A request from Meaford CAO Frank Miele to spend $81,000 over the next three years on replacement signage bearing the new municipal logo and slogan sparked debate amongst members of council not about the need for updated signage, but over the slogan itself.
The slogan “The Other Big Apple” was unveiled by Miele on March 14 of this year as the new branding direction for the municipality.
Miele said at the time that it was his desire to bring humour into the marketing of the municipality, and for that reason he decided to move forward with a comparative marketing campaign in which Meaford will be compared to New York City.
To help usher in his new branding concept, Miele enlisted the services of the Scarecrow kazoo marching band who played a rendition of “New York, New York” as a custom made scarecrow in the image of the Statue of Liberty was carried into the council chamber.
In a report presented to council last night (Monday September 12), Miele said that updating municipal signage is the next step in the municipal branding process.
“The Meaford Economic Development Strategy identified that one of the top priorities before embarking on the four identified pillars of the strategy was to develop a logo and a slogan or a tag line in order to differentiate Meaford from other rural communities,” read Miele's report, “The Branding Meaford Report that was adopted unanimously by council on March 28th, 2011 determined that Meaford was the …other big apple with a slight facelift to the original logo. The report further noted that municipal branding was required for many reasons; one being to create consistency in signage, street identification and municipal facilities.”
Councillor James McIntosh was the first to express concern about the longevity of the newly adopted slogan saying that spending $81,000 to replace municipal signs and including the slogan might not be prudent.
“I don't want the slogan on the signs in case it changes in the future,” said McIntosh adding that it would create further expense in years to come if the municipality decided to revise their marketing strategy which would result in the need to replace the signs again.
Councillor Barb Clumpus agreed with McIntosh.
“It was my understanding that the slogan was separate from the logo,” Clumpus told Miele and her fellow councillors.
“I've been in this business for over 30 years,” Miele shot back, “And my experience is that you identify a community with a logo and a slogan.”
Miele told council that in his opinion the logo and slogan should not be used separately.
Clumpus went on to say that she has been hearing a lot of negative comments about the slogan.
“People are saying that we are not the other big apple, that we don't want to be known as the other big apple,” Clumpus told council.
The process to re-brand Meaford began in early 2010 when the services of marketing consultant Linda Reader were engaged to develop a new image for the municipality.
Reader spent a considerable amount of time over several weeks during the summer of 2010 visiting with local businesses, service clubs, and residents in general, to learn what made Meaford special, and to discover how those most intimately connected to Meaford viewed themselves and their community.
Two public input sessions were also held at Meaford Hall and Woodford Hall which allowed residents to offer their thoughts about how to market Meaford.
Contacted by phone Tuesday, Reader told The Independent that in spite of all of her work, and input from the public, Miele had wanted to use the slogan “the other big apple” from the outset of the branding exercise.
“From the get-go Frank mentioned 'the other big apple' and that he liked it,” said Reader.
She said that when she presented her first round of logo and slogan options to Miele he asked where the design for 'the other big apple' was.
“I thought he was joking,” Reader told The Independent, “But we went back and re-worked the designs.”
When Reader made her presentation to Meaford council on August 9 of 2010, she presented three options of her firm's own design as well as two options which used the slogan 'the other big apple'.
Reader told The Independent that there was no support on council for 'the other big apple' and they instead seemed to be leaning toward an option that included the slogan 'Shaped by the shore.'
That option also appeared to have some support in the community. A poll which was conducted on The Meaford Independent website the week that the brand options were unveiled saw 37.6 percent of participants preferring the 'Shaped by the shore' option while 'The other big apple' option finished in last place with just 7.4 percent support.
“Branding is the way you attract investment, and it needs to set you apart and identify what is unique about your community,” said Reader Tuesday morning, “I would never compare one community to another.”
With the previous council unable to come to a consensus about which branding option to support, and with the municipal election approaching in just two months, Miele advised council to postpone any decision of a direction for a new brand campaign until after the new council was elected.
The newly elected council however, was never asked to discuss or debate the branding options that had been created by Reader's consulting firm, nor were they presented to the new council.
Instead, on March 14 of this year Miele unveiled 'The other big apple' as the new branding direction for the municipality, and the new council unanimously approved the branding design as presented.
The former manager of Meaford's Chamber of Commerce, Jamie Pettit, told The Independent in a phone interview Tuesday morning that Miele presented the new branding direction to the board of the Chamber of Commerce on March 9- five days before taking it to council.
Pettit said that Miele was confident in the branding initiative and when asked how he thought council would receive it, Pettit says that Miele was blunt.
“We aren't going to ask council's permission,” Pettit says Miele told the Chamber board, “We are going to advise them of what we are doing.”
When asked to comment on the remarks made by Councillor Clumpus that she had been hearing negative feedback about 'the other big apple' slogan, Miele told The Independent that he hasn't heard any negative comments.
“I haven't had any negative feedback to be honest with you,” offered Miele, “I've only heard positive feedback.”
“If there are concerns that maybe the slogan is a problem with some, this is the first I've heard of it. So my opinion would be, as a professional, that we proceed forward as council has directed me to do in March of this year. Between March and now I haven't really heard anything negative, other than being extremely positive everywhere we go,” said Miele.
As for the suggestion that new signage should include the new logo but not the slogan, Miele was firm in his assertion that they should not be separated.
“The slogan is part of the logo. They go together,” explained Miele, “So whenever we use the logo, it goes with the slogan. We're trying to create a brand. If we go on the basis of thinking that maybe five years from now we'll change our mind – well then don't begin the process now.”
On this point, Miele and Reader agree. Reader told The Independent that whatever logo and slogan the municipality has decided to approve, the logo and slogan should appear together on everything from letterhead to signs.
Miele added that the municipality needs to be looking ahead by 10 or 20 years, and should be working to develop the brand that has been approved in an attempt to attract investment into the community.
“The mindset has to be united, and to focus on the whole thing,” said Miele.
Council decided to hold off on voting on the proposal put forward by Miele – which also included a plan to establish a 'Friends of Meaford Signage' committee that would “provide community feedback and act as a resource to staff and council” - until a later date.
You can have your say in our latest TMI poll. Are you comfortable with Meaford being branded with the slogan “The other big apple”? Vote in our poll today.
Votes in TMI polls are limited to one per computer IP.
