Thoughts on Branding the Tri-Cities

I was reading an article about the Tri-Cities earlier today and they were talking—in an elementary way—about branding and efforts to give the Tri-Cities a brand to help propel the region into the future.

You hear more and more about branding these days…it’s not a new term or practice, but it is (once again) the flavor of the week. Personally, I am a big believer in the effectiveness of branding on a product/corporation’s performance. I think that the way consumers view your brand has a great deal to do with how effective the rest of your marketing communication is received.

What bothers me is that very few people have any idea of what branding is really all about. I’ve had clients ask me to create a brand for a product without themselves having any idea of what their comapny is all about. I have literally had someone ask me to create a brand for them without a company name, a product or service to sell, or any thought as to who the brand was supposed to appeal to.

A brand isn’t an Easy Button. You don’t just create a brand and ABRACADABRA! Instant business!

The problem in the Tri-Cities is compounded because in the Tri-Cities there are very few people with any branding experience whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong, there are some local marketing communications firms who can do a good job of it. I'm not saying that the talent isn't available, but they are often an untapped resource.

For example, a few years ago the city of Bay City hired a branding firm to create a new logo for Bay City. Instead of working with a local studio, they put together a committee and worked with an out-of-state firm. What this firm came up with was a tremendously expensive nightmare of a logo. And, from what I can tell, that’s all they delivered. I don’t see a cohesive brand strategy being applied to any of Bay City’s communications. In fact, while some of the publications for the city have been updated, I also see the new logo being slapped on the same, old, ineffective publications/advertisements they’ve been using for years.

I love Bay City, I really do, but there is a real lack of marketing/advertising savvy here. At the same time it’s a very tight circle of people who make many of the decisions that affect the city. If you’re not on the inside of this circle they never even think talk to anyone outside of this circle. In the spirit of candor, I am clearly on the outside of this circle. It’s not even that I want to be on the inside, but I hate seeing Bay City continue down the same path that we’ve been plodding down for so many years.

On the other hand, when the city of Midland wanted to do some branding, they used Bolger+Battle, a Midland marketing communications firm and in my opinion (I’m a fan of Bolger+Battle) B+B really delivered. I have heard a few people who don’t love the new “Million Brilliant Possibilities” brand, but these people are few and far between. Also, they’re wrong. What B+B gave the city of Midland wasn’t just a logo, but a campaign that really says something about Midland. I’ve seen it used in a number of different applications and it just works. Nice work, Bolger+Battle.

I have friends who work for Bay Future and Saginaw Future and I believe that these organizations are really important to the future of the region. My friends are hard-working and really want what is best for the city, but the final decisions aren’t solely up to them. My hope is that the people working on the Tri-County regionalism group take a lot of their lead from the Midland people because Midland really is doing a lot of things right.