It’s been almost a year in the works, but the South Metro Denver Chamber has officially unveiled its new logo and branding efforts at a series of June 29 celebrations.

The final logo and tag line were presented to a crowd of more than 300 at the chamber’s monthly leadership meeting, as well as its signature Unplugged Celebration, hosted by Ivy at the Glenn restaurant in SouthGlenn.

Crisp, clean and layered in symbolism, the bold new look was designed by Hill Aevium Marketing and Advertising, and features three striking blue marks above the word “PROSPER.”

“The logo really embodies the culture we’re embracing,” explained John Brackney, South Metro Denver Chamber president and CEO. “Each of the three exclamation points stands for a particular value we embrace — collaboration, empowerment, transformation and collectively, celebration.”

Brackney said the new design is more about cultural change than it is about color schemes.

“It’s really much deeper than just a new logo,” he said. “It’s about the way we do business, the way we shake hands, the way we answer the phone … and at every event we host making sure we’re connecting the right people, reducing those six layers of separation down to two, and doing everything we can to help our members prosper.”

The chamber’s former logo, fondly known as the “gyroscope,” served the chamber well, but with its recent move to new headquarters in the Streets at SouthGlenn, Brackney said it was time to re-evaluate the brand.

“Our chamber brand had become ambiguous over the years with many variations of the logo and programs, which were unidentifiable as being related to the chamber,” he said. “We felt the need to re-evaluate our current chamber culture, programming and events in order to create a cohesive message to our investors and the public at large.”

For chamber members, Brackney said the new brand means not only consistent behavior, but solid performance.

“It means that when we really know who we say we know, and when you’re trying to sell your product or make a connections within the community, we’ve got the proven connection to make that happen.”

For the community, Brackney said the image shift means a commitment to actively seeking those connections for new business and finding the necessary talent within the community to fuel economic growth.

“We’re planning on doing a lot more than just sitting around making cold calls to each other,” he said. “Yeah, it’s kinda neat to have a logo that actually means something.”