Branding Communities – A New Focus

Listen to our featured Ask Those Branding Guys radio show podcast: Branding Communities – A New Focus

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Strategic Tuesday and we are talking about out-of-the-box thinking for community branding efforts.

On our radio show Ask Those Branding Guys, we spoke with Edward Burghard, founder of The Burghard Group and Strengthening Brand America. During his 33-year marketing career at Procter & Gamble, Ed was recognized as one of the top brand builders in the company. In the later days of his career he was on full time loan to the state of Ohio to form a company focused on State branding.

With Strengthening Brand America, Burghard’s goal is to improve the level of mastery around place branding by driving discussions with branding experts focusing on how the same techniques that apply to consumer goods also apply to branding a place. Ed shared there is room for improvement in community branding in the areas of funding, branding expertise and depth of knowledge around what a brand encompasses.

Burghard puts forth the notion that job growth should not be the objective of economic development. Rather, communities should become more focused on their residents (customers) and creating an environment to attract top talent which in turn will attract businesses.

This paradigm shift is predicated on the American Dream Composite Index™ (ADCI). Developed by Xavier University, the ADCI is the first qualitative measure of how people feel they are doing in terms of attaining the American Dream. It is a robust measure of American sentiment and predicts behavior and attitudes in multiple arenas including the workplace and the economic marketplace.

New Mexico is in the #2 position as a place to achieve the American Dream. A great goal for the state would be to seek out the #1 spot by understanding the whys and making improvements. Any community, large or small, is able to leverage this approach.

Enjoy the podcast.

Once a Day Marketing™ positions brands to become #1 in the minds of target customers. Visit our website at www.onceadaymarketing.com. Contact James Glover at (505) 501-1330 or email glover@onceadaymarketing.com. Listen to Ask Those Branding Guys™ every Monday at noon (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

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Filed in: 7Ps of Marketing • Day of the Week • Process • Strategic Tuesday