Community Branding

What is a Brand?
A brand is not just a logo and tagline. A logo and tagline are manifestations of a brand. A brand is a decision about a community’s values and a decision about how you want to present yourself to others; it is a promise. A brand is a town’s identity, theme and external personality. It enables you to have a consistent and confident message to your audiences.

A brand extends far beyond a logo. As your Town wants to spread its message, it must have the direction and means to do so. That is, there must be a marketing strategy in place that outlines to whom you should be communicating, and what it is that you should be communicating. Furthermore, many organization and communities are unfamiliar with the media available to them to share their message. This is organized in a media strategy for the Town that outlines what vehicles are available and suitable to use for the brand.

It is also important to develop advertisement concepts for the Town so that you can visualize just how far your brand can take you. A logo and tagline is like the period at the end of your brand sentence. It finishes and complements your big ideas; however, it is important to professionally develop advertisement concepts to show you where you and the big ideas can go.

Why might you need a Brand?
Well, this ultimately depends on what it is you would like to do. You may want to attract tourists, attract businesses, attract residents, build pride among current citizens, all of the above, or something we’ve missed in this list. A brand can help you do this by differentiating your Town from other communities in the surrounding area, other communities in the province, and other communities in the country.

How exactly will Branding help your community?
At its most basic level, a brand is a theme for marketing and advertising materials – it helps with media planning, the town’s website, and merchandising. However, it can also translate to cohesion amongst staff, council, and citizens to help build pride and facilitate easier decision-making. It guides in physical planning with respect to community, recreation, and heritage. It also aids in tourism, economic, and community development. Ultimately, a brand will define the town aesthetic.

In addition to having the in-house professionals that develop brands, we also have in-house professionals that can take the Town’s brand to the next phase and beyond. We have landscape architects on staff that can bring the desired atmosphere and visual identity throughout the landscape of the Town. We also have the expertise in signage strategies and design; we can marry the developed Town brand with signage for the Town.

Our Approach
At Tract we always take a very hands-on approach with community branding. Not only do we like to keep in close contact with the Town, but we also like for the Town to participate in the various stages of developing its brand. We believe that in order for us to meet your Town’s objectives, we need to be acquainted with your needs and development goals. We do this by undertaking the creative brief approach to brand development as described in the following section.

The brands that Tract develops for Towns are uniquely linked to the Town’s goals and objectives, be it economic and business development, tourism, community pride, or a distinct combination of all three. Tract understands communities like no other firm in the province and can mould your needs into a highly creative and attractive logo and slogan.

Traditional: Coat of Arms
- Formal occasions and events
- Often too complicated for media use
- Often irrelevant to today’s citizens

Modern: Logo
- Competitive advantage
- Promotes town
- Differentiates from other communities
- Supports various media

View our portfolio here, click on Marketing to view our Community Brands