Happily Ever After
AMBITIOUS VISION, SIMPLY EXPRESSED, CAN FOREVER CHANGE A COMMUNITY’S TRAJECTORY
Initiative
Chris facilitated creation of a strategic brand for the City of Castlegar, built around a simple mission: to be THE service centre of the West Kootenay. Sure – the marketing breaks through the clutter of “mountain, water and trees and call it a day” that is too typical, but it succeeds because it expresses a number of strategic initiatives guided by the mission statement – from renaming the airport to West Kootenay Regional Airport, to multi-million dollar servicing of employment lands. Ten years after creation of the brand, Chris remains engaged with the City on a number of initiatives.
Deliverables
The Strategic Brand has encompassed a number of key initiatives spanning a 10-year period: Community Brand Development, Brand Implementation (several initiatives from advertising to pageantry), City Website Redevelopment, West Kootenay Regional Airport (Re-Name/Re-Brand, Interior Design, Website), Brand Performance Assessment, WestJet Service Pitch, Wayfinding Signage Program, Employment Lands Market Study, Feature Story Writing, and several strategic planning sessions with Council/Administration/key community stakeholders.
Results
The City of Castlegar is transforming. Emboldened community leadership has implemented very distinguishing initiatives including Millennium Ponds (sand beach swimming next to the Columbia River), and the immensely popular Sculpture Walk. The results show in the numbers, with healthy population and building permit growth.
