South Frontenac getting into branding

Jeff Green | Oct 09, 2019

South Frontenac Township may well follow Frontenac County’s lead by creating its own brand, especially if CAO Neil Carbone has his way.

Carbone, who was heavily involved in Prince Edward County’s “The County” branding exercise and gave an impassioned presentation on the subject to Tuesday night’s Committee of the Whole meeting in Sydenham.

“Today’s successful destinations need to be branded like commercial products,” he said.

He noted campaigns like I Heart (Love) New York and Virginia Is For Lovers as successful campaigns.

But, he said, “you don’t want a hokey sort of thing with no science behind it.”

Carbone gave the example of Amsterdam’s three crosses that are sometimes misinterpreted.

“Does anybody know what this logo is from?” Carbone asked.

“Fifty years ago it would have meant wine,” quipped Mayor Ron Vandewal.

Council reaction was mixed ranging from Coun. Doug Morey’s unequivocal endorsement (“We need to take the reigns on our own identity,” Morey said) to Dep. Mayor Ron Sleeth’s guarded approval (“When you get 1,000s to Open Farms and the Pumpkin Festival, should we not be promoting ourselves to our city cousins and branding us as a destination?”) to Coun. Pat Barr’s questioning the need for such an exercise (“I wasn’t too crazy about the County’s idea so I don’t know if I can jump on this bandwagon. We hear talk of further amalgamation (so) wouldn’t this just be wasteful?).

Coun. Ray Leonard said he was for the idea.

Coun. Norm Roberts said he wasn’t against the idea but wondered what would happen to the crest/coat of arms the Township had done.

Carbone said that would be used for more official correspondence and applications.

Coun. Al Revill and Ross Sutherland had similar concerns.

“I don’t see us as being in competition with the County but I also don’t see how we’re going to identify as unique,” Revill said.

“The problem I have is that we’ve already paid for the County’s branding,” Sutherland said. “They’ve already got two full-time staff and we’re just the majority shareholder.

“I don’t see us selling merchandise alongside the County.”

“If you assume our purpose is to have swag beside theirs, then no, I don’t think that is our purpose,” said Carbone. “The majority of population growth is here and when the County is out promoting, I want them to use our message and I want to dictate what that message is.”

Carbone said one of the things South Frontenac is known for is being good at asset management and it’s important it’s recognized for that.

One of the more surprising supporters of the concept turned out to be Mayor Ron Vandewal, given that he was a vocal opponent when the County launched its branding campaign.

“When the County did its branding, I thought it was stupid,” Vandewal said. “But I was wrong.

“I was at an event in Orillia this guy came up to me and recognized the logo.

“Now, he was originally from this area, but still.”

Vandewal said that $40,000 over two years was not a lot of money out of the budget.

“I do think that in South Frontenac, we haven’t promoted ourselves enough.”

• • • •

Representing the South Frontenac Heritage Committee, Brad Barbeau told Council they’re putting together a list of places that could be designated as historical sites.

“That’s a lot different than composing a registry, so there’s no need to panic,” Barbeau said. “We’re also looking at a Doors Open initiative for 2020 and we’d have to have 10 sites to make it viable.”

He said they’re holding a workshop in the Council Chambers Nov. 27 from 2-7 p.m. on designating sites as heritage.

“It’s never been done in this community,” Barbeau said.

Coun. Ross Sutherland said he was in favour of creating a driving tour of historic sites.

“The historic walk of Sydenham we’ve had at the Lakes & Trails Festival has been growing every year,” Sutherland said.

• • • •

Brooks Gee, a founding member of the Canadian  Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists addressed Council asking for its support in promoting what he called “public education opportunities.”

Gee said they’re planning a session on Nov. 22 (he didn’t know where it was to be held yet) in conjunction with November being Take Action on Radon month.

“I’m here to petition Council to use your contacts and encourage people to attend,” he said.

“I know our CAO is aware of it and I assume we’ll promote it on our website,” said Mayor Ron Vandewal.

• • • •

Fire Chief Darcy Knott told Council that Dep. Fire Chief Alex Bennett’s vehicle would not be used for personal trips and in fact the Dep. Chief would only rarely be driving the truck home (to Smiths Falls).

“The only time he’d drive it home is if he has early official business the next morning or if I would be unavailable to respond (such as on vacation),” Knott said.