Community branding is successful when it appeals to peoples’ emotions rather than selling a product or becoming stuck in a group hug mentality of having something for everyone.
That was the message Roger Brooks from Destination Development Inc. delivered last week at a community branding forum in Canmore hosted by Tourism Canmore Kananaskis and the Canmore Economic Development Authority.
Brooks said a brand is about setting yourself apart as a destination, and when your approach boasts offering something for everyone, you don’t actually stand for anything and will fall short of attracting tourism dollars to the community.
“You cannot be all things to all people,” he said, adding Canmore is not doing anything wrong with its current brand, but it is what everyone else is also doing. “You must jettison the generic because brands are specific… The narrower the focus the stronger your success will be.”
He said right now Canmore has a brand it could roll out as being Canada’s mountain sports capital. However, he noted the forum was a starting point for the community to begin the process of branding itself, with a questionnaire being posted online for residents to begin providing input.
Brooks ‘secret-shopped’ Canmore for a week this past summer and reported his findings and suggestions, which he said are meant to be conversation starters, not final answers.
He has done more than 700 assessments like this around the world and said Canmore definitely stood out.
“Very seldom does a place get under our skin like Canmore and I mean that in a good way,” he said.
He said an outstanding destination considers its own community first and the visitors will follow. But the heart and soul of a community, besides its people, is its downtown core.
“If locals won’t hang out in your downtown, neither will visitors,” he said, adding 80 per cent of non-lodging spending by visitors takes place in a downtown area. “The number one complementary activity of visitors is shopping, dining and entertainment in a pedestrian-friendly setting.”
He said Canmore already has a strong mix of retail and culinary offerings in its downtown area, including anchor tenants – venues people travel from a distance to visit and could include the Canmore Nordic Centre, the Trough and Communitea.
Brooks suggested downtown lease agreements include operating hours and days for consistency. He said most tourists spend their day doing activities and look to spend 70 per cent of their travel dollars in the downtown area after 6 p.m., but would find most shops in Canmore closed. He added public washrooms should have better signage for people to find them and also be open after 6 p.m.
He said four-hour parking instead of two-hour parking would give people time to explore the area without always looking at their watches.
A key ingredient to a successful downtown area is public gathering places like plazas that include entertainment like buskers, and he said Canmore should look into providing that kind of space. Already the mountain market is a huge draw, Brooks added, and it could be a year-round attraction.
Signage, or wayfinding, is incredibly important, Brooks said, along with community gateways. He said when he visited he found there is some signage, but it was not really that great or helpful and should reflect the brand that is developed.
Signage extends to trails throughout the community. Brooks said he could not find a single trail map and the signage that does exist on the trail system was incomplete and did not provide enough information.
He said signage is an investment and reinforces a positive experience for visitors and “is as much a science as it is an art.”
It also includes 24-hour availability of information, especially outside the visitor information centre.
He said Canmore is missing activities and entertainment in its downtown core, which would bring it to life.
He also suggested if Canmore wants to maintain its unique mix of small businesses and avoid the ‘Banff conundrum,’ it should enact legislation to restrict chains or franchises to no more than five per cent of buildings in the downtown core.
Communities across the country are trying to distinguish themselves and economic development through tourism is often considered that second chance.
“The industrial revolution is over,” Brooks said. “We are in a global economy and Canmore has to compete like every other town, whether it is tourism or economic development.”
He said logos and slogans are not brands, but marketing messages to support or reinforce a brand.
Over 500 municipalities in Western Canada, he added, have a logo that states their community is a great place to live, work and play.
“A brand is a perception – it is what people think of you, not what you say you are,” Brooks said, adding you must deliver on the perception or promise you make with your brand.
He said successful brands champion product development – they are not just marketing and product development never ends.
“Never roll out a brand until you can deliver on the promise,” he said, adding a brand as a perception is earned, evokes emotion and it must stand out from the crowd or get attention.
Brooks said the travel demographic is changing and is dominated by baby boomers who represent 80 per cent of all travel spending and a third of the population in North America.
He said this group, between the ages of 47 and 65, is not a flash in the pan and will be around for the next 25 years taking vacations. They use TripAdvisor, he said, adding they look for quality over quantity and like to travel in the shoulder season when families and tourist buses are not around.
The generational traveller indulges what they want and at the top of their lists are culinary and educational experiences, according to Brooks.
The second type of experience they look for is a vibrant arts scene followed by cultural events and gardening, which is the fastest growing hobby in North America at the moment.
The children of the boomers, born between 1977 and 1994, also like the same things, said Brooks, and they like outdoor activities, which is good for Canmore.
That age group’s fastest growing hobby is rock climbing and, like their parents, they like TripAdvisor, but also posting video and photos online, Urbanspoon, Facebook and Twitter.
“The Internet has changed everything,” Brooks said. “Ninety per cent of Canadians have immediate Internet access.”
He added out of that, 94 per cent use it to determine where to travel. But it was how they use it that the destination marketing expert said is most important.
People search experiences first and location second and he said most tourism marketing promoted the location first, not the experiences.
Brooks said people, especially in urban settings, are drowning in advertising and marketing overload with more than 5,000 messages a day reaching them. The result – people tune out what doesn’t directly appeal to them.
The challenge for Canmore in the ocean of messages is how to set itself apart, Brooks said, and the community needs to figure out what that is and hang its hat on it.
“What do you have in Canmore that I can’t have or get or do closer to home?” he asked the crowd of 70 in attendance. “Whatever makes you different or better by third party endorsement; you need to hang your hat on that.”
He warned that Canmore should not let local politics kill its branding efforts. While there is involvement from that sector, he recommended keeping it arms length from local politicians.
He also said the brand will need champions and warned that a lack of funding, both private and public, could end the process.
To participate in the survey go to www.canmorefunkydude.ca, www.canmorealberta.com, www.canmore.ca or www.canmorebusiness.com
