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Testimonials
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| Burnaby North Road |
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The Challenge North Road is the oldest road in the Lower Mainland. It’s a rapidly growing and centrally located transportation hub that joins the four cities of Burnaby, Coquitlam, New Westminster, and Port Moody. Boasting a wide array of businesses, it’s also the home of hundreds of Korean businesses which create a unique “Little Korea” destination experience. But despite such unique characteristics and historical significance, the public’s perception of the Burnaby North Road area was poor. The public viewed North Road as a busy area where traffic congestion frequently caused frustration for both commuters and visitors, and the quantity and variety of signage caused visual overload. Our challenge: To create a destination marketing strategy to attract both visitors and investors and communicate North Road’s unique story and charm. First, we needed to ensure that residents, merchants, city officials, and Business Improvement Association (BIA) staff shared a common vision for the future of North Road. Then we needed to create a strategy that brings that vision to life through consistent and effective messaging. In short, we needed to identify and demonstrate the story and soul of Burnaby North Road in a way that inspires community stakeholders to become community evangelists. The Insight Our research showed that Burnaby North Road had no clear brand or visual identity, and there were no processes in place to ensure proper brand management. The existing marketing material was inconsistent and focused on functional benefits, such as transportation, the variety of restaurants, and unique shopping, but missed the opportunity to create emotional associations for their target markets. We also learned that the public felt that the North Road’s unique strengths were also its weaknesses. They disliked the traffic and congestion and overhead Skytrain, but they appreciated how easy it was to commute to North Road through a variety of transportation options. They felt that the area could be visually overwhelming, but they loved the diversity of businesses. Perhaps most importantly, our research also showed that the Burnaby North Road area already had a strong community built on excellence and success, enterprise and entrepreneurship. The community’s enthusiasm and commitment to become a positive example of economic and lifestyle advancement was exciting to discover. They just needed a path to follow to help them achieve this success.The Solution Synergist Communications worked closely with Burnaby North Road stakeholders and the BIA to develop a strategy to communicate North Road’s robust and bustling personality in a positive and consistent way. We developed a calming, simple visual identity that was a welcome contrast to the existing cluttered signage. We also provided community staff and stakeholders with the training they needed to effectively manage their new brand and become community evangelists who reinforced a shared message and vision.
Synergist Communications provided Burnaby North Road with a destination marketing strategy, a new visual identity, an implementation plan, and training. We also designed and developed a cohesive set of branded tools, including:
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