BOWDEN -- A consultant says council should exploit the "Bow" in Bowden, as in a bow and arrows -- or "bow wow," the bark of a dog -- in order to promote the town.
Chris Fields, the principal at Rynic Strategic Communications, made that suggestion during a presentation to council on May 13.
He said advertising of the town should be clean and simple, with a message that the community is moving forward.
Thus, he showed council a proposed logo that said "Bowden," only the "O" was a backward "C" reminiscent of a bow, with a stylized arrow that looked sort of like a paper airplane going through it at an upward angle.
"The notion being the analogy of an archer and a trajectory that is upward, onward, entrepreneurial, aspiring, going somewhere," Fields said.
Several councillors, including Carol Pion and Randy Brown who are members of the town's economic development committee, indicated support for the idea.
But Mayor Robb Stuart said he wasn't really sold on the proposed Bowden logo. He said he needed time to think about it.
Pion sympathized.
"I have to be honest with you, Robb. When I first saw that logo, I didn't know what it was. I missed it. I had to look at it one or two times to actually get it," she said.
In the end, council decided to bring up the matter for further discussion during a special meeting on May 23.
"In the world of brands, standing out from the crowd is really important. And you know that. If I give you a sea of green apples and one red apple, you'd see the red apple. We're just wired to see (what's) different," Fields said.
"The same goes for brands. You have to stand out from the crowd. What makes you different, better or unique, compared to other places? And that is where you focus your activity."
Fields said Bowden should market the fact that housing is comparatively cheap in the community.
He also noted the town has a large number of home-based businesses. He urged town officials to support those businesses.
Fields suggested going back to the old days when business owners lived above or behind their businesses. He and his company coined a phrase for that: "residenterprising."
So he showed a proposed ad that showed the head of a dog next to the words, "Bow Wow." Underneath, it said, "Show your residenterprising spirit." Also in the ad was the name Bowden, once again with the stylized bow and arrow.
"Rural communities, for lots of good reasons, will tend (to) have a more conservative mindset when it comes to expressing yourself in the marketplace," Fields said.
"The reality is the world is really noisy. You're competing with Nikes and fluffy cats and Youtube videos -- all of that world that is online.
"People have very short attention spans. We tend to just put a picture of our water tower up there and call it a day and say that we've connected with people. They don't.
"Unless you are interesting and break through that clutter, people will not be paying attention to you," he said.
Fields said at 1,200 residents, Bowden is just barely sustainable, according to Alberta's Municipal Affairs department. He said they peg 1,000 residents as the threshold for a sustainable community. Thus, he said, Bowden needs to grow to stay viable.
"You're Bowden, 1,200 people in a world of 8 billion people. Most of the world, quite frankly, doesn't care about smaller communities, so you've got to all be in the boat, rowing furiously together."
Fields said the town doesn't need to implement its marketing and growth strategy all at once. They can implement one aspect at a time, if need be.
"In my experience, consider your world (to be) like lily pads and you're just jumping from one to the other and the other. You may only have a budget to do one thing in one year," he said.
Pion and Brown agreed with that idea.
