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Seguin's Brand

Influencing What OtherPeople Say About Us (when we are not in the room)

Column by Tess Coody-Anders Aerial photo by Nick Spence

By virtue of simply being alive and American, we see an average of 10,000 marketing messages each day. Our brains are wired to filter, block and sort information so that only that which resonates, sticks. In this world of too much information, branding matters - and not just for products and services. Cities and downtown neighborhoods need to cultivate brands, too, to compete for employers, visitors, new taxpayers, and to unite and galvanize their own citizens. Think of it this way: most companies have 3-5 competitors. A city has almost 20,000 in American alone.

It’s called place branding, and it’s about far more than a logo or tagline. Here’s a great definition from an expert named Bill Baker: “A place brand is the totality of thoughts, feelings and expectations people hold about a location. It’s the character, reputation and enduring essence of a place and represents a distinctive promise of value and a sense of place. Most importantly, it’s a valued promise that is grounded in truth and reality.”

Our community’s growth and expansion creates a real opportunity - and an imperative - for us to develop our own story. That’s what a brand does. It becomes a rallying point for its citizens (Sword’s Up, Matadors!) and a guiding light for decisionmakers to stay “on brand.”

Ultimately, in the absence of efforts to cultivate a brand (not just a tagline or a logo), one will develop organically. What three words would you use to describe Seguin to someone? What about downtown Seguin? Imagine the same

exercise for a neighboring community, like New Braunfels. Where do your impressions of that community come from?

Consider the example of Georgetown, north of Austin, which began a branding campaign in 2004 following their city’s long-range visioning process. The result was an iconic script “G” and a focus on messaging Georgetown as the city with the “most beautiful town square in Texas.” Their subsequent communications, logo, tagline and marketing efforts were centered around the following core values:

• Respected

• Intimate Quality – of accomplishment, fulfillment, realization

• Familiarity/Familiar

• Community – family

• Friendly

• Harmonious

• Thinking ahead

• Progressive

• Gracious

• Informal

• Discriminating

• Finest neighbor/ good neighbor

• Small town

• Nostalgia

• Distinctive

• Continuity

• Deep roots