The Thompson Chamber of Commerce recently underwent an exercise to determine their opinions of where Thompson stands today and where it could go in the future.
The exercise began at the group's Dec. 1 lunch meeting, with Volker Beckmann asking everyone in attendance to write down their answers to two questions - how they would describe Thompson if they only had a split-second to think of a response, and where they would like to see Thompson in 10 years, given an unlimited budget.
On the first question - during which the 24 respondents had only a few seconds to gather their thoughts and write down an answer - the responses focused on Thompson being a city of opportunity. "City of opportunity and friendly people," read one response. "Thompson is the only city of opportunity to do everything it dreamed," said another.
Other answers focused on Thompson's unique location and lifestyle - "city in the middle of the boreal forest," "the best northern city and lifestyle" - while still others were short and to the point - "a mining town," "it is a city in Northern Manitoba surrounded by wilderness."
The answers to the question about where people see Thompson in 10 years were more diverse, and one of the answers even included "very diversified," but still seemed to reflect general themes of family-friendliness, job opportunities, and downtown improvements.
"Job opportunities. Accessible housing and jobs for all. Vibrant arts and culture. Safe," wrote one respondent. Along similar lines, another response was "same city with more amenities for outdoors, city of excellence for lifestyle and economy." Yet another wrote "sound infrastructure. Art centre. Completed rec centre. Wolf Park. Feel welcome and enjoy stay."
The responses did also include a number of suggestions for specific businesses and programs, including theatre, fine dining, a family-centric area with a pool, playground, library, and craft room in the same location, and accessible housing.
With these responses in mind, Beckmann then gave Chamber members a seminar on branding Dec. 8.
He used familiar examples - McDonald's and Shell gas stations to name two - to demonstrate that everybody has brand loyalties, and that if someone were travelling in a foreign land and looking for a restaurant, they would be more likely to patronize the brand they know than one they have never heard of, because they associate that brand with certain standards of quality, health, and taste.
Logos play a strong part in branding, Beckmann said, including the City of Thompson's logo on a slide with other prominent, effective logos. Beckmann also said that Thompson needs to question who it wants to have ownership of its brand - the City of Thompson as an organization, or the entire community of Thompson as a whole - noting that community ownership of a brand means everybody must be on the same page, but also ensures that only one message is being sent about Thompson's brand.
