RANDOM LAKE, WI
BRAND Assessment

The Random Lake Chamber of Commerce retained the services of Motiska Design to conduct a Brand Assessment of their village. The community has been facing a few issues, for example, the population has been stagnate in recent years, the school district’s population is dropping, businesses are closing, and they feel forgotten when people think of Sheboygan County.

What is a Brand Assessment? It is a fundamental assessment of the four key elements of a community's visual identity: logo design, wayfinding, environmental design, and digital communications. We approach it from a visitor’s first-time impression of the community. This approach will give a community their competive advantage and encourage identity awareness, preparing a firm foundation that will make you relevant and stand out.

The process:

First, a Pre-Visit examining the digital footprint of a community is reviewed. We evaluate all on-line presence, such as municipal sites, social media pages, partner organizations, messaging, and etc. We also look for other online opportunities that can assist in cross promoting the community.

Secondly, a Site Visit is done where we conduct a wayfinding experience from key vehicular entry points. A thorough review of environmental design such as streetscaping, signage, ease of navigation, public gathering spaces, and parks.

Lastly, a series of Interviews is conducted with community leaders, business owners, residents, as well as people living outside the community. This will help us know the product in order to improve it. The questions asked will better help us understand our market’s strengths and weaknesses, and evaluate industry needs. During this time, we review current economic development plans and future aspirations of the community.

We follow this up with our objective Analysis, Suggestions & Ideas. This is when we will “paint” that new picture for businesses, residents, and visitors. The analysis will provide a concrete delineation of what defines the community’s brand by identifying its “sense of place.” We will make recommendations that facilitate decisions based on consideration of the place’s budget and schedules.

The results of the Brand Assessment will help shape a perception and create an impression of the place. It provides a set of recommendations for branding strategies and help facilitate plans of action to establish business, community and visitors.

View PDF Report Here

Video Brand Assessment Presentation

Intro

A quick overview of what the Brand Assessment is and sections that we will be covering.

pre-visit

People looking to live, work and visit Random Lake start by using the internet.

We look over sites they control like the Village site, Chamber site and Facebook. We also look at peer review sites like Trip Advisor and Yelp to see what people are saying about you. 

site visit

We start by mapping a place of interest and document our journey. We act like secret shoppers with no influence from people or businesses before we start. This helps us get a clear understanding of a first-time visitor. The community can then make adjustments to improve their image.

Conclusion

We wrap up our Brand Assessment with a couple of options for you to start with. We also include the next steps to help get you going on developing your communities brand.