Branding a Beautiful Community

 

Matryoska dolls, you’ve seen them.  They’re the Russian dolls that nest one inside of the other.  Sometimes the largest doll, the one on the outside, is not the most ornate, just the largest.

 

And that’s the way it is with brands.* 

 

In almost every case there are smaller brands associated with larger brands.  And in many situations one of the smaller brands, call it a MicroBrand, is the most powerful brand in play.

 

A real-life example is Jared the Subway customer who lost a ton of weight by eating at Subway.  Jared’s MicroBrand often draws more customers than the Subway sign.

 

MicroBrands are a good thing… as long as they are congruent and work together. For example, a new McDonald’s in an historic district is not necessarily incongruent.  With cooperative management and a little creative thinking Mickey D’s can fit right in.

 

What’s the point?  In our efforts to polish up our community we run the danger of creating incongruent MicroBrands.  Or we can take advantage of a golden opportunity to leverage our efforts and resources.

 

We need to do two things:

            1.         Get clear on what is the big brand we want for our community.

            2.         Provide loose coordination of various projects so that their MicroBrands

                        enhance the community brand.

 

We have a welcome sign project, a river trail project, a pavilion project, an ad hoc library committee plus a handful of consultant-lead projects.  For maximum positive impact all of these efforts must work together to create and present MicroBrands that are congruent with the overall brand of the community.

 

A few talking points:

            1.         The welcome signs on the Interstate will be a visitor’s first local

                        introduction to the brand.

            2.         The river trail should receive high branding priority in part because it ties                            in two powerful, congruent MicroBrands:

Museum of

Western Art and                             

Texas Rangers Museum. 

            3.         The river trail should be closely associated with Old Spanish Trail as well                           as the two brands mentioned above.

            4.         The pavilion should be built, branded, and tied visually to public art and

                        an Historic Downtown branding program.

            5.         The Historic Downtown program should proceed the instant the

                        community brand is articulated, graphically represented, and funding is                              available.

            6.         The library project (if it comes to fruition) should reflect the brand and be

                        considered a first stop for tourists for destination information and initial

                        exposure to local culture and history.

            7.         Marty Wender should be invited to the party.

 

*  A brand is an expectation.  A logo is not a brand.  We see the logo and then think the brand.