The City of Kimberley is going through a process of strengthening their brand.

A branding process is about strengthening a story to create a better future. It’s about working together toward possibilities, not focusing on problems. That said, there are often a number of misconceptions associated with brands and branding. Here is a quick little collection of myths and misconceptions about brands, as well as explanations that help clear them up.

Brand Myths Busted

Myth 1: A brand is a logo.

Nope. A logo is part of a brand, but it is not THE brand. A logo is a symbol that over time begins to be associated with a brand, but a logo on its own is not a brand. A brand is a story, and that story is told in different ways to different people. A logo’s job is to help make the story consistently recognizable to different people over time. A logo is nothing more than a symbol. The symbol gets stronger the more it’s used and recognized. Building a brand is much more than creating a logo. A community brand is how people greet each other, how they live together and how they grow together, their shared perceptions and vision and the conversations they have together about their future. A logo is simply a symbol that becomes associated with their story and their way of doing things, over time.

Myth 2: Branding our community means changing everything.

No way! Strengthening Kimberley’s brand isn’t about creating a whole new story or changing the existing one. Telling a story that’s not true is called lying. Strengthening Kimberley’s story is simply about best expressing Kimberley’s real and authentic story in the way it deserves to be told. That may mean expressing the pride of people who live in an incredible place. And it might mean discovering areas of Kimberley’s story (how we live, how we interact with each other) that can be improved. Kimberley’s branding initiative needs your thoughts and comments to ensure Kimberley’s story is authentic and reflects who Kimberley is today, and who Kimberley wants to be tomorrow. It doesn’t mean our story changes, as much as how we tell our story changes.

Myth 3: This brand process won’t do much.

A brand is a story, and a story is a brand. A story won’t do anything unless it is told. Imagine this: there are two folks selling apples, the apples are identical in every way. The apple sellers each have apple orchards situated right next to each other. They pick their apples at the same time. They water them and grow them the same way. They take their apples to market on the same day. But when they get to market, they do things very differently. One seller dumps his apples on the ground and waits for people to come buy them.

The other seller carefully places her apples in a display, and calls out to people in the market place, telling the story of where her apples came from, how they taste and how they might improve their health. At the end of the day, guess whose apples are being enjoyed by happy customers? Guess whose apple story is being told and retold. That’s right, the one who told their story best. Brands demonstrate pride, connect with people, give them a reason to experience a story or product and differentiate it from their competition. And a good story, told well, is often what keeps apple growers growing apples. Now, how ’bout them apples?

Why is a brand important?

Kimberley is a great community, with exceptional people and stories. However, there are many other areas in British Columbia, Canada, and the world that also possess incredible people and stories. A brand helps to identify and strengthen those things that we want to differentiate us from other places, and it helps us to best express the vision, goals, attitude and spirit of our community.

A brand is an expression of who we are to the rest of the world, and who we want to be to our community.

It’s what makes us distinct and what differentiates us from others. A solid brand offers compelling reasons to be proud of our region and to participate in Kimberley’s experience. A solid brand means our story is not just heard, but that it is remembered, retold, and most importantly, best experienced by those who live here and those we might share our community with.

But the most important aspect of a brand is that it gets us sharing our story, hopes and vision with each other. A community is a group of people not just living together, but communicating tighter. A community is largely our collective conversation. Strengthening our brand ensures we are talking together about our possibilities and opportunities for our community, and that our story moves us together into the future, in the best way possible.

How you can help…

As we begin to strengthen our brand, we’re looking for feedback from our story’s most important people, the people who live in Kimberley!

There’s a survey available online until Dec. 15 at www.KimberleySurvey.com The survey asks simple questions about what makes Kimberley distinct, why you value it, and why you think other people would value it. Please take the time to fill it out, and encourage your family, friends and neighbors to fill it out too. And if you know people from outside our region that know Kimberley, let them know too. There’s a survey for these visitors at www.KimberleyVisitorSurvey.com .

For those who might be interested in joining a group discussion about Kimberley’s story, please contact Kevin Wilson by Friday, November 30 at: [email protected] or 250-427-9666.

It’s our story, let’s discover how we can tell it best, together.

City of Kimberley

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