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PCSR INFO 08-09-2011INFORMATION Barnhart, Jeremy From: Miller, Jessica Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 10:47 AM To: Haug, Rebecca; Deckert, Annie; Czech, Rich; Stoffers, Mick (micks@grrl.lib.mn.us); Benoit, Steve; Barnhart, Jeremy; Adams, Troy Cc: Allard, Tina; Thistle, Bob Subject: Final Branding and Marketing Presentation Attachments: Branding Memo to all Boards.pdf Attached is an informational memo from Director of Economic Development Annie Deckert regarding Elk River's branding and marketing. The Economic Development Authority will be holding a joint meeting on Monday, September 12, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. to receive the final branding and marketing presentation by chandlerthixiks. ALL board and commission members are invited to attend this meeting. Please pass this meeting information and the attached memo on to your board or commission members as soon as possible. It can be included with your next packet if time permits. One special meeting notice has been prepared covering all boards and commissions so it is not necessary for you to prepare any other meeting notices for this meeting. ~k Please let me know by August 31 how many of your board/commission members plan to attend. ~k Thank you, Jessica Jessica Miller ~ City of Elk River ~ 13065 ©rono Parkway ~ Elk River, MN 55330 ~ 763.635.1004 Office ~ 763.635.1090 Fax ~ www.ci.elk-river.mn.us MEMORANDUM ~~~ TO: City Boards and Commissions FROM: Annie Deckert, Director of Economic Development DATE: August I , 20 I I :SUBJECT: Final Branding and Marketing .Presentation- chandlerthinks WHAT IS BRANDING? "Your brand is what people say about you behind your back" What do people (residents, businesses, employees, outsiders, etc.) see when they look at our community? We want to ensure they see a community working together and a City that gives off a strong, unified message. A branding and marketing plan will send a unified message to the community as well as those outside of Elk River. Currently, there are different messages that the City conveys to the community, businesses and outsiders. Some of the examples include: Elk Giver Economic Development location-~ciency-innovation The Light Industrial Hub of the Northwest Metro Elk Kiver Parks and Recreation Helpingyou lead an active, healthy lifestyle. Elk River Energy City Energy City provides the opportunity for the City of Elk Kiver to be a hub of energy technology, energy manufacturing energy demonstrations, recycling use ofgreen products and education. This may cause confusion and may not portray Elk River as having a solid identity. These different messages may create the misconception that different departments within the City do .not work together, when in reality, they do. It may also appear that there is no cohesive message of the City. To encourage economic growth it is beneficial that communities have a strong and competitive image. Think about some of your favorite brands...what do you think of when you think of Target? Wal-Mart? There's a good chance that you don't think the same thing about each of the big boxes. Think of some communities throughout Minnesota...what comes to mind when you think of Stillwater? Maple Grove? Ely? No two brands or communities make us think or feel the C:\Users\jmiller\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\GWL3I79K\Branding Memo to all Boards.doc same thing. Our goal is to find out what people think about us, and to use that information to best market our community and utilize our assets to maximize Elk River's exposure. BACKGROUND At the December 13, 2010 Elk River Economic Development Authority meeting, the EDA authorized staff to move forward with a branding and marketing strategy. This is an action step that will support the 2011 Vision and Goals, approved by the F1k River City Council. This process has been identified as a priority of the EDA and City Council. To create a sense of ownership and pride in the brand, it is important that the brand represent the entire community and accurately reflects the thoughts,perceptions and opinions of those in our community. It is difficult to stand behind a brand you don't believe in. The more relevant and resonant a brand feels to us, the more we believe in it, and the more we have a sense of belonging to it. The EDA authorized the creation of a branding subcommittee to assist staff and the branding consultant chandlerthinks in facilitating the process. The subcommittee is comprised of the following members: Tina Allard, City Clerk Steve Benoit, Parks and Recreation Andy Christensen, Heritage Construction Annie Deckert, Director of Economic Development Pat Dwyer, Economic DevelopmentAuthority Commissioner Larry Farber, Sherburne County Commissioner Jay Lusignan, Vision-Ease Lens Michelle Martindale, Elk River Municipal Utilities Brad Rolfe, Chief of Police Alan Sakry, Chamber of Commerce Board Chair Wendy Simenson, Downtown River's Edge Business Association Ron Touchette, Economic Development Authority President Nick Zerwas, City Council PROCESS Branding consultant chandlerthinks was in Elk River April 27-29 to begin the market research for this project which included a community tour, approximately 25 one-on-one interviews with stakeholders, three focus groups and numerous mystery shops throughout Elk River. The group also completed mystery shops in Big Lake, Ramsey, Anoka, Maple Grove and Minneapolis to find out their community's thoughts and perceptions about Elk River. Using the information collected from the visit, chandlerthinks created two customized surveys; one for the community and one for employees. These surveys were executed early June to gather community input. Community input and involvement is not only crucial to this process, but will create buy-in .and support of the final brand plan. Similar surveys were executed throughout the Metro area to determine their opinions and perceptions of Elk River. Chandlerthinks was in Elk River July 18 and presented the research results to the branding subcommittee. In addition, he provided the proposed brand promise/positioning statement. The brand positioning statement is an internal strategy for driving and measuring the direction of C:\Users\jmiller\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporazy Internet Files\Contentoutlook\GWL3I79K\Branding Memo to all Boards.doc city/community branding efforts. It is not something that literally gets communicated in a broadcast manner throughout the community; it is something to fuel and inspire messaging for advertising, websites, names of community events, programs, etc. Communicating to residents or externally for marketing to others needs to reflect the spirit of the statement. It will be used by key Elk River brand driving organizations such as the City of Elk River, and other interested organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, Arts Alliance, River's Edge Business Association, etc. Input and suggestions from the committee have been incorporated into the final brand and two- year plan. This meeting is also intended to build momentum, instill pride, confidence and buy-in of the plan. Final presentation of the brand and two-year strategic marketing plan to best support the brand will be presented not only to the EDA and Council for approval, but to all interested board and commission members, City staff, the branding subcommittee and all who participated in the initial marketresearch to engage and prepare them to help champion the brand. Finally, chandlerthinks will be holding `train the trainer' sessions with City staff, interested organizations and civic groups to demonstrate how the community brand can be incorporated to their respective marketing efforts. This will provide the tools needed to explain, advocate for, interpret and integrate the brand strategies and tactics into their work in the community. NEXT .STEPS Staff will be seeking authorization to approve and adopt the final brand and strategic marketing plan. This plan will be executed by the Assistant Economic Development Director under the supervision of the Director of Economic Development and City Administrator. The brand plan will be revisited one pear after execution and applicable tune-ups will be made. Staff plans on revisiting the plan annually. Citizen Satisfaction Survey After approving the 2011 Vision and Goals on May 16, the City Council authorized staff to enter into a contract with chandlerthinks to execute a citizen satisfaction survey. Executing this survey is a step that will allow us to support two goals identified in the visioning process: "Develop neaa~ programs and services to meet the needs of the community", and "Enhance and Expand community Involvement and public participation" in addition to supporting a number of tasks that rely on a better understanding of City residents, and how they use, receive, and want city information and services. This survey will help us understand the state of existing programs offered by the city, how and if they are used, as well as help us identify any new programs, services or processes that should be offered. We will also learn how citizens currently receive information, as well as their preferences moving forward. Completing this survey is necessary to allow staff to obtain an accurate representation of the voice of the community and gain a better understanding of the needs of our residents in several key areas related to the provision of services. This information will ultimately be used to form and communicate recommendations for the Council's use. C:\Users\jmiller\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\GwL3I79K\Branding Memo to all Boards.doc The survey was available to residents the first half of July and data is currently being tabulated. Results and final report are anticipated to be complete sometime in August. Energy CitX Educational Event Series Staff partnered with the Environmental Department to hold the third event in a series of business educational events on June 1. Local lenders, business owners, property managers and realtors joined us at the Elk River Public Library to learn about the new Energy Efficiency Improvement Micro Loan Program, 2011 utility rebates and federal tax credits. This event was attended by approximately 30 people and a survey distributed at the event indicated high satisfaction. Staff has received several follow-up calls and inquiries regarding the Micro Loan Program. Restaurant Attraction and Recruitment Efforts Identifying the community's desire for additional restaurants, staff continues to proactively market Elk River as it relates to restaurant development. Staff has created a link on our city's website (www.ci.elk-river.mn.us/restaurants) tailored specifically for those looking for a location for their next restaurant. This site includes financial programs and incentives, available sites, a map showcasing specific restaurant pads and more. In addition, detailed demographics are provided for site selectors to be able to quickly determine if Elk River meets their site selection criteria. Major restaurant chains have site criteria which must be met before locating their restaurant in a community. The Elk River City Council recently approved a sewer access charge and water access charge payment program available for full service restaurants. Also approved by the Utilities Commission, this program is one of very few in the state which allows applicants to pay these fees over a period not to exceed five years, in conjunction with their utilitybill, instead at the time of building permit. This is a unique financing tool staff can use and partner with our Micro Loan program to utilize when responding to inquiries, meeting with developers and marketing our community. A direct mail outlining these incentives is anticipated to complete later this summer. An advertisement appears in the 2011-2012 Economic Development Association of Minnesota (EDAM) directory outlining this program, in addition to other programs and incentives attractive to developers. EDAM is a professional association of individuals and organizations (approximately S00 members) throughout the state of Minnesota who strive to advance economic development in the state. Staff attended a Retail & Restaurant Summit through the MN Real Estate Journal (MREJ) to hear about the current retail and restaurant climate, strategies, trends and opportunities. Staff has since spoken with the MREJ to provide additional information about available sites and financing programs to be considered for a future issue of the MREJ publication. Staff has begun working with a restaurant broker to raise awareness about available sites/property owners, financial programs/ incentives and demographics. Staff will continue to provide updates as they occur. C:\Users\jmiller\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\GWL3I79K\Branding Memo to all Boards.doc