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Branding Whistler to the world

Municipality lays groundwork for True Local line

By Alison Taylor

Whistler hopes to be one of the top 100 brands recognized around the world.

It’s a lofty vision, to be sure. And if there’s any chance of reaching that goal, the groundwork has to be laid as soon as possible to reap the benefits of hosting the 2010 Games.

“Would we believe that we could be one of the top 100 brands in the next three to five years if that wasn’t happening?” asks John Rae, the resort municipality’s manager of strategic alliances. “No. But this is one of those opportunities that we can’t afford not to leverage.”

Rae is the force behind the True Local project, the municipality’s logo wear line that will carry the official Whistler mark on T-shirts, sweatshirts, and water bottles, to name just a few things.

In his office at municipal hall Rae lays out several T-shirts each with its own distinct Whistler design.

“You can try to peddle your Goth version of Whistler or your huggie bear or your whatever it might be, but what we’re saying is at the same time we believe that on behalf of the community we’re strengthening the community’s brand by now having an authentic line that competes,” says Rae.

He holds aloft a black long-sleeved shirt with a small authentic Whistler logo embroidered on the left side of the chest. It’s a prototype of what will make up the basic line of the True Local program. That’s the first step in what could be an extensive product line ranging from T-shirts to a branded mountain bike line to Whistler paint colours and the gamut of things in between.

The launch date for the line has been pushed back six months to the summer as the municipality and its partners lay the groundwork for its newest business venture.

“The reality is that if this program was a logo wear program, product would have been in the market in December,” says Oliver Flaser, a municipal consultant working on the project. “But it’s beyond a logo wear program.”

Part of going beyond logos on T-shirts was to see Tourism Whistler formally adopt the municipal logo early this year. Now when guests visit the municipal website or the Tourism Whistler website or the whistler.com website (the accommodation bookings site jointly owned by the RMOW and Tourism Whistler), they will find the same brand. This is how the brand seeps unconsciously into the marketplace.

“(The idea is to) reinforce the brand and create a consistent experience so that the ads that people see are consistent with the experience they have when they come to the resort,” says Ian Dunn, Tourism Whistler’s director of marketing.

And though the physical products aren’t on the shelves yet, the marketing has begun. In January, the municipality announced an exclusive contract with local skier and top slalom racer Mike Janyk. The Whistler logo appears on his helmet. It’s on his website too.

The partnership is a test case, explained Rae, to show how they can extend the brand through key spokespeople.

“The opportunity was there for him to be our first expression of a marketing initiative,” he adds.

“We need to be able to demonstrate to merchants in the community that we’re making a commitment (to this brand).”

The projections for the business are aggressive, admits Rae.

By 2009 they hope to be selling $12 million worth of product in 12 different categories. That will give a gross revenue profit of $600,000 to the municipality.

Under these projections the products will be sold in almost 50 different locations. Now they have to convince the merchants that the stuff is going to sell.

“When they buy into this program, they’re actually contributing back to the community again,” said Flaser. “They’re enhancing and strengthening the Whistler brand as a whole and preventing that leak of the brand.”

Jeff Coombs, owner of McCoo’s, doesn’t need to be convinced.

“I think it’s a great idea,” he said from his store this week. “I think anything we can do to leave people with a memento that they’re going to wear, that they’re going to take home and maybe talk about, I think it’s a great idea.”

While he recognizes there may be some who question the municipality getting into the garment business, he hopes to get a chance to sell the True Local line in his store.

Coombs is one of nine merchants in town who is also selling official Olympic logo wear from the Hudson’s Bay Company. It has been in Whistler stores for a year now. There are two distinct brands — the official Canadian Olympic Committee brand, which replicates the Canadian team wear, and the clothes with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Winter Games mark.

Jim Reed, a special consultant to Hbc and its Olympic strategy, said the one-year pilot program has been successful to date.

“We have every intention of doing a large volume of business up there (in Whistler) going forward leading up to 2010,” he says.

“We want to make sure we have a product line that is highly attractive and in demand.

“We intend on being leading in terms of technical and fashion wear. We won’t be putting anything into Whistler unless it meets that kind of criteria.”

Reed says he isn’t worried about added competition from the True Local line.

“We have the exclusive on the Canadian team and we have non-exclusive on the VANOC mark,” said Reed. “It’s just going to be a case of what the retail community up there thinks will sell. We’re quite happy with what we’ve produced and the response we’ve had so far.

“We expect to be quite successful in 2010, as we expect the Whistler retail community will be too.”

And 2010 is what John Rae and his team is banking on too. It will be that ability to promote Whistler as a host city to the Games that will leverage the brand to new heights in the lead up to the Games.

“There’s going to be test events and training events and increasing familiarity of Whistler as a brand,” he says. “I don’t even want to begin to predict what’s going to happen in 2010 or beyond.”