County, Chamber, businesses working to find "brand" for Pickens

What is the brand image of Pickens County?
Determining how to simply and accurately present our county
to potential businesses, tourists or homebuyers is the goal of a
joint group from county government, the Chamber of Commerce and local
businesses who began work Monday.
Dick Hammill, a retired senior vice president of marketing
for Home Depot, led the group through a presentation of how to arrive
at a brand to distinguish Pickens from other counties.
Big Canoe resident Hammill, who has done similar
presentations for other areas ranging from Cherokee County to
Santiago, Chile cautioned those in attendance that finding a suitable
image to distinguish Pickens from "every other county in every other
state," isn't an easy or quick process.
Hammill said he wanted to volunteer his time helping his
home county after helping the neighboring county earlier.
The process of developing a brand which involves determining
and discussing the strengths and needs of a county brings people
together and is "almost as important as the results," Hammill said.
"Branding tends to bring people together," he said. "The
process is overwhelming. It's like Hannibal at the foot of the Alps,
but it starts with one step."
Those in attendance who included Commissioner Robert Jones,
Economic Developer Larry Toney and Chamber President Scott Evans
expressed a desire to move forward with finding a brand using a local
task force.
Later Toney, who organized the Monday seminar, said the group
there would likely represent the "branding task force," but it is
open to anyone interested.
"We're looking for anybody who might be able to add something
by experience or by interest in the subject," he said.
Commissioner Jones said during the meeting that a wider
demographic range should be sought to see that all viewpoints are
represented.
Monday's seminar didn't address any specifics to a Pickens
County brand. Hammill used his time to present a format for how a
brand could be arrived at. It's now up to the local members of the
branding task force to plug in the local variables.
Toney said he hopes that some type of an identity
statement can be finalized within six months, but even if that
doesn't happen, he believes the process will benefit the county.
"The process causes us to think about our attributes and
about Pickens County," he said. "Hopefully a vision statement of what
we want PC to look like in years ahead will be a result."
Hammill said among the first decisions is who you are trying
to attract with your brand - businesses, homebuyers or tourists.
Toney said during the forum, "We'd like to have 50,000
guests, but we probably don't want that many homebuyers."
Hammill said there has been some news about the city of
Atlanta's current efforts to find a brand, but that appears to be
mostly centered on a new slogan.
He said it's a mistake to think of a brand as only a catchy
slogan. A good brand should be able to live through several
generations and provide a constant goal to work towards.
"A brand lives beyond a political cycle," Hammill said.
"Theoretically, a brand can last for generations. The brand stays as
various implementors change."
One member of the audience from the Georgia Tech Economic
Development Institute said it is important to have a brand to help
manage the growth.
"If you don't have a plan, whatever comes will be the plan by
default," Greg Lauderman said.
Hammill said Asheville, North Carolina, is a good example of
a city trying to develop a brand. "Asheville is a manufacturing town,
trying to shed its image and market itself as a tourist destination,"
he said.
Both Hammill and Georgia Tech's Lauderman said it's essential
for a county to have a good website as many business planners will
use that as their primary source of information.
Hammill said at Home Depot when they had to decide what
locations to expand to, a website was often a deciding factor in
narrowing down the list of potential options.
Lauderman said Pickens County is in a unique position
concerning growth.
"You are in an interesting time and place," he said. "You
have so much to offer people and are so close to Atlanta. You have so
much that is about to develop such as the Highway 515 area. You are
on the cusp between industrial and knowledge industries. It's a very
good opportunity."