9. EDSR 08-08-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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same thing. Our goal is to find out what people think about us, and to use that information to best market our community and utilize our assets to maximize Elk River's exposure. BACKGROUND At the December 13, 2010 Elk River Economic Development Authority meeting, the EDA authorized staff to move forward with a branding and marketing strategy. This is an action step that will support the 2011 Vision and Goals, approved by the Elk River City Council. This process has been identified as a priority of the EDA and City Council. To create a sense of ownership and pride in the brand, it is important that the brand represent the entire community and accurately reflects the thoughts, perceptions and opinions of those in our community. It is difficult to stand behind a brand you don't believe in. The more relevant and resonant a brand feels to us, the more we believe.in it, and the more we have a sense of belonging to it. The EDA authorized the creation of a branding subcommittee to assist staff and the branding consultant chandlerthinks in facilitating the process. The subcommittee is comprised of the following members: Tina Allard, City Clerk Steve Benoit, Parks and Recreation Andy Christensen, Heritage Construction Annie Deckert, Director of Economic Development Pat Dwyer, Economic Development Authority Commissioner Larry Farber, Sherburne County Commissioner Jay Lusignan, Vision-Ease Lens Michelle Martindale, Elk River Municipal Utilities Brad Rolfe, Chief of Police Alan Sakry, Chamber of Commerce Board Chair Wendy Simenson, Downtown River's Edge Business Association Ron Touchette, Economic Development Authority President Nick Zerwas, City Council PROCESS Branding consultant chandlerthinks was in Elk River April 27-29 to begin the market research for this project which included a community tour, approximately 25 one-on-one interviews with stakeholders, three focus groups and numerous mystery shops throughout Elk River. The group also completed mystery shops in Big Lake, Ramsey, Anoka, Maple Grove and Minneapolis to find out their community's thoughts and perceptions about Elk River. Using the information collected from the visit, chandlerthinks created two customized surveys; one for the community and one fox employees. These surveys were executed early June to gather community input. Community input and involvement is not only crucial to this process, but will create buy-in and support of the final brand plan. Similar surveys were executed throughout the Metro area to determine their opinions and perceptions of Elk River. Chandlerthinks was in Elk River July 18 and presented the research results to the branding subcommittee. In addition, he provided the proposed brand promise/positioning statement. The brand positioning statement is an internal strategy for driving and measuring the direction of C:\Users\jmiller\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\GWL3I79K\Branding Memo to all Boards.doc