At a function on Monday November 30, Lismore Mayor Cr. Jenny Dowell officially launched the new City Centre ‘brand’. The most vital component in the Lismore Promotion Program, the brand was devised by City Centre Manager Stephen Nelson in close collaboration with a creative team that included photographer Trevor Warden, graphic designer Greg Meek and local production house ‘Nuture Films’ – a subsidiary of the North Coast AdAgency.
The launch was sponsored by NSW Industry and Investment, the funding agency for the ‘Lismore Alive’ project 
which identified the strengths and weaknesses of Lismore’s City Centre and produced a series of recommendations which form the basis of the 2009-2010 Lismore Promotion Program Business Plan.
The centrepiece of the new brand is a striking logotype and tagline which simply reads ‘Lismore – come to the heart’. This tag line was chosen to reflect and emphasise the city’s role as both geographic and commercial heart of the Northern Rivers, and to reinforce the importance of the City Centre as the primary destination for shopping and professional services.
A feature of the press and television ads assembled is the focus on Lismore’s vibrant cultural and creative arts community, which was chosen as a genuine ‘point of difference’ in destination marketing terms.
On purpose real people within the local community all agreed to appear in the striking photographs which are the backbone of the new brand and which will help shape positive perceptions about Lismore – ‘the heart of the Northern Rivers, NSW’.
Local identities were chosen in order for the collateral content to be authentic – and to reflect the friendliness identified as one of Lismore’s most attractive attributes in business and consumer research.
The ‘Lismore – come to the heart’ destination television commercials will be screened throughout December until Christmas Eve, matched by radio and press ads linked to the Lismore Christmas Shopping Bonanza. Businesses across Lismore are being encouraged to adopt and use the new brand, so the ‘reach’ of this positive new identity can be extended.
Copies of the new logo can be obtained from Stephen Nelson, the Lismore City Centre Manager: Stephen.nelson@lismore.nsw.gov.au