Let the branding experts do their job

What’s in a name? Or a tagline? The “name” part of that equation is better known, thanks to William Shakespeare and Juliet. The star-crossed lover answered her own question: “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

In the language of branding (a field where Shakespeare would have excelled) a tagline is a concise and compelling description of the “brand” being sold. Or at least that’s the aim.

BrandHealth, the advertising firm hired to develop a new brand for the City of Peterborough, has come up with a tagline: “Where roads and rivers meet.”

It will replace the current city tagline – “It’s a natural” – when the entire branding package is rolled out.

Or maybe not. City council wasn’t entirely blown away by the new tagline Monday night.

One councillor felt “roads” sounded to . . . unfinished. Rural, not urban. The suggested improvement was “Where Complete Streets and Rivers Meet.”

Why not forget the imagery thing all together, go fully literal :“Where Urban Stand a rd-Streets-with-Fully-Dev eloped Side walks-Curbs-and-Gutters and Rivers Meet.” Or maybe not. Another councillor, sensing a lack of love for the city’s $30 million investment in Peterborough Airport, suggested “Roads, Rivers . . . and Runways.”

But that leaves out rail, which will be returning to Peterborough in the next couple of years if Via Rail gets its way.

Just last week a Via spokesperson confirmed the federal government is considering its plan for a Toronto-Ottawa line through Peterborough as part of a larger, high frequency rebuild of the entire Windsor-Quebec City corridor.

Not only would Via service return to Peterborough after nearly 20 years, the local option was inspired by the Shining Waters Railway plan put together by a Peterborough group back in 2010.

Via, apparently impressed by the Shining Waters name and its history, uses it as a reference to the Toronto-Ottawa line.

And in the spirit of what goes around comes around, back before branding was really a thing the unofficial brand for Peterborough and the surrounding Kawartha Lakes was “The Land of Shining Waters.”

Maybe “Roads, Rivers . . . and Runways (Waiting for Rail)” would work as a tagline.

The fact is not every good idea can be crammed into a tagline, which has to be concise to be effective.

“Where Roads and Rivers Meet” has two primary selling points. “Rivers” brings to mind the picturesque Canadian Shield landscape on the city’s doorstep and links back to the current “It’s a Natural” theme. “Roads” is a reminder that this is a city with all the attractions an urban area can provide. We say, let the branding experts do their job. And bring on the railway, whatever name it might be called.