UpstartCornwall

As a geographer and internet consultant - I am a huge fan of Google Maps. I’ve actually been a paying member of Google Earth when it was called Keyhole.

I use Google Maps all of the time. When I am on the phone with someone - I zoom into their location, when I go for a run - I track my distances with the pedometer tool, and when I am going somewhere I always get a visual first.

For the longest time - Cornwall was always just a blurry little section near the border. There were sections of town that you could go right to street level - but only about 1/5 of the city was visible, mainly near the border and bridge. That is, until now.

As of last week sometime you can now search all of Cornwall on Google maps at a level of detail where you can see cars and people. I even noticed that I was not home (my car is gone) when the satellite flew over top.

Check out a sample here:

I’m sure not everyone will be as excited as me about this latest news from Google - but its always nice to know that our city is no longer just a blurry spot on a map.

Congratulations Cornwall on your new brand. I’ll admit the logo isn’t perfect - but it’s growing on me. It gets better every time I see it and eventually I am sure I will like it. The slogan, I’m still a skeptic - but now this:

As part of the new branding of the City - the “new” website now includes the revised logo seen here. The splash page is ok if it’s 1998 - but be sure to enter the site.

The City has spent an enormous amount of money on a new logo and slogan to help brand the City better and it’s trying to improve its image. A website is a huge, critical part of any branding efforts today and yet - the “new” site gives the impression that very little time, effort or thought went into the layout. Here are a few examples:

1. A broken page that stretches everything.
2. No background image on the site / header
3. The site doesn’t load properly in Firefox
4. The Economic Development Section has a very professional cartoon newspaper with a tie on.
5. The Business Enterprise Section stretches the layout.

All in all I could sit here and point out things about the site all day. The site does not live up to my standard of Cornwall and nor should it yours. I suggest everyone contact their counselors and urge them to redevelop the City’s website ASAP.

Why bother with a new logo and slogan - if the single largest branding asset is not done properly? It’s like having a shinny new “BMW” decal on the front of your Honda.

I hope - I really hope - that a website redesign is part of the re-branding effort. Simply replacing a logo and removing the old colours on a website doesn’t cut it.

In the order of full disclosure: I run a web design company in Cornwall and I did not win the bid for this project a few years ago when it came out. This is not about spite - its about Cornwall’s image - and our website is failing us more than any logo or slogan could.

I am looking to create a list of websites / companies / people who run Internet-based businesses in Cornwall. Part-time or full-time. I know there are a lot of them out there and I would love to open a discussion about the advantages / disadvantages of running such a company from Cornwall.

If you happen to be own / run / consult for a hidden-gem of a company that your neighbours don’t know about - post it here and we’ll try and get you some publicity. If you prefer - email me at ericb [at] unexia [dot] com and let me know a bit about what you do.

Hopefully in the near future I will have a category specifically for Internet-based workers in Cornwall. Feel free to post your site and a description to this post as well.

I have been working on the web for over 8 years now and know that it is possible to market a great site nationally or internationally from The Seaway City.

The City of Cornwall has decided not to allow a proposed new Wal-Mart location at the corner of Brookdale and Tollgate. Read an article about it here.

I was actually watching “The Source” on Cogeco on Tuesday night and got to see first-hand what people were saying about the impact a new Wal-Mart would have on the proposed area. While it is true that there is a Home Depot across the street from the location in question - the North West corner is actually on Tollgate road and access would be from there. It’s amazing to see what a small group of citizens can do when they really want it.

I have to say that I side with the Citizens on this one. The location is just too close to residential areas to be considered viable. I hope the folks in that area of town realize that quiet ol’ Tollgate won’t exist for much longer though. The expansion of Brookdale will fix that in a hurry.

There were some great letters’ to the editor on SeawayValley.com the other day stating that Cornwall was sending the wrong message to “Big Box” retailers and that this would hurt the City. People made some good points but I get the feeling this isn’t the last we will hear from Wal-Mart.

To make my point a bit clearer: Wal-Mart is so busy in Cornwall right now with their current location that they must consider expanding. It made business sense for them to look at a place close to the highway and within the same area as the current store. With the expansion of Brookdale it will not be long before we see development all the way to the 401 so their choice of location was justified. I am pretty sure Wal-Mart will find a new spot in Cornwall. They want to make more money - so - they WILL find a new location. It’s as simple as that.

As a side note: I don’t actually shop at Wal-Mart. Call me old-fashioned but I much prefer to shop locally or in Canadian stores. It makes me feel good to support local stores. I have been to Wal-Mart, mainly for items that I could not find anywhere else - but I make a point to avoid it and I think others should to. They are expanding in Cornwall because people shop there - A LOT of people. I wonder how many of the people opposed to the new location actually shop there? Hopefully they won’t anymore - otherwise we may all be living beside a Big Box store someday.

Also - it’s great to see local TV starting to be worth watching. Cogeco is doing a great job at starting to run a somewhat daily (Tuesday to Thursday) broadcast of the events in town and I for one am watching. I don’t subscribe to newspapers (too much wasted paper) so it’s nice to have a place that provides a local commentary and news. Props to Mr. Bolton and Ms. St Ammand. Keep it up - people are watching.

A City With a World Of Possibilities

That’s it - our new slogan. It is replacing “Come. Play. Work. Live.” which was lauched only a few years ago. My first reaction to hearing the slogan was confusion. My reaction now that I have digested it a bit - is dissapointment.

I don’t like this slogan. Not one bit. And here’s why:

It’s too long:
A slogan is supposed to be memorable. Especially one developed by professionals. Why include the words “A City With” in a slogan? We do not have to be grammatically correct in a slogan. Cut it down to “A World of possibilities” and you have a better slogan. Would McDonald’s say “McDonald’s - A Restaurant, I’m Loving It”? No. Assuming the City wanted something to do with Opportunity and Possibilities … why not something like this:

Cornwall : Endless Opportunity
Cornwall : Opportunity Knocks!
Cornwall : A World Of Possibility

It doesn’t match the logo:
The logo is in a blue and green. The slogan - in a light grey. The design looks like was an after thought that was added on in a few seconds before a meeting. The font doesn’t match the logo and unless the logo is on a dark coloured background (Which would hide the logo) - the slogan will dissapear. It MUST be bold and stand out. If not by it’s text - then at least by its font and colour. The slogan should be in a better font to match the word “Cornwall” and in the same green as the nike swoosh. It should also be the same length.

It doesn’t match the “essence” of the logo:
We were told that the logo was supposed to have these qualities:

The city should be known for its credibility, confidence, generosity, trustworthiness, friendly nature, optimism and knowledge

I argued in my last post that the Logo missed that mark. However, the slogan does it even more. The pitch with the logo’s swoosh was “bridge” “green” etc - yet the slogan says “grey” “boring”. I just don’t get it.

In the end - I think the City got ripped off - again. I don’t understand why it was simpy accepted by Council. I think we the citizens can do better and maybe we should start a list of ideas that are better. Please post all of your slogan ideas here. Funny posts are welcome. In the end, I’m pretty sure none of our suggestions would be accepted. Let’s see what we can come up with.

This blog about positive things happening in Cornwall - and my last two posts have been somewhat critical. The logo and slogan are very important peices of a branding effort - and I truly hope this works for us. I just don’t see how that would be possible. I know we could have done better. Good luck to the people in Economic Development in using this. I beleive they should send the design firm back to the drawing board. Hopefully places like upstartcornwall and other start-ups will show people from out of town that Cornwall does have a world of possibilities. We just need a better slogan.

My Slogan ideas:

Cornwall : Friendly
Cornwall : Version 2.0
Cornwall : Endless Opportunity

The City of Cornwall announced last week that they have chosen a new logo as part of a new branding effort.

There has been a lot of talk about this logo in the newspapers, radio and on the street. I have personally spoken to about 20 people about the design as well as the new slogan (A City With A World of Opportunity). At the moment, City officials and the Economic Development team are taking a bit of flack for the high cost (Est. $25,000), the logo’s design and the fact that it was created by a firm outside of Cornwall. I’m sure they are getting some positive feedback from various sources as well.

I feel we should beak down these three items.

The Cost:
A branding exercise, when done properly, is a time consuming and complex matter. As a designer I can tell you that creating logos is not easy and re-branding something like a City is even more so. Still, $25,000 for a logo is a lot of money. I don’t think the City needed a new logo, so it is not money well spent in my books. I think we could have gotten 5 local firms to submit 50 logo designs for that price. Would the end result have been better? No one will ever know.

The Design:
The design of the logo is where most people tend to disagree. Some people love it (see: City Council), others think it is horrible (see: letters to the Editor). Design is always subjective and hence anyone can say it is well done or not well done. As a designer I think the logo is very basic, the colours are too neutral, and the green “swish” makes the logo look like 500 other logos I have seen. Cornwall needed to stand out from a crowd - and this design does not do that. Is it better than the previous one? I don’t think so. Will it grow on me? Probably. Does it help Cornwall’s image? I hope so. Will anyone move their business to Cornwall because they like the logo? No. Does it look like Job Zone d’emploi’s logo? Yes.

I actually don’t mind it that much. It is bland and really doesn’t have any meaning behind it but it is more modern than the previous one. It could grow on me after a while.

The Design Team:
A lot of the talk in town is about the fact that the city hired a company from out of town; Ottawa to be specific. Some people say that the city should have hired local talent to develop its marketing campaign and I tend to agree. I don’t remember seeing the RFP (Nor would I have submitted a proposal as I am not a graphic artist) so I don’t know the specifics of the contract. I do know that Cornwall DOES have the talent to create a much better logo and slogan and that the City should have made more of an effort to find a local business to develop it. I have seen the portfolio of the company in question. they are good at what they do. they do brilliant work with graphics / logos and have worked with some major clients. However, I am very disappointed with the outcome of the design from such a talented group. I would love to see the samples that were not chosen.

Anyway - that is my 2 cents. We have a new logo - it will be plastered everywhere. Hopefully the City will hire local companies to provide the printing and auto decal’s needed to “re-brand” the City.

If you ask me - the City has much bigger image problems then their logo - but it’s a start, and hopefully a step in the right direction.

My next post will tackle the new slogan.

After a year off from blogging about Cornwall Business news and entrepreneurship I have decided to relaunch UpstartCornwall.com

The format will be somewhat different and much more geared towards constructive conversation about business in Cornwall Ontario Canada.

Stay tuned …