Ask Wilmington’s business community to define the city’s identity. Reach out to residents of unincorporated New Hanover County for their perspective. Put it to the natives, tourists, students and nonprofits in the lower Cape Fear. From all corners, answers are sure to differ wildly, but officials say there’s got to be some commonality in this small, southeast corner of North Carolina.
The best of it–whatever it may be–could figure into the area’s “brand,” and that’s the target of a new initiative in discussion between the City of Wilmington, New Hanover County, the area’s beach towns and various other partners with stakes in economic development and tourism.
It’s not a re-branding; officials involved are calling it an essential first-time effort to shape an attractive message from the greater Wilmington area to outsiders.
“The branding initiative gives you an identity that you can sell,” said Beth Schrader, strategy and policy manager for the county, during a Monday morning meeting at Wilmington City Hall with city council members and staff.
“A brand is a perception–and a promise that we will deliver on that promise,” said a slide projected on the wall. “What sets our area apart from all of the other southern historic coastal areas?”
While tourism–a major industry on its own, here–is slated to benefit from the branding effort, economic development is the overarching cause, said Roger Johnson, assistant to the city manager for development.
It follows what was billed as an economic-development shake-up for the Wilmington metro area, which earlier this year saw a dramatic population loss. It wasn’t a case of exodus; the federal Office of Management and Budget had simply redrawn the boundary of the Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and removed from it all of Brunswick County.
The loss of Brunswick County, now part of the Myrtle Beach MSA, anchored in South Carolina, meant a population decline of at least 112,500 residents–or 30 percent–for the Wilmington MSA (now just New Hanover and Pender counties). Private consultants like Jay Garner of Garner Economics LLC of Atlanta have said MSA populations and related data factor in significantly when industries are looking for sites where they can invest in new facilities. (Related stories)
That did not enter the discussion Monday morning at City Hall, but Johnson did say branding would be a crucial way to manage the Wilmington area’s reputation. Seventy-one percent of capital investment deals do not follow contact with any development organization until a short list of potential partners comes together, he said. “Translation: 71 percent of the time, a community’s reputation is what gets them on a short-list.”
In development is a “Brand Identity Leadership Team,” or BILT, to include representatives from various organizations focused on workforce development, education, business large and small, economic development, infrastructure and other community functions.
A key component–and one that would spare the expense on an outside contractor–is the involvement of UNCW, which has volunteered free data-gathering and analysis, officials said Monday, noting the university would benefit by incorporating students into the process to so they can build real-world skills.
A team of undergraduate and grad students, faculty and administrators has already been assembled to capture the data, said Jenni Harris, UNCW’s assistant to the chancellor for community partnerships. She said surveying across a variety of platforms–on numerous governmental and private websites as well as in person, man-on-the-street style–will bring in vital material for the branding.
“We want the survey to be as accessible to as many people as possible,” said Harris. Residents, tourists, business owners and community leaders–“everyone” with an interest here– would speak to the area’s qualities and direction, information the UNCW team would compile and analyze for a report to BILT by early December, she explained.
BILT, if all goes as planned, would reveal the region’s new brand and “brand promise” by March 2014. The community would learn details of an associated action plan by the end of that June. Implementation would begin July 1.
“Conceptually, this is awesome,” said Wilmington Councilman Neil Anderson, explaining he’d been wondering about a way to press the region’s “reset” button for a new consciousness of identity. “You can’t sell if you don’t know what you’re selling,” he said. “This is very exciting to me.”
But Councilwoman Laura Padgett, while not voicing opposition, warned about unexpected outcomes and asked that the area’s governing boards be kept apprised of the direction the brand-shaping process is headed. She noted a study several years ago in which a paid consultant examined the identity of downtown Wilmington.
“It was a well-done study, it was well-presented, it was probably very factual, and it basically came back and said, you know, the benefit of downtown, and the direction downtown is heading, and the reason people like downtown, is because it’s funky,” Padgett recalled.
It was not a well-received conclusion, she said.
“It fell off a cliff because the public and the people who were in downtown didn’t see it that way. They did not get it. They didn’t understand where that information came from. And nothing ever came of it.
“I would hate to see something like that happen with this larger, more critical effort,” Padgett said.
UNCW’s Harris said the model being followed is “branding 101,” and that plenty of research has gone into the approach. “The model is exactly” what paid consultants often use, she said. Public officials would, though, be able to see the information reported to BILT, she told Padgett.
Officials said the plan as pitched Monday will go before the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners on July 15 and later to the county’s beach towns and larger private or nonprofit entities.
Related story: Report: Battleship has notable economic impact, serves as ‘brand’ for community
Undetermined is the actual geographic boundary to brand. “It may be northern Brunswick [County] as well,” said Johnson, but the project’s team hasn’t yet asked the area’s support.
Councilman Charlie Rivenbark figured north Brunswick would want on board.
“We often spend a lot of time and money and effort trying to brand southeastern North Carolina,” he said. “When people move to … [Leland’s] Waterford, they don’t tell their friends back home they’re moving to Waterford in Brunswick County. They’re ‘moving to Wilmington. ‘”
Ben Brown is a news reporter at Port City Daily. Reach him at [email protected] or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter: @benbrownmedia
