Black Diamond council approves new brand

lack Diamond councillors gave the thumbs up to a colourful new logo as part of the Town’s rebranding.

Council approved the heart-shaped logo with images representing nature, the arts, alternative energy, agriculture and Black Diamond’s history, as well as a new brand and the tagline “Heart of the Foothills,” during its Dec. 7 meeting.

Dave Geske, chairman of the economic development committee, told council before it made its decision that he strongly supports the proposed logo.

“Black Diamond is very proud of the different aspects of the community, because of those things we should be able to become an economic powerhouse and the centre of the Foothills, the heart of the Foothills,” he said.

The project began with Quinn Page, economic development and events co-ordinator, working with a consultant to gather input from residents, merchants and visitors.

The brand was created with feedback from an 18-question online survey completed by 199 people, a three-question paper survey completed by 70 people, in-depth interviews with 10 people and a community engagement session.

The cost of the consultant was covered by the Alberta Innovation and Advanced Education grant.

A survey was posted on the Town’s website last month to gather public input on the proposed brand.

“That’s quite unusual at that stage,” Geske told council. “It’s not something that a regular organization would do.”

The new brand came to the council table initially on Nov. 2, during which time members of council instructed Page to conduct a public survey to gauge support from citizens, business owners and visitors on the proposed logo, tagline and brand installments.

The results of the survey posted on the Town’s website from Nov. 7 to 18 showed that of the 211 people who took the survey 80 per cent were in favour of the brand statement and language and 11 per cent were not, 66 per cent supported the logo and 20 per cent did not and 65 per cent supported the tagline and 21 per cent didn’t. The remaining percentages represent those who were unsure.

The results also show that the highest support came from the 33 merchants who took the survey.

Coun. Jim Deacon told council he feels the public response is an indication that council should accept the brand as is.

“If we’ve had a number of people that live in town look at it and we’ve had surveys, I think we should go ahead with it and I think it’s going to work good,” he said.

Mayor Glen Fagan agreed.

“We are not professionals,” he said. “All we are going to be doing is second guess a lot of effort that’s put in here and I don’t think it’s really warranted.”

At November’s council meeting, some councillors suggested changing some of the imagery in the logo including making the centre more diamond shaped and putting the words “Town of Black Diamond” on the outside of the logo.

Some on council said they weren’t fond of “Heart of the Foothills” tagline and suggested that it be more specific, yet Geske told council last week that he disagrees with those earlier suggestions.

“Most brands try to be vague in their messaging so people can find the meaning of the brand itself,” he said. “Everybody will see the brand differently but if they like one piece of it they will adopt the brand.”

Geske said there are risks involved with making a brand too specific.

“If you say you’re a cowboy town you better have some cowboys walking around town,” he said. “If you say you have artists you better have galleries and artists walking around. Otherwise the authenticity of the brand is destroyed.”

Geske told council that the economic development committee fully supports the brand.

“There’s experts involved here,” she said. “I would suggest the experts really know what they’re talking about.”

Coun. Jackie Stickel said she likes the tagline, except the fact that “art” in “Heart” is underlined.

“There is more here than art,” she said.

Page said modifications will be made to the tagline imagery and the brand will be launched in early 2017.