The Government of the Virgin Islands has launched its official logo which will serve as its new brand and official identity.

The logo, which includes the Vigilate, was revealed during Public Service Week 2016 at the launch of ‘One Government, One Identity, One Public Service’ held at the Multi-Purpose Sports Complex on Tuesday, June 21.

Director of Communications, Mrs. Arliene T. Penn revealed the official logo and presented a historical perspective on Government’s approach to One Government branding.

She explained that the logo will create a strong and unifying visual image representative of the Government of the Virgin Islands as ‘one entity’ and will serve as a consistent brand for the ‘look and feel’ of Government.

She stated, “Having ‘one look and feel’ says that we are together.  Having ‘one look and feel’ tells the world that we are one and not many.  When customers see this brand, we want them to automatically think Government of the Virgin Islands. As public officers, when we use this consistent brand, we would be reminded that we are one Government, one identity, one Public Service working towards one common goal and one direction.”

The Director of Communications shared that in 2012, the Premier of the Virgin Islands, Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE charged a steering committee led by Honourable Marlon Penn, the now Junior Minister for Trade, Investment Promotion and Consumer Affairs to embark on a two-phase online re-imaging initiative to present a clear, consistent and cohesive framework to achieve one Government branding.

Phase one included the amalgamation of 34 websites to a central portal — www.bvi.gov.vg — that was launched on January 15, 2015. 

Integral to this initiative were the Department of Information Technology, the Department of Information and Public Relations, communicators and IT professionals across the public service, and senior managers.

According to Mrs. Penn, it was during this phase that it became clear that there was no specific or consistent brand to identify the Government as ‘one’ organisation.  

“We had encountered difficulties deriving a conclusion on the official composition of the Vigilate for use on the Web site.  You see, over time, ministries, departments and units had been using different variations of the Vigilate,” she said.

The Director said that thanks to the collective efforts of agencies including the Governor’s Office, the Deputy Governor’s Office, the Archives and Records Management Unit, the Road Town Public Library, and the BVI Philatelic Society, and a letter written by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in November 1960, they were able to gather a rich historical perspective of the ‘look and feel’ of the Vigilate.

She thanked the creative and talented team at the Department of Information and Public Relations for assisting the committee with proposing designs for Cabinet to consider and agree on the official logo of the Government of the Virgin Islands.

A Communications Guidelines and Procedural Manual will be launched to give clear guidelines on how the branding will be used for administrative and commercial purposes.

The second phase of the re-imaging initiative is ongoing and includes e-transactions such as electronic/online payment, electronic funds transfer, and electronic filing, for example.

During the launch on June 21 and as part of the new identity, public officers were introduced to the vision, mission, aim, principles and behaviors to be embraced by all public officers at the launch of ‘One Government, One Identity, One Public Service’.

The new vision of the public service is “Public Service Excellence”