudson, cruises from Fleischmann Pier, hotels, a go-kart venue for racers – Peekskill has many attractions to draw visitors here.

Attracting visitors and businesses are the tasks of a professional marketing campaign, and city officials took the first step by hiring Trajectory Brands Inc., a Toronto-based firm, to design a new logo and brand.

“It’s exciting to bring this project to fruition,” city Planning Director Carol Samol said while unveiling the new logo and an accompanying video (see below) at the Common Council meeting. “The whole purpose of this is to market the city and to promote the city of Peekskill.”

Over the coming months, the city will be introducing the new messaging and look across various media, from social channels to banners, visitor materials, economic development and marketing tools and promotional materials.

Trajectory Brands was chosen last January through a competitive request for proposals; more than 90 firms responded to design the City’s logo and brand. “Our goal is to enable Peekskill to articulate its one-of-a-kind, authentic spirit of place. That’s the heart of any effective place brand,” said Jeannette Hanna, the firm’s Chief Strategist. Trajectory won the bid at $55,000.

Through research, public surveys, focused interviews, and a small working group, Trajectory and the city gathered public input throughout the project. The original goal was to deliver a comprehensive identity program and a “look” for the City by the summer of 2025, for use in a wide variety of marketing, social media, websites, banners, ads, and other applications. 

Four potential logos were presented last August and over 400 people participated is a survey of the logos. In October, Planning Director Samol said, “The team is taking the time to analyze the comments and the results; we’re working with them on that. While each option resonated with a certain percentage of participants, no one single option rose to the top.”

“I really like the logo,” said City Manager Matt C. Alexander. “It beautifully reflects the City’s natural surroundings, and the waves symbolize the passage of time and the changes the City continues to experience. The mosaic design thoughtfully represents the diversity of the community and the many pieces that come together to form the whole.”

Carole Voisey, executive director of the Hudson Valley Chamber of Commerce, said, “Congratulations to the City for the completion of the Peekskill logo DRI project. At the Chamber we are excited to promote Peekskill as the cultural heart of the Hudson Valley.”

“We want to congratulate the City of Peekskill and Trajectory for creating a world class logo which will help distinguish us from other Hudson Valley communities,” said Bill Powers, executive director of the Peekskill BID (Business Improvement District). “The rich color pallete gives us the versatility to use the logo for banners, print materials, social media and merch. We also want to thank our fellow community stakeholders who volunteered significant amounts of their time and talent to guide the process. We’re anxious to start using the new logo right away.”

Trajectory Brands says it has worked across North America with neighborhoods, Business improvement Districts (BIDs), municipalities, counties, regions, and development agencies, including in Minnesota, Vancouver Island (Canada), and Washington, D.C.’s Congress Heights, Dupont Circle and Capitol Hill areas.

A False Start Three Years Ago

In 2023 the city hired Weinrib & Connor, an advertising and marketing agency in Mount Kisco, to design the city’s logo and branding.

However, after several months of work, the city terminated the contract in 2024 due to dissatisfaction with that agency’s marketing efforts and proposed logo. “We found that they were not the right fit for what we wanted to achieve,” Samol said. “And so we decided to take a moment [and] reassess our needs.”

Weinrib & Connor was paid over $80,000, primarily through funding from the state’s $10 million DRI grant. The work they did before being terminated included creating several video interviews with residents and business owners; art and copy for a draft landing page; contact lists; a draft logo; research and strategy briefs; and other deliverables.

After putting out a new request for proposals in August 2024, the city hired Trajectory. Its scope of work was considerably smaller than the previous agency’s, focusing first on a logo and brand rather than the actual implementation of the marketing. Samol said the city hopes to find another firm later that specializes in such work. Samol said there was approximately $130,000 left in the original funds budgeted for the overall project, $55,000 of which went to Trajectory.

What Comes Next?

Marketing costs money, and after the new logo and brand are finally approved by the Common Council, other sources of funds must be found.

Local businesses could be asked to contribute funds, according to a proposal that City Manager Alexander has created. That plan would use the independent Peekskill Industrial Development (PIDA) agency or the Peekskill Facilities Development Corp. (PFDC).

But Peekskill might already have hundreds of thousands of dollars raised through the hotel tax that was intended just for that purpose.

In a Jan. 22 letter to the PFDC board, Alexander proposed “Destination Peekskill,” a website that would be managed by Matthew Rudikoff, the city economic development director; Jonathan Zamora, the city’s community hub director; and interns from Westchester Community College. A consultant would be retained to assist, and Alexander and board members from the PFDC would provide oversight.

Money to operate the website would come from local businesses offered the chance to pay for sponsorship placement on the site in order to create a self-financing model. 

The website would inform future visitors about public and private assets and attractions, provide links for information about destinations and offer links to help new businesses. At the Jan. 27 IDA board meeting, Zamora displayed page templates used on the Provincetown, Massachusetts, website as examples how a Destination Peekskill website might appear.

Information about tourism attractions in Peekskill, current events, dealing with city departments and other useful are currently available through the Peekskill BID, the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce and the Peekskill Exurbanist.

It’s unclear how local businesses would respond to paying for the chance to advertise on the proposed website. The city can’t directly solicit advertisers, according to Alexander, but the PFDC can. Seeking paying advertisers, selling them on purchasing sponsorships, working with them on design and copy, and handling questions and concerns are all labor-intensive tasks.

Paying to Market Peekskill

Now that the new logo and branding theme have been accepted by the Common Council, the time for paying to get the word out arrives — time to “show me the money.”

Could the $250,000 the city gets annually in the hotel tax imposed on each room be that source?

“When the hotel tax was originally proposed, it was billed as a funding source to promote tourism and to support activities that brought people into Peekskill,” said Deb Milone, former president of the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce.

“With the refurbishment of Fleischmann Pier and the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution this year, Peekskill’s potential to attract visitors and tourists has never been better, but ongoing funding and cooperation are needed for broader marketing and promotion, so that we can distinguish ourselves from other Hudson River communities.” 

According to city code 521-82, all the money collected through the city’s hotel tax is to be deposited into a separate fund – apart from the general fund – and spent solely for promoting tourist and economic growth. There is no provision for paying city employees with those funds.

The city collected the following in hotel taxes: $246,969 in 2022; $258,141 in 2023; $250,000 (projected) in 2024; and $280,000 (projected) in 2025.

City Code 521-82 reads: “All revenue resulting from the imposition of this tax under this article shall be paid into the treasury of the City and shall be credited to and deposited in a fund for the exclusive purpose of developing, promoting, encouraging, boosting and stimulating tourism and the economic growth, expansion, advancement and development in, of and to the City.”

Asked if the city has established such a fund, City Comptroller Toni Tracy did not respond to several emails.

However, the city budget’s general fund includes a line item for the $120,777 salary of economic development director. Other items in the economic development portion of the general fund include $59,500 for marketing and communication and $15,000 for contracts. The total economic development budget in 2025 was $208,318. 

 The need to fund marketing and tourism promotion is clear. 

“With our natural waterfront vistas, downtown dining, entertainment, history and art, we already have the assets to effectively compete with other Hudson Valley communities,” said Powers, Peekskill BID executive director. “If we are to be successful over the next three to five years, resources and coordination will be needed to implement strategic marketing and branding efforts to attract more visitors with disposable income to Peekskill.”