Clearview gets branded

A brand is more than a logo.

With that statement, two representatives from the Cundari “concept company” presented the brand strategy they had spent six months developing for Clearview, which Council approved on Monday night.

“A brand,” explained Dean Martin, Cundari’s Creative Director of Branding and Design, “is the sum total of the experiences created for stakeholders.”

According to Cundari, the essence of Clearview is fulfillment. That is why the brand they have developed makes this promise: “In Clearview Township, you’ll live your best life.”

The new logo is merely a stand-in for the entire brand, Martin explained.

Martin and his colleagues developed the brand using information they gathered from workshops with stakeholders and input from members of the public.

From those meetings, they learned what Clearview thinks of itself. Residents said that the area is community-minded, family-oriented and respectful of the land. It also values integrity and is accepting and welcoming to people who bring new ways of thinking and living to Clearview.

As part of the process, residents were asked to describe the character of the place. The results pointed to a people who are proud of their roots; grounded in responsibility, authenticity, honesty and practicality; uncomplicated due to a clarity of purpose; spirited and energetic; as well as warm.

“These are the emotional connections that are implicit in the brand,” Martin explained.

He went on to present standards and guidelines for using the logo in print, and on signs and vehicles.

He and his colleague, Jamie Walters, Account Director, proposed that Clearview start using the new logo immediately on its website, tourism brochure, entry signs, trail signs, and internal and external communications. They also suggested that festivals and events be identified, promoted and marketed using the new brand.

Martin and Walters recommended that in 2015, Clearview’s budget include funds for marking all Township vehicles with the new brand, redesigning logos and crests to incorporate the new logo, and creating welcome signs for each settlement area. They suggested that the Township consider developing a program for businesses to promote products that are made in Clearview using the new logo, too.

During the public participation period, Nottawa resident Christine Davidson questioned the cost of repainting and decalling signs and trucks, calling the expense “a waste of money.”

However, Counsellor Brent Preston, who initiated the branding exercise and chairs the Economic Development Committee, said that all brands have a life cycle. He maintained that after using the current logo for 20 years, the Township would be revising its look at this time anyway.

After two years of using the new brand, Cundari recommended that Clearview commission research to measure its effectiveness. This would include quantifying brand awareness, community satisfaction, tourism and business growth.

They also proposed using research findings to update the brand strategy by identifying marketing, tourism and economic development opportunities associated with the Clearview brand.

When confronted by members of the public who did not support the new brand or the process the Township used to develop it, Preston asked people to remember that Clearview didn’t have a brand before. “We had a logo,” he said, “but not a brand.”

While Mayor Ken Ferguson admitted he had voted against the branding exercise in the past, he said he was impressed by the public participation in the process.

“Tonight, [Cundari] presented what we told them. There is much more to it than this picture you see on the wall,” he said, referring to the new logo.

“What got me was the input from the public, the youth, the workshops,” Ferguson continued.

“Tonight, [Cundari] presented what we told them. They listened to who we are. It didn’t come from them, it came from us.”

After a lengthy comment period from the Counsellors, Clearview voted 5 to 3 to adopt the new brand strategy, with Thom Paterson, Doug Measures and Orville Brown opposed. (Counsellor Robert Walker was absent).