Faded brand

Across television screens and on movie screens during the Olympics, viewers have been presented with glorious images of wineries, orchards, beaches, shops and farm markets—most easily recognized as County scenes. Meanwhile the narrator describes a paradise with thousands of kilometres of beautiful shoreline.

“You can have the life you’ve always wanted,” warmly intones the voiceover. “Discover the Bay of Quinte region.”

They are beautiful ads—breathtaking images, an attractive message and invitation to share in the natural beauty that abounds in this region. It used to be the County’s brand.

It was a brand carefully and thoughtfully crafted here in this community, steeped in the rich culture, history and tradition of this community and then transmitted with meagre funding widely—across Ontario, Canada and beyond. It was a good message and it was well received. It put Prince Edward County on the map.

The tourism industry flourished and grew. A new wine and culinary sector grew out of the County soil. Rarely could you pick up a travel publication or newspaper and not find some reviewer gushing about Prince Edward County. Investors and visitors followed.

But then we let it fall from our hands. Now our neighbours have picked up the County’s brand and are shrewdly running with it as their own. They know a good thing when they see it.

Prince Edward County has been relegated as a bit player in the brand it created. The County has become scenic backdrop with which to market hotels, shopping and services in Trenton and Belleville.

How did this happen? More importantly what can we do to restore and reclaim the County brand?

There have always been, and likely always will be, residents in vacation communities who dislike visitors. It is a blind prejudice— and like all generalizations, it’s superficial and ultimately meaningless. Yet prejudice persists. Even with some on council.

Too many of our municipal leaders are more comfortable moaning about the impact of 700,000 folks visiting Sandbanks provincial park each year, rather than understanding and exploiting the market opportunity these visitors represent.

Despite the obvious success of the County’s branding and marketing efforts over the past 15 years, some continue to grumble that it attracts the wrong people and the wrong jobs.

These folks want high-paying factory jobs producing industrial wind turbines, solar panels or some such. Jobs that will never come here. Yet, as long as the municipality is investing in its economy, these folks want these resources spent on attracting these type of jobs. And nothing else.

So about three years ago the County brand was pulled down. The economic development department was dismantled and dispersed. It was virtually an invitation for our neighbours to pick it up. And they did.

In the meantime a guy came along promising to build solar panels in Picton in exchange for subsidized land. Council jumped aboard, shaving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the acquisition cost to help the prospective manufacturer. Sadly, the factory never rose higher than the footings. The County eventually took back the land last year.

Meanwhile, County new home sales have plummeted taking with them much-needed tax revenue. Another census will likely find the County’s population has shrunk. That means fewer residents paying an ever increasing tax burden.

And the final insult? The engine of our economy is being driven by our neighbours.

This week, council is considering a new strategic plan to drive the County’s economy. Not surprisingly the number one recommendation is to reestablish the County’s iconic rural brand. Yet the old axes have come out to be ground all over again.

The Bay of Quinte Region marketing is beautifully crafted and masterfully scripted. It will surely attract visitors, investment and residents to this community as well as the wider region. It will benefit businesses and the economy of Prince Edward County.

The decision County council has to make is: are we content to have our economic prospects driven by others? Or at best, a voice of many around a table? This community invested a great deal of money, effort and resources into creating a powerful brand. One that has reached across the continent— and attracted high-yielding visitors to a place many didn’t know existed a decade ago. Will council allow this just to fade away—to be subsumed into the Bay of Quinte?

Some around the council table are okay with that. They continue to hold out for factory or assembly plant jobs. Or for someone to come along with some magic beans.

The outcome is too important to be left to council. Who will drive the County economy? Who will control the County brand? What signal are we sending to entrepreneurs, investors and visitors?

The Bay of Quinte Region has proven it is ready and able to step up to reap the economic rewards the County has let slip from its hands.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca