Branding company has mixed record

Some pleased with results, others reject
themes and go with their own

By Robert Mentzer • Wausau Daily Herald • April
19, 2010

Fairbanks, Alaska, has a cold climate and is thought by outsiders to be remote and forbidding. It is in the center of its state, but there are not many cities to its north.

At the same time, it's in the midst of a beautiful natural environment, with an abundance of outdoor recreation and a healthy tourism industry.

In short, Fairbanks and Wausau have no small number of similarities -- in their challenges and strengths.

When Fairbanks hired Tennessee firm North Star Destination Strategies Inc. to help it attract prospective tourists and businesses to town, it walked the same tightrope that Marathon County will walk as it sets out on the same quest: how to sell itself while acknowledging that the area is not exactly Miami.

"We really are an extreme kind of place," said Karen Lundquist, vice president of marketing for the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau, who was involved in the North Star brand-building process. In 2006, Fairbanks paid $76,000 to develop its campaign.

In the end, Fairbanks and North Star agreed that "For indomitable and adventurous spirits" captured the message they wanted to convey to outsiders.

"It was like, 'Wow, that really is us,'" Lundquist said. At the same time, the city wanted to counter the associations that come with a cold and dark winter, or the mistaken perception that the city shuts down for half the year.

"We came up with messages that centered around light, energy and warmth," Lundquist said. "We've gone to a much brighter color pallet. The language we used was more fun and playful. ... It's driven the language, and what we think about ourselves."

Those new colors, messages and language all came together in the slogan used by the Visitors Bureau today: "Where the unparalleled meets the unexpected."

North Star now is trying to work that same magic in central Wisconsin. The economic development arm of the Wausau Region Chamber of Commerce recently hired North Star to develop a marketing plan for Marathon County.

While there are some parallels -- climate, economy, society -- between Fairbanks and Marathon County, the specific branding challenges are different everywhere, professionals say. Still, the overall process -- of finding the balance between embracing the image people have of a place while also challenging their preconceptions -- is something that every community branding effort must go through.

"(North Star's) approach is very much that you shouldn't have an 'a-ha' moment," Lundquist said. "It should be fairly clear when it's done that it reaffirms what you know, but also puts it into perspective."

In Dothan, Ala., which contracted with North Star about five years ago, the common thread the community found was competition, said Bob Hendrix, executive director of the Dothan Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. People came to Dothan for their kids' Little League baseball tournaments, or for soccer or softball games. Today, the city's tag line is "We're out to win you over."

"We did see (tourism) increases" after the rebranding effort, Hendrix said. "We were probably leading the state in (hotel) occupancy numbers, as far as percentages. And because we were doing well, more hotels came and built more."

The process does not always go smoothly. Some of North Star's clients have rejected suggested campaigns, or felt that they offered only superficial, glossy takes on the communities involved.

After Peoria, Ariz., paid $81,000 for a North Star campaign in 2008, residents and city council members protested its recommended slogan: "Naturally connected."

Residents complained that the words didn't say anything in particular about Peoria, or that "Naturally connected" wouldn't do anything to drum up development. At least one city council member called the project a waste of taxpayer money. Today, neither the city's official website nor its tourism site displays the logo.

The same thing has happened in other cities, too. In Fort Collins, Colo., people called the North Star logo generic, dull and lacking heart. The city rejected the
logo and instead engaged a local firm to design one.

There's also the risk that a branding effort will be botched in execution, said Tom Bullington, who heads a Minnesota-based community marketing and communications firm called City Image, which works on projects similar to North Star's.

"It's all about implementation," Bullington said. "After I leave town, it's all about people left behind to do the work. ... There need to be people who are
dedicated to it, and who have a stake in it."

Suzanne Morse, professor of urban and environmental planning at the University of Virginia, said she's seen such efforts go very well -- and she's seen them go very poorly.

"I work with a lot of communities," Morse said. "The ones that are doing better are the ones that are not fighting (with themselves). Those that are still fighting are getting smaller by the minute and losing ground by the minute.

"The real secret in moving a community forward is for people to see their own interests in it," Morse said.

In that sense, Morse said, the brand, the logo and the tag line aren't so important as community buy-in and a sense of purpose -- whether that's for a cold Alaska outpost, a dusty Alabama town or a community in north central Wisconsin.