For Immediate Release
July 22, 2005
Contact: Matt Sinclair – 5.11 Tactical
(209) 527-4511 x314
Contact: Roy Stearns – State Parks
(916) 654-7538
California State Parks announced today that a new public-private
partnership with the 5.11 Tactical Company, one of the largest uniform
and equipment suppliers in the nation, has provided State Parks with
27,500 new insignia patches for uniformed personnel within State Parks.
The change to the new patches is part of State Park Director Ruth
Coleman’s initiative to adopt a standard identification insignia
for all official uses, such as uniforms, letterheads, signs, documents,
vehicles and more.
The new patches are an adoption of the existing California State Parks
trademark logo, the familiar blue and gold, circular patch with the
grizzly bear, as the single identification brand for California State
Parks. The change has been in the works for many months and became
effective July 1, 2005.
As part of the new uniform patch roll-out, uniform
manufacturer 5.11 Tactical, headquartered in Modesto, California,
graciously donated the new patches to the Department at no cost the
State. “We are delighted to have provided these patches to California
State Parks,” said Matt Sinclair, Vice-President of 5.11 Tactical.
“California has one of the largest park systems in the nation
and we are proud to be one of their partners.”
Across the State, there have been multiple names and
identification forms in use for many years that do not convey a clear
and consistent California State Park image. That has lead to some
confusion and lack of awareness regarding what facilities are part
of the State Park System. This adoption of the blue and gold patch
as the single image brand of California State Parks is an effort to
clearly identify all units and personnel of the system in a consistent
manner.
“One of our strategic goals is to develop and
communicate a clear and consistent image at every point of visitor
contact,” said State Parks Director Ruth Coleman. “I believe
the new patch insignia and its related uses will provide a much greater
public connection to our system. With that goal in mind, I have approved
this new patch and single brand logo for all official uses throughout
the Department.”
The new uniform patch is consistent with the official
trademarked Department logo. The change became effective July 1, 2005,
with a two-year wear out period at which time full implementation
will be required. All uniformed employees who wear the four-inch standard
patch will be expected to transition to the new patch within the two-year
period. Lifeguards and Guides will not be affected during the first
phase of the adoption of a new uniform patch. The Lifeguard and Guide
patches will be consistent with the Department logo and are still
in the development stage.
This branding change is part of another public/private
partnership, wherein the California State Parks Foundation and California
State Parks entered into an agreement, at no cost to the State, to
examine the image and visibility of the park system. That partnership
led to the creation of a new branding and advertising campaign for
California State Parks. The $180,000 campaign, running in newspapers
statewide, is being funded privately by the California State Parks
Foundation.
One purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness for
some of the lesser visited parks throughout the State in order to
generate more visitation to those parks. That increased visitation
provides added revenue for State Parks and for the local businesses
that surround those facilities.
The new uniform patch, also to be used as the single
insignia brand for all of California State Park uses, is shown below:
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