Richmond reaching out to rebrand

When you think of Richmond, what’s the first word or first sentence that comes to mind? That is the first question of a new survey being circulated by the town of Richmond in an effort to reinvent its public image.

“Municipalities are in competition with each other more and more,” said Richmond Mayor Marc-andré Martel, noting the competition comes in terms of trying to attract both residents and new businesses. “Richmond is full of unique and distinctive attractions, but how do we promote that?”

To answer that question, the town has turned to Morin Communication Marketing, a Drummondville-based marketing firm.

“Today cities are becoming brands,” said Nancy Morin. “Marketing and the strategies of branding apply in the business world; they have products and services to promote. For municipalities this concept is still very new, but we apply the same recipe.”

Morin explained that the idea of the survey is to compare what the town of Richmond thinks it is promoting in terms of self image with what its residents, business owners, and visitors think of it. Using the survey as a way to discover the community’s greatest strengths and assets, the Drummondville agency will produce a report and recommendations focused on creating not just a new slogan and emblem for the town, but also a new website designed to better serve the needs of the community.

“The town of Richmond wants to reimagine its brand,” Morin said, emphasizing that the exercise is most successful if as many people as possible take part in the online survey over the next two to three weeks.

The survey is available in English on both the town of Richmond website and the Richmond Facebook page.

The final report for the project is expected to be ready for September of this year.