ATTACHMENT ‘A’
CITY BRANDING + VIBRANCY STRATEGIES
Project Framework
Projects like the City of Victor Harbor’s City Branding and City Vibrancy Strategies have several
steps which ensure community ownership, balanced with budget management and organisational
oversight. This document outlines the project “framework”.
Note: within this framework it will be clear how the City Branding and City Vibrancy
strategies are interrelated.
For a City Vibrancy strategy to be authentic, sustainable and enhance people's experience of the
town, it is essential that the activities reflect the brand, and vice versa. This is why we are
developing these two projects at the same time.
Step One: Identifying the key issues
1.1 Unclear Victor Harbor brand
The reason for including this strategy as a key activity in
Council’s Annual Business Plan is that the Heritage
Committee, Tourism Committee and Economic
Development Committee all noted that Victor Harbor’s
brand, and the way it is represented in the media and
public realm is unclear.
Other stakeholders such as SA Tourism Commission and
the Fleurieu Tourism Board have echoed this sentiment.
The brand of Victor Harbor as a place is more than just our
logo - it's about the activities that occur within it, especially
arts and cultural activities.
A well thought through City Vibrancy Strategy for Victor
Harbor will be easier to develop once we have clarified
what the key brand attributes that most reasonable people
who are passionate about the town and its surrounding
landscape would agree 'rings true'.
1.2 Disengaged majority, Vocal minority
In most communities it is the actively vocal minority that
express their thoughts and ideas in community
consultation.
What is a brand and
why is it different from a
logo?
A logo is like a stamp that is
designed to visually represent a
place or an organisation. A brand
is all the ideas and values that
sum up the essence of what
makes a place or an organisation
distinctive or unique. A brand is a
set of words that ring true when
associated with that place or
organisation. Often logos include
the name of a place or
organisation, maybe a graphic
device or image - and a catchphrase that evokes a call to
action. In the case of Victor
Harbor it's about the place - and it
is not the same thing as council's
corporate logo.
In projects such as these, where it is important to get broad
and quality engagement in the ideas such that there is
strong “buy in” for the outcomes, it is important to do everything we can do to reach out to
more of the disengaged majority. This means that a different type of consultation process is
called for that can reach more people.
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CITY OF VICTOR HARBOR
Community Champions Reference Group: Terms of Reference
1.3 Council lacks a community framework to facilitate and stimulate arts and cultural
activities in Victor Harbor
This means it is also difficult for our community to access funding and opportunities from State
and Federal government bodies.
1.4 Unclear what the community desires in terms of arts and cultural activities,
implementation and opportunities
Step 2: Outlining desired outcomes
Desired outcomes will be defined through the engagement process, however, having some
desired outcomes at the outset will assist in creating the framework. Initial proposed outcomes
include:
2.1 A brand for Victor Harbor that is:
•
Genuine (reflects the place well)
•
Unique (distinctive)
•
Competitive.
Meaning that new residents, tourists and businesses are more likely to choose Victor Harbor
over a competing town or place, and current residents are more likely to stay.
It is our aim that Victor Harbor’s brand:
•
is something that the community believes in and is proud
•
is attractive to visitors
•
is user friendly for a broad range of implementation contexts.
•
helps to assist in defining the types of arts and cultural activities and implementation that
are facilitated and encouraged in Victor Harbor.
2.2 An implementation plan for the brand
A plan will be developed for how and where the brand will be used including a timeline, pricing
and a funding plan. For example the brand could be implemented through tourism marketing,
signage and entry statements, in public places and spaces. Note, it is expected that this plan
would be prepared to inform the 2015/16 budget process and would probably involve
implementation across several financial years.
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CITY OF VICTOR HARBOR
Community Champions Reference Group: Terms of Reference
2.3 A City Vibrancy (Arts & Cultural) Policy
A Policy that defines the community’s aspirations and expectations in terms of arts and
cultural activity, implementation and opportunities in Victor Harbor, and how they perceive
these activities can assist in sustaining and reinforcing the brand or place of Victor Harbor.
The Policy should also include Council’s role in facilitating these activities
2.4 A community engaged in the City Vibrancy policy and ready to participate in the
preparation of a plan
In order for the City Vibrancy policy to be of value, a strategy to implement it will be required. If
the community have been engaged in the policy development, and the policy reflects their
ideas, they will be ready to participate in the formulation of a strategy to implement the policy.
Step 3: Getting permission from the community
For a strategy to work, there must be implicit permission from the community. It is often the case
with government organisations, such as Councils, that the community has many pre-existing
assumptions, and an inherent suspicion of the Council, as an organisation.
For a strategy such as this to be successful it is necessary to engender “permission”. Council has,
for some years, overcome this through the use of advisory and section 41 Committees, to form a
link between the community and the Council.
To this end, a “Community Champions Reference Group” will be formed comprising community
volunteers and members of the Tourism and Economic Development Committees. It is proposed
that this group lead the first phase of “ideas generating” consultation, such that it is community led,
with community members seeking input and ideas from other community members.
Step 4: Getting permission from Council
As much as the project requires permission from the community at its genesis, it also requires a
commitment from Council to the strategy and the pursuit of a community lead process. Council has
provided a commitment to the strategy through including the activity in its Annual Business Plan,
and by endorsing the framework and project commencement.
Step 5: Assemble Project Group
The next step involves forming the project group, including the “Community Champions” and
internal stakeholders.
At this stage the desired outcomes are refined and committed to by the group. Planning and
construction of the “idea generating” consultation process including the framing of questions and
the planning of engagement occurs.
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CITY OF VICTOR HARBOR
Community Champions Reference Group: Terms of Reference
Step 6: Ideas generating consultation (Phase One consultation)
An identified issue is the engagement of the disengaged majority. Staff have conducted research
into making community engagement informal and fun, as a method for engaging the disengaged
minority.
Key to this type of engagement is running events and activities in places and spaces where
community members go about their daily business eg Victor Central, the Victor Harbor Farmers
Markets, the Mainstreet and Foreshore precincts, and including activities that attract them to the
consultation event, and making sharing ideas fun. Surveys are out, post it notes and coloured
textas are in! It is envisaged artists will be engaged to facilitate the idea sharing process in ways
that attract attention and draw the ideas together in unique ways.
There is also value in the community champions attending and facilitating the ideas sharing, this
makes the activity more personalised, and less sterile.
Other strategies could involve a call for community members to upload a photo or a picture that
describes their “favourite thing about Victor Harbor” to a website with a caption.
Step 7: Collation of ideas and formulation of ideas into brand
concepts and a draft policy
This is the next milestone, where the community’s ideas are formulated into formal concepts.
In the City Branding Project those formal concepts would lead to the development of a range of
example logos and words that incorporate the communities ideas as well as a range of
implementation ideas e.g. this brand could be used in an entry statement or in a banner in this
way. These concepts would be brought to Council who could then endorse the concepts to go out
for formal consultation.
In the City Vibrancy Project, the ideas would be formulated into a draft policy. This policy would be
brought to Council who could then endorse the draft policy for formal consultation
Step 8: Formal consultation (Phase two consultation)
This would involve formal consultation on the brand concepts and City Vibrancy Policy such as a
display in The Times and on the Council website, and possible static displays.
Step 9: Selection of a final brand concept and endorsement of a
final policy
Selection of a Brand concept by Council based on the results of the formal consultation.
Endorsement of a City Vibrancy Policy based on the results of the formal consultation.
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CITY OF VICTOR HARBOR
Community Champions Reference Group: Terms of Reference
Step 10: Converting the brand concept into detailed designs, and
an implementation plan (City Branding Strategy).
The detailed designs and branding implementation plan would then be presented to Council for
approval and would inform the 2015/16 Budget process.
Step 11: Implementation (across 2 to 5 years)
Integrating the place brand into Tourism Marketing materials, building entry statements and
banners etc.
Next project: Development of a City Vibrancy Strategy and
Action Plan
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