You Need More than Lady Luck to Create a Great Community Brand.
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Community brands are numerous, but few are clear winners when it comes to building expectations and defining their unique experiences to the outside world.
One of the reasons for the many misses is the fact that a community is a matrix and when all the analysis is said and done, there are numerous positive amenities to promote. The ultimate challenge is figuring out what singular statement summarizes them all.
A clear frontrunner in meeting this challenge has been Las Vegas. A once middle-of-the-dessert destination has successfully built accurate expectations of grown-up fun. Their road to the top in community brand definition came through an evolutionary process driven by the creative firm R&R Partners.
Starting first with political-parody, the Las Vegas “Freedom Party” campaign migrated to Don Rickles in “Vegas Calling”. Then the evolutionary process of refinement continued until it hit real pay dirt with the “What Happens Here, Stays Here” campaign. A big help in boosting this campaign to stardom was the fact that it was banned from airing as a Super Bowl commercial. Overnight this decade long journey became a huge success simply because it was smart and accurate to the Las Vegas experience — a must for any brand.
As economically vibrant as Las Vegas has been, they haven’t been immune from late trends in the economy. Currently R&R Partners is working on “Crazy Times, Call for Crazy Fun” — a campaign to develop a quicker connecting call to action. Randy Snow, Vice President and Creative Director of R&R Partners, who crafted the theme and campaign, put it this way, “We have a strong brand, a brand with built-in desire and demand — we won’t do anything at its expense.” It’s all about brand strength and the “What Happens Here, Stays Here” brand theme helped build that strength. The campaign will be back, and according to Randy, “It will be around for some time to come”.
Great brands’ themelines demand many comebacks. Their accuracy has made them synonymous with their label. Just like Nike’s historic start with the breakthrough campaign “Just Do It”.
A few other examples of hitting the mark with the right community brand theme include: New York City, New York, Huntington Beach, California, and Hershey, Pennsylvania.
At C3 Brandworks, we understand the need, the process, and how to get there. If your community needs a definition that connects, and lasts, contact C3 Brandworks. We would love to hear from you.
