The Enterprise

Just about every Sunday, Brian and I enjoy the company of friends who spend the morning and early afternoon discussing a wide range of topics, in multiple cross-conversations. The group’s membership varies, and we miss all of them when we’re away for the day or the weekend.

We are also blessed to have good neighbors, with whom we share a building and a meal every now and again. We help each other out; I tuned a guitar once, and Brian has wired computers and checked strange noises and made small repairs. Last year, our neighbors threw a little surprise party in our backyard, as two of us were celebrating birthdays.

This is our Farmington family, the people with whom we connect via location or shared interests. And believe it or not, our little Farmington family fits perfectly with Farmington’s new “brand print.”

Unveiled tonight at a special city council study session, the brand print represents more than two years of work by community volunteers and a $58,900 investment with North Star Destination Strategies. The Tennessee-based company appears to have dropped its work product in the collective lap of our community, in the form of a 120-page report that should soon be posted on the city’s Web site. I haven’t seen it yet, but based on what I heard tonight, the company was vastly overpaid for what amounts to basic market research. There were no great revelations; in fact, Farmington’s brand print is what we all know Farmington has always been.

It came as no surprise, for instance, to learn that people who live here value our small-town appeal, or that outsiders see us as well-educated and family-oriented. It came as no surprise to learn our community’s most dominant groups are seniors and affluent folks who are likely to have investments and plan for their retirement.

It came as no surprise that Farmington residents could identify our competition: Birmingham, an upscale shopping mecca; Royal Oak, known for its vibrant night life; Northville, a town steeped in history and antique shops.

Without question, all of that information is useful. As IDeA committee member Dirk Beamer pointed out, Farmington needs to find its niche amid stiff competition in one of the most affluent counties in the nation. He said having hard research helped the committee move from the abstract and uncertain world of popular opinion, toward a more clear, well-defined image.

“Farmington is unique, in that people think of Farmington when they’re thinking about a community that’s friendly, open and desirable for families, in every sense of the word,” he said.

In general, consumers tend to define a “family-friendly” community in three ways: not crowded or congested, with access to parks and walkability. All three define Farmington, especially in light of the upcoming streetscape project, which will create wider sidewalks, more greenspace and enhance downtown walkability.

“Farmington can deliver on this expectation,” Beamer said. “Farmington has the opportunity to competitively build on these strengths.”

He stressed that an emphasis on “traditional values,” family and heritage do not make a political statement and are not intended to start a culture war. Rather, family is the thread that weaves through all the lifestyle segments represented in Farmington. The brand print is really all about making connections, whether it’s couples connecting at a Friday night concert in Riley Park or grandparents treating their grandchildren to a scoop of rocky road ice cream or friends chatting amiably over lunch at Dagwood’s on a Sunday afternoon.

And that’s the best news about this whole process. The IDeA committee, after sifting through mounds of cold, hard data, found the heart and soul of Farmington. Committee members said after the meeting that North Star presented some “tag line” ideas, but members couldn’t reach consensus. I never sat in on a meeting, but I have a theory: When you see something genuine, something unique, something meaningful, the last thing you want to do is slap a label on it. The last thing you should do is slap a label on it.

What we have to work with is the ”brand platform,” which (as I understand it) is basically this:

Farmington is a place for people who seek to connect with others, conveniently located within metro Detroit, built around a neighborhood downtown which brings families together. In Farmington, family is not only immediate family, but also relatives, neighbors, friends, even businesses. Every experience here is filled with intimacy, energy and charm.

According to Krista Wolter from the Farmington DDA, this is “truly the walk that we will walk, and the talk that we will talk.” Her words speak to a way of living, rather than just slapping another coat of paint on the same tired, old attitude that has kept our community in stasis far too long. I heard the same theme in other conversations tonight. Rather than gimmicky ads, people talked about image building, establishing a character, a “look and feel,” a way of presenting our community to people on the outside and the inside. Think about it the way you might look at a newspaper or Web page. The splashy boxed ads or pop-up windows become little more than white noise, but you read and absorb the story about a local business offering free classes or workshops. And you might click on a highlighted link in an interesting blog entry to learn more about a certain topic.

Pushing a slogan might bring a few more families to Farmington. Coming up with a hot logo or a charming color scheme for the city’s Web site and stationery will no doubt draw attention. But to establish a reputation people can trust requires a more nuanced approach woven into every aspect of public presentation from the city, the DDA, the Chamber of Commerce and the business community. It can and should all look good, but it’s got to feel good as well. And that’s going to take time, more than it would to come up with something cute, with a shelf life measured in months.

I liked what I heard tonight, not because of North Star Destination Strategies. Frankly, the work product they delivered doesn’t seem unique. If there was something special about the way they worked with people in the community, it wasn’t reflected in tonight’s report – particularly since they didn’t care enough about Farmington to send a representative to the meeting. I still believe we overpaid for the work only because Mr. Buck was sold on a particular company with a national reputation. Had North Star offered anything out of the ordinary, I wouldn’t blink an eye at their bill for services. It’s just not there.

What makes this report meaningful lies in the value created after North Star’s work was done. We are blessed beyond measure to have men and women who have stepped forward to bring some meaning to this process. And if our community leaders come together around this information and all finally start walking down the same path, it will have been worth every bit of $58,900.

There are all kinds of ways this could go wrong. The IDeA committee will remain in place to track the branding process, but they can’t make people play nice. There’s plenty of political tension betwen the city and the DDA. The DDA staff just took on Founder’s Festival, not to mention their involvement with Main Street and attending to the needs of downtown business owners. And the city has no staff member dedicated to marketing and promotion or economic development. Volunteers are wonderful, but the next steps in this process are very large steps, indeed, and dedicated staff would be a tremendous help.

Even so, there’s potential here. There’s great potential here, if everybody gives it even half a chance.

–Joni Hubred-Golden
Publisher, The Enterprise