A place for life

Place branding initiatives update the visual identity of an area once it outgrows its previous brand. Targeted marketing of a place raises stakeholder awareness of what certain areas can offer; place branding encourages different kinds of tourism and exploration. However, a brand update is also sometimes necessary for more practical purposes.

Preventing confusion with a place sharing a similar name is the issue which has befallen the Canada-based Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) and the Essex Region Conservation Foundation (ERCF). While the two bodies have now joined to launch a new logo and slogan under one name, each will also continue to operate under its current guise.

While separately, the ERCA implements conservation projects and programmes, and the ERCF is responsible for fundraising, the overarching enterprise is now known as Essex Region Conservation. The main identity is created under the concept ‘Place for Life’, which enhances the notion that every aspect of a community, from its parks to its pavements, to its citizens, are all intrinsically part of the same cycle.

Speaking to Canadian paper, the Windsor Star, Susan Stockwell Andrews, president of ERCF, says, “We went through a review process to see what we needed to be doing to increase the profile for the foundation. The feedback was that we needed to look at the relationship we had with the authority.”

Stockwell Andrew continues, “A committee was formed along with some experts in branding, and we worked together to create an identity that would increase the profile and tie in who we are as two organisations.”

This includes developing unique logos for the two bodies, while retaining uniform designs across the ERCF and ERCA which embody the overarching spirit of the ‘Place for Life’ movement. Three interlocking circles for the foundation reflect the environment, the economy and the community. In the authority’s logo, they represent sustainable water, land and life.

General manager and executive director of the foundation, Richard Wyma, says, “We’re strengthening the relationships and we’re also creating a greater awareness of not just the organizations but the important work that we do.”

Wyma continues, “The idea that we’re really trying to get across is that this is ‘the place for life’ so this isn’t just about new logos, it’s not about new colours, it’s not about any of that it’s about a new way of thinking about the work that we do.”