ECONOMIC

Community Branding (continued)
Clockwise from left: The city of Echo's logo includes the image of Echo Koontz, daughter of the town's founder; Gold Hill is
constructing a whitewater rapids park on the Rogue River; Estacada's logo is part of the city's new branding campaign highlighting
the Clackamas River and nearby natural resources.
“They really wanted something that was more tangible. They
felt downtown wasn’t really relatable and felt sort of staid.
They wanted a brand people could connect with more and be
proud of,” Levis said.
With “The Place to Be” as its tagline, Rochester developed
different icons that represent activities people enjoy, including
shopping, dining and entertainment. Levis also helped
the city with marketing plans for four key areas identified as
essential to a sophisticated urban experience.
“They really are still going after the same target audiences,
and those are downtown employees, the after-five crowd,
families and visitors,” she said.
Parker, AICP, co-director of the Community Service Center
and program director at the Community Planning Workshop
at the University of Oregon, said a community’s assets also
include production factors such as workforce, infrastructure
to support businesses, availability of capital, and resources—
natural and human—that create products.
As city leaders consider what makes their community unique,
it’s essential to inventory all assets, he said, adding his department
conducts community readiness assessments to help
municipalities determine economic development strategies.
As an example, Parker worked with the Oregon Wave Energy
Trust to examine Coos County’s readiness for the development
of wave energy in the region. Considerations included
whether the region has shipyards that can service wave energy
equipment on land, divers who can service them in the water
and training programs necessary to support the sector.
“The whole notion of looking at assets can be relative to looking
at what a community wants to accomplish,” he said. “It’s
also important for cities to realize they need to plan at least 10
years into the future because things don’t happen overnight.”
While data can be helpful as city leaders consider matters of
community identity, branding and economic development,
the answers don’t always lie in the data. Parker noted that
conversations with community members often provide a better
indicator and richer information.
“It really boils down to finding out what matters to your community.
One of the things that has changed during my career
is there is so much information available to all of us that it’s
almost overwhelming, so it’s important to ask community
members what matters to them,” he said.
City leaders from throughout Oregon recently shared their
experiences with community identity and branding.
Art, History Inspire Branding Campaign
for Echo
The Oregon Trail and Fort Henrietta were the images that
represented Echo until the Oregon Arts Commission helped
revamp the city’s brand through its Arts Build Communities
program. A representative from the program suggested the
branding campaign center around the image of Echo Koontz,
whose father founded the town.
With a grant from the Arts Build Communities program, the
city hired a Salem consulting company to develop several logo
designs for the city council and selection committee members
to choose from. Today the image can be seen on everything
from official stationary to the town’s bike racks, said City
Manager Diane Berry.
24 LOCAL FOCUS | June 2016 www.orcities.org