Castlegar Current
February 5, 2009
By Kyra Hoggan

A meeting at the Community Forum Thursday evening drew roughly 30 stakeholders to the end result of what been a months-long, $43,000 branding exercise for the City of Castlegar.

Chris Fields, of Calgary’s Twist Marketing Firm, explained the resulting branding work to his audience, from the overarching concept through to specific details like the new logo, magazine advertisements that express the brand and potential taglines the city could use to reinforce its brand.

He even had suggestions for the brand implementation that encompassed fresh ideas for city business cards, souvenirs and light post banners that will both appeal to the eye and support the new Castlegar brand.

He also said he felt the brand should be given two very distinct interpretations—one to entice tourism and another to draw business to the city—to most effectively capitalize on the city’s appeal to two very separate audiences. One of the most favourably received (by those in attendance at the meeting) elements of the brand is the new logo (pictured above).

“A simple yet powerful flower is positive and uplifting, and is conveyed in a modernistic style,” explained Twist Marketing Creative Director Corey Brewis. “The icon is representative of ‘uncomplicated’ community living and the playful/peaceful/friendly spirit of Castlegar’s people—appealing notions when looking to attract and encourage both visitor frequency and residential growth while providing a rallying point to promote community pride.

“The inclusion of a single arrow head within the flower icon denotes movement and direction—giving additional (alternative) meaning beyond an abstract representation of simple petals and flower head suggest revolution around a central focal oint or hub—indicative of the community’s geography within the region, as well as of its status (current and potential) as the region’s center for commercial activity.

“The wordmark font chosen, while a modern representation of simple strength and sophistication, also carries ‘old world’ stylizing to successfully bridge the gap between forward thought and porud traditions/heritage.”

Pam McLeod, executive director of the local chamber of commerce, expressed her enthusiasm for the ideas Twist brought to the table.

“I like the symbol—it’s clean and original, simple and crisp,” she said, adding she appreciated Fields’ suggestion that the city forgo a tagline at this point to avoid getting embroiled in the emotionally-charged debate such slogans often inspire in municipalities.

“And this comes at such as good time for the chamber, since we’re overhauling our website and can incorporate any of the city’s corporate branding,” she added.

Also on hand was Sandman Hotel general manager Cory Hagger, who said he loves the direction he sees the city taking with this.

“I was very impressed,” he said. “The timing makes it very worthwhile, since we’ll be the first community in the region to do this. I really liked that there were two clear directions (separately targeting tourism and industry).”

Hagger said one huge , unexpected benefit of the exercise was how it energized and excited the locals involved.

“Talking after the meeting, people started coming up with some amazing ideas of their own,” he said. “Everybody started to think, ‘How can I make my town better?’

“Now comes the tough part—implementing all of this.”

Fields said a branding strategy can be a tough sell within a community, since many struggle to see the value of something so intangible and conceptual as opposed to the more commonly-seen bricks-and-mortar initiatives. Further, he said, a conservative brand is, by definition, an ineffectual brand, as run-of-the mill marketing won’t rise above the branding already out there to grab the attention of Castlegar’s target markets—but getting an entire community to step outside its comfort zone and take some risks may be easier said than done.

“There will never be consensus with brand. Period.,” he said.

On a more positive note, he added, communities in our little valley have yet to explore the potential in brand, thus allowing Castlegar to take a strong lead, not just in differentiating itself, but also in setting the stage for marketing the whole region cooperatively.

He said the city can implement as much or as little of the concept it wants, building momentum over time, which allows residents to ease into the process while offering a more affordable approach than the massive marketing blitz that would be required to put all of his ideas into play right away.

The next stage in brand implementation will come as city council develops the 2009 budget, as they decide how much money to allocate to marketing.

Fields also promised to be available to assist as city staff begins to chart these unfamiliar waters, and pointed out the potential to engage the business community and local organizations as partners to help build on the foundation laid by Twist.

For more information or to see some of the sample ads Twist developed, contact City Hall at 250-365-7227.