April 2011 - by Jeff Nixon

Ever been to a wedding where not a single person at your table made a comment about the venue, decorations, food, dance music, or even the bride’s dress? I can’t remember the last wedding I attended that I didn’t hear the words “should have”, “why did”, or” wonder why” from someone sitting at my table… even when I was sitting at the head table.

A word of caution.

Stakeholder input is essential to a successful place branding program. Before developing a visual identity for your community, consult broadly. It is essential you understand the existing perceptions, attitudes and beliefs of your audiences to determine your brand strategy and guide a logo and identity package design.  However, once you have used that information to develop new look and feel options for your community, make your stakeholder consultation specific.

Attempting to incorporate each audience’s preferences about colours, fonts, and pictures is counterproductive. Have you ever gone to a house warming party where no-one said “I would have done that room differently”? Probably not. It’s the same with a visual identity. Extended public debate regarding the font used in a visual concept isn’t particularly valuable. Garnering input as to whether or not the logo reinforces core community values is useful.

A branding program is about determining what is best for a community as a whole and listening. So how do you test your new logo and identity? Follow these steps:

• Complete your research through broad stakeholder consultation.
• Outline your brand strategy. 
• Use your strategy to develop two new look and feel options for your community.
• Provide an overview of the research and brand strategy before presenting the concepts.

Presenting concepts and asking which logo is better will get you absolutely nowhere. Concepts should be presented for feedback by asking which of the following options better reinforces our core values as a community. Or what words to you associate with the following design options? If your discussion about the branding program gets mired in the gritty details, you will have missed the mark.

To get stakeholder buy-in and support, carry out a comprehensive detailed consultation during your initial research and keep your conceptual discussions focused on the high-level strategic goals.