The following is Chamber Board of Directors Chairman Chet Mann’s column that was featured in Sunday’s Sanford Herald.
Many different groups have wrestled for years with the idea of developing a “brand” for our community. The Downtown Merchants Association, civic groups, ad hoc committees and of course, the Chamber of Commerce are just a few of the organizations which have struggled to develop a collection of images and ideas which would represent our community. Most recently, the Quest project held two years of meetings to synthesize community issues including a “brand” for Lee County.
Branding is not an easy task. Coming to a consensus about concrete symbols such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme is relatively easy for a business but much more difficult for a community. Brand recognition, according to experts, is created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service. A brand serves to create associations and expectations among products. Think Coca-Cola, Caterpillar, Coty. A brand often includes a specific color scheme, script or sound. Think about Lowes Home Improvement’s signage or Moen’s slogan: “Buy it for look. But it for Life.” Harley Davidson Motorcycles has even trademarked their distinctive low rumble.
So how does a community like Lee County brand itself? Entities which supply ideas or promises rather than products and services can also have a brand. Think of religious organizations like the Salvation Army or civic groups like Lions Club. Our community should be able to distill its positive attributes down to a distinct message.
For nearly a year, a group of private citizens has been working on a project called the Lee County 2nd Century Project. This group’s aim was to create a brand for Lee County’s municipalities, organizations and events that would help tell the story of our attributes…the distinct characteristics which define our quality of life – and then, take this brand and advertise it to our entire region of the country.
The 2nd Century Project was led by some of our area’s most successful businessmen and women. Their knowledge of our marketplace and of the branding and advertising concepts used in their own businesses contributed to an outstanding result. Soon, we will unveil the work product produced by an outstanding group of professionals.
But there’s more to this project. Along with art work and concepts for creative advertising is an extensive market analysis which includes an action plan for our community to address. Education, health care, parks and recreation, arts, and retail goods and services are a few topics that were researched.
The goal is to get people outside our community to become curious enough about what’s here to visit Broadway and Historic Jonesboro and Sanford in order to find out first hand what makes our community so great.
