Feature
November
17
Terrebonne Parish Launches Poll to Build Brand
Terry Trahan Jr.
Residents of Terrebonne Parish will have their say in how visitors should perceive the parish.
Through the Terrebonne Parish Brand Initiative, a process designed to create a unique and distinctive brand for the parish, a poll is being taken to determine how the parish resonates with its visitors, businesses, community residents and other stakeholders.
Residents can participate in the online Resident Opinion Poll by accessing it via the project’s website, www.greatds.com/terrebonne, or by filling out a paper copy at the main branch of the Terrebonne Parish Library. The poll will be available for residents to complete from Nov. 11 to Dec. 8.
The Graham Group, the parish’s Tourism Recovery marketing and advertising agency, is leading the brand initiative. Its project team, consisting of Great Destination Strategies and author Bill Baker, has been influential in shaping branding and marketing strategies for world-renowned and iconic destinations, such as Alaska, Hawaii and Australia.
With the initiative, the parish expects to learn more about local markets, have a clearer understanding of its competitors, develop strategies for how to integrate the brand messages into products, services and marketing, create a visual identity with a logo and a verbal identity with a tagline, and form a 12-month implementation plan.
Through the 7A Destination Branding System created by Baker, the project team will follow seven listed steps: assessment and audit, analysis and advantage, alignment, articulate, activation, adoption and attitudes, and action and afterward. Together, these steps will help to generate data for the initiative.
To get the public involved, the initiative has already conducted stakeholder interviews, focus groups, city reconnaissance, survey reviews and mystery shopping. In addition to the Resident Opinion Polls, plans are also in the works for more informal discussions, workshops and external influencer interviews.
These efforts will contribute to the development of Terrebonne Parish’s brand, which will reveal the thoughts, feelings and expectations of the target audience, and distinguish what separates the parish from others around it, as well as the other 22,000 incorporated cities and 3,400 counties in the U.S.
In achieving these goals, the parish also seeks to develop a Destination Promise™, which outlines the qualities that give the parish a competitive edge with benefits and expectations when targeting a key audience. Over time, after building a positive image for the community, the idea is that expectations are created to help build awareness, desire and reputation. This promise also influences marketing strategies by communicating these messages via individuals who make their living in and call Terrebonne Parish home.
The brand initiative, which kicked off in September and October with site visits by the branding team, is expected to take between six and seven months to complete.
