Rockford IL: How Rockford Became Trickford

“It’s about time,” is how knowledgeable rock music fans responded to Cheap Trick’s 2016 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. When news of the nomination was announced worldwide in 2015, GrahamSpencer and longtime clients the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and City of Rockford began to explore how the band’s hometown would celebrate and leverage its long-overdue accomplishment.

GrahamSpencer’s challenge was threefold; 1) reinforce the enormity of Cheap Trick’s accomplishment, 2) motivate citizens to feel good about Cheap Trick’s victory; 3) remind visitors that Rockford is, indeed, the home of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Cheap Trick.

In this playful yet respectful work, GrahamSpencer re-named the streets on which band grew up, created welcoming signs declaring Rockford’s roadways “Patrolled By the Dream Police,” wrote and produced a mayoral proclamation renaming Rockford “Trickford,” created print and online advertising and much more.