43-point Moosehead branding initiative

Goals are to create stable economy, younger population

By Stuart Hedstrom

Staff Writer

GREENVILLE — About a year after an initial presentation was made to the public, a brand development team for the Moosehead Lake Region Branding, Development & Marketing Action Plan has now been formed to implement the initiative.

During a selectmen’s meeting on Oct. 21 town officials heard from several team members for an update on the project.

The Moosehead Lake Region Economic Development Corporation (MLREDC) was formed in 2013 as a non-profit entity. “We have a volunteer board, we are hands on and we have 12 members on our board,” Amanda Hunt told the panel. The MLREDC formed a brand development team and later the brand leadership team to implement the proposed action plan for the region.

Hunt said the objective is to grow and sustain local businesses, attract and create new jobs and enhance the region’s economy. “When we sat down and tried to figure out the region we serve, we put a pin in the middle of Moosehead and drew a 25-mile area around it,” she said.

Partnerships were formed within the identified region. Hunt said the MLREDC worked with the town to take over the former Greenville business incubator space and secured a manufacturing tenant from out of state for the facility. She said a website is in the works to help further promote the branding initiative.

“Our brand promise is ‘Moosehead Lake — America’s Crown Jewel,’” Hunt said. She said the MLREDC has worked with the firm Roger Brooks International to develop the plan, and the namesake has said that a brand is not simply rolled out but instead is earned.

Hunt said Brooks has 43 recommendations and “without all 43 of these pieces to come together the puzzle won’t be complete.”

Responding to the question of why branding, Hunt said, “We want to put Moosehead on the map as a great place to live, work and raise a family.” She added, “It’s about jobs and bringing the community back to the prosperity it had in recent memory, for some folks.”

After putting together the brand development team, the next steps in the initiative involve education and outreach, identifying markets, compiling data, completing necessary product development and creating a brand mission and promise. Hunt said there are three main goals, with one being “to create an eight- to 10-month economy that is stable.”

The second goal is grow the region’s population by 25 percent with an emphasis on younger residents (ages 20-45) with families. Goal No. 3 is to maintain the natural and cultural character of the area.

Brand development team member Liz Cannell said the brand leadership team has 17 members, who also serve on several sub-committees. “We began meeting monthly back in July,” she said. Cannell said the team has reviewed the branding, development and marketing action plan to identify the top five priorities, based on survey data, for the ensuing 12 months.

The first priority is what Cannell referred to as a “wayfinding system.” She said the system “is a way of connecting the dots, not just a way to bring in people to the area but also to find their way around once they get here.”

She said the wayfinder system will be comprised of vehicular and pedestrian travel routes, a trail system and an improved access to existing outdoor recreational resources.”Wayfinding is not restricted just to signage, it’s more comprehensive than putting a whole bunch of signs up,” Cannell said, mentioning maps and an interactive website as examples.

Brand development team member Sally Johnson said the second objective is “brand-style guide implementation.” “We want to have a common look and feel when people have promotional material,” she said.

Objective No. 3 is divided into a pair of phases, with the first including adding benches and beautifying the downtown, organizing a robust facade rehabilitation program, improving access to public restrooms in Greenville and in Rockwood, installing retail blade signs downtown and also putting in decorative sidewalks downtown.

Johnson said blade signs “are basically signs that are perpendicular to a building, not with the business name but the primary offering” such as ice cream or pottery.

The second phase components include allowing, encouraging and budgeting for street artisans and musicians; creating an ordinance for sidewalk dining; working with property owners on lease agreements and hours of operation with an evening focus; and developing a master plan for both Greenville and Rockwood. “If you think about the food court at the mall they group all those vendors together and it really draws people in,” Johnson said.

The fourth objective is what Johnson referred to as “best of brochures.” She said pamphlets would be created as “when people come into town they want to know where to go.”

Hunt said the fifth objective pertains to “the importance of having a website.”

She said the aim is to raise $7 million for the development and marketing of the branding, development and marketing action plan — the amount needed to carry out all 43 recommendations. “That’s a big goal and it’s something we are going to be working on,” she said. “Over the next year we are going to spend some time to sit down and figure out how we are going to make that happen.”

“The last major recommendation of the action plan is the pavilion,” Hunt said. She said such a facility would be built as an event center for area businesses and organizations to use.

“This is the outcome of the process and what we would like to achieve,” Hunt concluded. “We have one chance to turn the Moosehead Lake Region around and if we accomplish all 43 of these recommendations I have faith we can accomplish this.”