Brand Project Update - March 27, 2014

Since the beginning of February, the Brand Development Committee has been hard at work helping to shape the Squamish brand direction.

We'd like to send a huge shout-out to our community for submitting over 1,100 survey responses on the topic of Squamish's brand. We are certainly a community of passionate people!

As a result, your 14-member Brand Development Committee (BDC) spent hours upon hours combing through hundreds of pages of responses to identify themes that stood out, and the perceptions that exist. Overall the responses to the questions were filled with enthusiasm and passion for the place we call home (or the place people visit as was the case with 10% of the respondents). We heard a lot about the outdoor aspects of our community. Nature, sports, the mountains, rivers, trails and ocean took centre stage across the majority of responses. We learned why people moved here, why they stay here, and why they love it here. Thank you for inspiring us!

There was also a great amount of constructive feedback about the challenges we face, and what could make this town even better. Challenges of sprawl, a downtown in need, movement on the Oceanfront, and more options to do after dark were all highlights of how our town could improve.

At the end of the analysis part, the BDC narrowed down the themes for consideration, focusing in on - Action, Natural Beauty, Access, Waterfront, Trails, Outdoor Adventure, Self-Propelled pursuits. Not a big surprise here. Go figure!

The BDC then ran a series of brand direction ideas through feasibility testing to narrow the focus even further. The feasibility testing helps to determine what really differentiates our community from others and answers such questions as:

• Is this something the markets we are hoping to attract can't get or do closer to home?
• Is this something the community can buy into?
• Can the private sector buy into it? Are there investment opportunities?
• Does it have legs? Can we start with a small niche and add extensions to the brand?
• Do we have those within the community who will tirelessly champion the cause?
• How wide an audience will it attract?
• Will it extend our desirability in additional seasons?
• (and others)

We were then asked to each write a paragraph of about 100 words describing why we live in Squamish and why someone else should move to Squamish, or visit, or start a business in the community. We needed to say why we think Squamish is THE place to live, work and play, without using those exact words. If the description could fit any other cmmunity in Western BC, then we had to start over. Lots of creativity, passion and thought went into this exercise. It's harder to do than you think!

The analysis continued - summarizing the top takeaways from the public outreach; generating a list of words that capture the Squamish Brand. 

And then we started talking photography. Our facilitators, the team at Roger Brooks International, invited us to send our photos of our day-to-day activities to them to further help them gain insight into our community. They want to 'see' the culture of the place that, so far, had only been described as words. The BDC loved this idea - who doesn't love a bit of self-promotion. And we also wanted to get the community involved and create another way for people to contribute to this process. And so #thisismysquamish was born. 

What comes next?

The week of April 7th is "Brand Camp", where the BDC and our facilitators will spend the week finalizing all the results of the analysis and exploration. We will be looking at product development, as well as the development of the visual toolkit - logo, signage, lamppost banners, ad mock ups etc. Exciting!

Stay tuned for more details about Brand Camp week, which will include an opportunity for the community to get their first glimpse at the new brand direction. 

We're also going to be looking for community members to become brand champions and join a Brand Leadership Team. More details to come.

Return to the Brand Project Overview page.