CivicBrand Celebrates 18 Years in Business

SEPTEMBER 16, 2026

CivicBrand is celebrating 18 years since the company was founded on September 16, 2008.

Over those 18 years, the company has evolved considerably. What began with a focus on design and user experience gradually led us to think about place the same way and to recognize just how much place shapes our lives. Our health, happiness and opportunity can all be elevated or limited by the places we live.

That realization ultimately shaped CivicBrand into what it is today, a place branding and placemaking firm helping cities, counties and destinations better understand, shape and communicate the places people call home.

“Eighteen years in, and we’ve evolved a lot, and I hope we continue to do so. The places we work with are doing the same thing. They’re constantly evolving while trying to hold onto what makes them distinct. Our job is really about helping communities navigate that evolution intentionally.” – Ryan Short, CEO & Co-Founder, CivicBrand

Today, CivicBrand works across public engagement, place branding, placemaking, wayfinding and destination strategy. Over nearly two decades, that work has taken us to places of every shape and scale, from major cities and fast-growing communities to rural towns, downtown districts, neighborhoods and globally recognized destinations. The places and projects may be very different, but they are all connected by the same belief that has come to define our work: places are shaped by people.

That belief has become increasingly central to CivicBrand’s approach. The firm puts local voices at the center of the process and views brand as much more than marketing or visual identity. A strong place brand provides shared direction and civic alignment around decisions on policy, budgets, economic development, tourism, placemaking, wayfinding, communications and the everyday experience of a community.

In 2025, that philosophy became the foundation for Short’s book, The Civic Brand: The Power & Responsibility of Place. The book explores the role governments, organizations, businesses and individuals all play in shaping place, and the responsibility that comes with it.

CivicBrand was founded by Ryan and Banner Short in 2008. Today, the company is headquartered in downtown Salida, Colorado, with a fully distributed team working with communities around the world.

Eighteen years has brought new places, new people, new services and plenty of evolution. That evolution will continue because communities evolve, too. The goal isn’t to keep a place exactly as it is. It’s to understand what makes it meaningful and use that understanding to help shape what comes next. Because great places don’t happen by accident.