Duane Hicks
“Boundless” is not just a logo and slogan but a state of mind to strengthen the town’s position as industrial capital of Northwestern Ontario.
And since being adopted last April, Fort Frances’ new brand has guided an ambitious underlying strategic plan.
This was the point driven home last Tuesday night during the official brand launch for businesses at the Copper River Inn here.
“I know over the last year-and-a-half, there was a lot of time spent on working to find to a new direction for this community—something we could join hands with and try to re-invent this community and develop a strategy,” said Mayor Roy Avis.
He noted recent years have been a struggle for the community as the traditional pulp and paper industry fell prey to global forces, creating “ripples through the very core of this community.”
“The mill and the forest industry, which once employed a thousand people, now stands idle,” Mayor Avis remarked.
“But as we search for our future path, we know we are more than a mill town. We always were.
“We will find a future filled with boundless opportunity together, if we work together, if we challenge ourselves to stretch our minds around new possibilities,” he stressed.
“We are a community whose history is that of entrepreneurs building a home from the bounty of the forest.”
Mayor Avis noted that last spring, the town found itself wound back a hundred years to a time before the mill. And like the town was at that time, we were faced with the opportunities of a new era.
“To seize on those opportunities, we have integrated our economic development plan with this new identity,” the mayor explained.
“Members of [town] council and the community, I am excited about the course we have set.
“We have an opportunity to reconnect visitors to our ‘Great Canadian Experience,’” Mayor Avis said.
“We will flourish amidst the new, revived spirit of entrepreneurism.
“We are hands-on; we make things forged from the land and from the determination of the spirit,” he added.
Town council, working with the economic development office and the community, already aggressively has begun pursuing strategic investments that will leverage this brand into economic growth, Mayor Avis noted.
“We have priorized working with area producers and the BIA to create a downtown market square that will open the international boundaries to the retail business zone,” he said.
“We have re-opened the tourist information centre on the border, and we will be the next hometown to the many new faces who join our community as a result of New Gold’s investments in the west end of the district
“The identity that we have adopted is not just a new logo, it’s a promise of renewed spirit in our community,” Mayor Avis stressed.
“This is just the beginning of the story. Much is yet to come.”
The Economic Development Advisory Committee has worked very hard in the past year, along with the Rainy River Future Development Corp. and Tannis Drysdale Consulting, for the better of the community, and they should be applauded, Mayor Avis concluded.
Thumbs up
Some local business owners and professionals on hand for the launch gave their approval to the town’s “Boundless” brand, as well as the efforts to differentiate the town and give it a competitive edge at this crucial time.
“I think it’s good to have a brand, and this is a fresh, new brand for the town,” said Susan Bodnarchuk of Holmlund Financial.
“I think it’s good to have a base to promote from and if everybody helps to promote that, I think it’s nothing but positive for the area,” she added.
“It can’t hurt.”
Bodnarchuk said it is time for new opportunities and now, more than ever, the brand is needed.
“There’s lots going on in the town and in the area, so there’s lots of potential for things to happen in the upcoming months and years,” she noted.
“We definitely have to be out front and have some base to work from to promote the town and the whole area.”
Mark Fontana, owner of Rainy Lake Sports here, also gave the re-branding a thumbs up.
“I think any efforts at all are positive,” he remarked. “We’ve got to try one thing.
“If that doesn’t work, we go in a different direction.
“I think it’s good to see at least we’re making some efforts to make some positive changes and make some things happen,” added Fontana.
He said that with marketing, the town has found something people can identify with, which “is always a good idea.”
The event also featured a preview of a video made by videographer Andrew George, who was born and raised in Fort Frances but now lives in Winnipeg.
The video, which is an early cut of the final product, outlines the town’s new brand through an inspirational voice-over combined with images of local people working and playing in Fort Frances.
It shows the beauty of the land and exemplifies the spirit of its residents.
The video received enthusiastic applause from those on hand for last Tuesday’s launch.
In the next four-six weeks, the town will be launching a new website for the Town of Fort Frances, which is in line with the new branding.
It will include the video in its economic development component.
The website has been overseen by the Fort Frances Times, who recommended George to make the video.
‘The Path Forward’
Leading up to the closure of the mill last year, the RRFDC, working with mayor and council and EDAC, created an economic development plan called “The Path Forward,” explained Drysdale.
That plan’s basic components included:
•growing the mining supply and services sector;
•supporting value-added forestry;
•strengthening the retail and commercial sector;
•expanding into other sectors, like allied health care; and
•building and encouraging a tourism market.
Through an RFP process, the town and EDAC looked at a number of marketing firms before hiring Twist Marketing of Calgary, a firm specializing in rural and remote communities, to develop a new brand for the town as a means to stand out and “be a voice” in the crowded marketplace.
After consulting with stakeholders, conducting surveys, and doing research, Twist Marketing developed the brand, which includes the new logo.
Drysdale, however, pointed out the logo is “probably the smallest part of the brand but encapsulates the spirit that we are trying to achieve here.”
The brand sells Fort Frances as the “entrepreneurial heartland” populated by people who utilize natural resources or, in simpler terms, “who make stuff out of stuff,” she noted.
In the past year, the brand has resulted in several initiatives, including the “Stay A While” tourism initiative.
“We know that we are the border crossing of choice for most of the [U.S.] Midwest so we are going to try and extend that stay,” Drysdale said.
“The town last year leased the former Ontario Tourist Information Centre and made it the Fort Frances Tourist Information Centre,” she noted.
This spring, the tourism centre will feature a full-size replica of a moose.
Meanwhile, the future Rainy Lake Market Square project will open up the downtown to the border while a walking tour will fill in visitors on local history.
“We’re going to knock down the Rainy Lake Hotel and create the market square that it once was,” Drysdale enthused.
“We’re going to create parking and we’re going to create opportunities for folks to know about our downtown businesses and join us.”
It is hoped the Clover Valley Farmers’ Market also will be a part of the new market square, which will bring agricultural producers into the community.
The RRFDC also is working on a land-clearing project to increase agricultural in the west end of the district.
As well, the “Harmony of Nations” Music Festival was started last year—and will be returning this year bigger and better than ever.
Another initiative is “Touch Wood,” which focuses on forest-based industry.
It ranges from getting a buyer for the kraft mill and starting up it again to courting new, smaller businesses to set up shop here.
Forest industry specialist Mike Willick has been guiding the town in this area.
And yet another initiative is “Rock On,” which focuses on mining.
With New Gold’s Rainy River Project in Chapple Township moving forward, the RRFDC has been putting on procurement workshops for local businesses, and also has visited New Gold’s production facility in B.C.
Drysdale said the town plans to be two things:
•the place where mining-related businesses locate (i.e., in the industrial park, on Scott Street, and at the west end; and
•the next hometown to the next generation of people working in that mine.
The new logo also has been adopted as the town’s flag, in the signage at the Fort Frances Tourist Information Centre, and in the town’s ads, business cards, and letterhead.
It also will be reflected in the town website in the coming weeks.
As well, the new brand will be reflected in new signage at the entrances to town, as reported last week.
The brand even has been incorporated in marketing materials, using images and words that conveys the hard-working, hard-playing character we have, the beauty and serenity of the land, and how we connect to nature in a raw and powerful way.
“If we are going to become Canada’s entrepreneurial heartland, we are going to have to celebrate you more and more and more,” Drysdale told the business owners on hand.
“I hope you come with us and work with us on our new brand,” she said.
