Marketing Edmonton

I wasn’t born in Edmonton, but I’ve lived most of my life here. As such, you could say I’m a convert and like most converts, I’m zealous.

Every so often, the question re-emerges: How do we do a better job of marketing Edmonton to the world? Perhaps the reason this question is, so often, recycled in our collective consciousness is because our past efforts to answer it have left us without a comprehensive brand in spite of significant investment.

I wasn’t born in Edmonton, but I’ve lived most of my life here. As such, you could say I’m a convert and like most converts, I’m zealous. I want to see Edmonton be everything I imagine it can be and I want others (those who haven’t converted yet) to love our city the way I do. Realizing that aspiration has its challenges, however, and there are definitely those whose vision for Edmonton I disagree with and sadly, their vision has been given a lot of space to inflict its toll.

How do we understand marketing and branding?

I work in marketing and branding and so the question of how we do a good job of marketing Edmonton is especially relevant to me. Branding is about impressions. Whether you’re communicating through advertising, video production, visual identity, or other means of strategic communication; you’re usually working with a small window of opportunity to convey your message or cast that impression which is why the subtleties matter so much. So that’s the first thing to understand. Every little detail of those marketing efforts needs to be considered as an accurate reflection of the thing you are marketing and the impression you want to convey to your audience.

You have to have a really strong understanding of the thing you’re marketing (in this case Edmonton) and what characteristics will leave the strongest and most appropriate impression.

So, it stands to reason, you have to have a really strong understanding of the thing you’re marketing (in this case Edmonton) and what characteristics will leave the strongest and most appropriate impression. The other important consideration is the audience. Who is our audience and how do we best reach them with the understanding that we have of our great city – and not only our understanding of it, but whatever it is that it communicates to us about itself. What conclusion is reached through the negotiation of our perception of Edmonton and its own self revelation.

We love to get ahead of ourselves in these kinds of processes and jump right into producing materials like slogans and websites and logos without doing the proper due diligence with concern for the kinds of considerations I described earlier. So let’s put that off for the time being. We should get to those things, but not until we have a proper vision of what Edmonton is and what makes it an appealing place to our audience.

Obviously, defining something as multifaceted as a city like Edmonton is no small challenge so we have to think in very broad terms to begin with. What are the key things that we want to identify about our city and communicate to others? What are the things about Edmonton that capture our affection and will they, in turn, provoke a similar affection in our target audience?

In addressing these questions, here’s the vision I’d like to cast for our city.

As I said earlier, we need to define what Edmonton is if we’re going to succeed in communicating a message about it to others. Unfortunately, I think many leaders and visionaries have tried to propose a version of Edmonton that doesn't exist and to re-create it in their own image. While their intentions may have been good and sincere, I don’t believe their actions or their attempts were in the best interest of our city. I think any attempt to market our city must stem, in part, from an authentic affection for what it already is. That doesn’t mean we can’t emphasize the good things about Edmonton, at the expense of the bad, but it does mean we have to be willing to embrace the essential character of this city and this community in order to try to brand it and convey it to others.

So, what is Edmonton?

Edmonton is a Northern city. It’s one of the coldest major cities in the world. Many see this as an unattractive quality and while I understand that, I also have a deep appreciation for how adversity can yield greatness and I think that this is true of Edmontonians. The people who live here are resilient. We have had to overcome a lot. This is true of factors like the weather and environment as much as it is the fluctuating economy and the cycles that have influenced major migrations and the undulations of the city’s growth.  What remains true is that the people who live here and have remained here are strong. They have strong character, strong work ethic, strong values, and a strong sense of identity.

What are Edmontonians like?

Edmonton is a working class city. It’s a place where pretentiousness struggles to find a home. This makes it a very welcoming community for anyone who values authenticity. The people here are down to earth, friendly, and welcoming. These are trademarks of a people who have very little time pretending to be something they are not.

Edmonton is Beautiful 

Like any city, we have our neighborhoods that don’t convey the best of what we have to offer, but on the whole, for those who can appreciate the diverse landscape, the changing seasons, the vast river valley, and the neighboring regions, Edmonton has a lot to offer. If you’re willing to step outside your front door and discover the many ravines, charming neighborhoods, restaurants, cultural centres, and recreation opportunities; then you might lose yourself in an endless adventure.

Edmonton has a unique history.

Edmonton is a young city, by the world’s standards. In many respects, we’re still shaping that history as we go but a theme that is consistently a part of that story is opportunity. Edmonton is a city situated in a land of opportunity. It’s a frontier for those who are willing to stake their claim and be a part of building something together in the pursuit of that opportunity.

Summarizing Edmonton's Identity

So, what does this have to do with our brand and marketing strategy? It shapes the identity of our city as rugged, resilient, strong willed, and able to overcome adversity. It says something about our ingenuity, our creativeness, our unwillingness to stay where it’s comfortable and easy. It says something about our adventurous nature and our compulsion for forging a path that others would recoil from. It says something about the beauty that surrounds those who are willing to appreciate it, protect it, and cultivate it. It describes a city that attracts individuals who have something unique to offer in the pursuit of the opportunities that are offered here.

In any branding exercise, it’s important to emphasize your strengths. To summarize, here are the strengths I think we need to portray when we communicate Edmonton's brand:

• Strength/Courage/Resiliency
• Ruggedness
• Down to Earth
• Not for the faint hearted
• Welcoming
• Natural Beauty
• Stewardship
• Diversity
• Opportunity

The second thing we have to define is our audience. For me, this is easy. Our audience consists of residents and visitors or potential visitors. There are other demographics that we could consider, but if we do an adequate job of reaching these groups, I think our broader goals will be achieved as well.

This raises another question: what do we want from our audience groups? In the case of residents, I’d say we want an increasing sense of ownership and appreciation for their own role within the city and community. We also want a deeper appreciation and affection for what Edmonton is but in order to do that, we have to do a better job of establishing and branding the essential character of our city as we did earlier – and it’s important that we stay consistent with that. It’s no good defining it and then changing that vision 5 years down the road. This will only serve to confuse our sense of community and identity. In order to build affection in our audience, we have to be consistent or risk watering down our brand and, in turn, our identity.

Now you might object by asking, what gives you or anyone else the authority to define what Edmonton’s essential character is. I’d reply by saying I don’t have that authority. All I’m doing is describing what I see in Edmonton’s existing qualities and appealing to the community of stakeholders to contribute their feedback to it. Before we’re able to attempt to create a vision that we can agree on, there has to be a vision and someone has to propose it. So that’s what I’m doing. If I’m wrong, then I expect to be told so.

This is true as we communicate with visitors and potential visitors. It’s tempting to propose a litany of qualities that we think are attractive to a typical tourist, but this will not help us in our efforts. It’s no good setting people up for disappointment. Those looking for a beach vacation will have to go elsewhere. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t find value in the virtues that we do have to offer. The attributes I described earlier have a universal appeal and while we can’t offer sun and sand, we can offer something else instead. Our task, therefore, should be to emphasize those qualities and make them as attractive, if not more, as the alternative.

Once we’ve established a consistent vision that places Edmonton’s best qualities in the focal point of any impression that someone might have of us and once we’ve defined our audience groups and our goals for them, we can begin to implement a strategy that makes the most sense. From there, we can begin to talk about logos, advertising campaigns, welcome signs, websites, and other branding material.

If you agree with this vision or if you just want to inspire conversation, please share this site with your online network. If you have ideas or feedback or ways you think this vision can be improved, please email your ideas to:

Thanks for reading and contributing!