Praise for city council’s vote on tagline
What a difference a thoughtful, well-organized and detailed presentation can make.
Kudos to city council for its decision to move ahead with the tagline “Live Outside the Ordinary.” In my opinion, you demonstrated your ability to think outside the ordinary as well.
I liked this tagline the first time it was suggested. However, I can see it made sense to regroup and keep an open mind during another go-around even though it seemed the tide had earlier turned away from moving forward with that or any other tagline.
I happened to go online to the city’s website during the streamed council meeting in time to see Paul Hickey’s presentation and update on the branding process. Kudos as well to the president of BrandHealth who struck just the right note and I was impressed by his easygoing yet focused and detailed presentation, which I am sure took many, many hours of preparation and planning.
I recommend people who want to learn more about the insights, thought-process and overall preparation that has gone into this branding process to view Mr. Hickey’s address to council.
He really nailed it by incorporating the tagline and possible logo concepts into popularly used city materials – the website, signage, videos, social media, vehicles, etc. I think this strategy helped to crystallize for councillors just how the tagline and logo would look in everyday use. At least a couple of councillors who had earlier rejected the tagline enthusiastically voiced their support this time around, partly I suspect because of this aspect of the presentation.
Plus, it sounds like later in the council session, Mayor Bennett got on board by using the tagline during discussions about what to do about the Memorial Centre. Consultants are recommending replacing the Mem Centre to which the mayor was quoted as saying, “we have the ability to have an events facility that is outside the ordinary” – brilliant!
That’s the way to start using the tagline in everyday ways.
Mr. Hickey also did this by showing photos of iconic events and activities with the words - not your ordinary sports teams, not your ordinary library, not your ordinary farmers’ market, not your ordinary downtown – written across them … you can see the endless possibilities here.
I will be interested to see the next steps!
Susan Scott, Ralphson Crescent