I am going to start a new business called Words for Sale or Rent.
I would really like to know just how much the GNWT paid someone for the word "spectacular" and the city paid for the word "extraordinary."
I am betting it was a lot and I have a reasonably good vocabulary and access to lots of word books, so I am more than willing to sell or rent a few because I am betting those words ended up costing taxpayers a lot.
Recently the town of Peterborough, Ont., spent $70,000 to re-brand itself with some new words and a logo, so these words don’t come cheap. Their old brand wa,s “Where road and river meet.”
That was a little long, cumbersome and let’s face it, boring.
So, the new brand the consultants came up with was, “Living outside the ordinary.”
Ok what the heck does that mean? Does that mean everyone is living abnormally? They appear to have settled on “outside the ordinary.”
Peterborough obviously likes to get its money's worth of words in its branding exercise.
If they are "outside of the ordinary," I wonder if that makes them extraordinary like Yellowknife, or spectacular like the NWT. I also wonder if these brands refer to the place or the people or both. Did everyone who lives here, suddenly become spectacular and extraordinary? If we did, I think we all deserve a pay raise tied to inflation just like the MLAs salaries.
Not only do these branding words seem to cost a lot, but even though we theoretically live in a democracy, they get chosen with no input from the public. Maybe people don’t want to be known as spectacular and extraordinary. Also do the words or brands in any way reflect the reality.
The GNWT and city could have worked together to save the Robertson Headframe which was a multimillion dollar resource. At little or no expense to the taxpayers. It would have certainly made a spectacular and extraordinary tourist attraction, but they chose not to.
The past is the past and we can’t change that lost opportunity, but it does beg the question what they are doing to save, build or create this theme of extraordinary and spectacular? I suspect the two levels of government haven’t really thought that through.
Changing the brand is one thing, but now you have to try to live up to that brand or a bunch of visitors and tourists are going to be rather disappointed. It is after all a form of false advertising.
Not having a public washroom available for tourists is hardly extraordinary service and not having toilet paper in the roadside outhouses is hardly spectacular.
Seeing litter everywhere you go is neither spectacular nor extraordinary. Not having enough parking space, road pull off or viewing sites for the Northern lights, also leaves a need, no one seems to be filling.
So, both the city and the GNWT have to give this some thought and find ways to make the NWT and the city more like the brands. Also, I think they need to talk to the tourists and visitors who do come here to find out what they like, don’t like, want and need. For the GNWT this would apply to not just Yellowknife but to the entire NWT.
Maybe the city should run a contest for its residents to see what brands they can think up. In the past I have suggested that Yellowknife could easily be known as “the blast rock capital of North America.”
Not only do we blow our beautiful and spectacular outcrops to smithereens, but then we line our roads, parks and flower gardens with great big ugly chunks of blast rock. It’s a little odd, not sure its extraordinary but it does seem to represent Yellowknife's concept of beautification. I wonder if that counts as extraordinary.
Personally, I think the people should be consulted and get to vote on these branding exercises. Perhaps people don’t want to be know as extraordinary. Maybe the city needs to print a guide on how we are supposed to act if we want to live up to this extraordinary billing.
Also, what are we suppose to do to our residents and properties to turn them extraordinary. Who knows.