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Chamber Gets Help In Branding Brandon

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 2, 2008

BRANDON - For some residents, it's the image of Stowers Funeral Home on Brandon Boulevard, built in 1876 by James Brandon, the son of the community's founder, John Brandon.

The plantation-style structure has come to symbolize the community in the minds of many residents and visitors, including Ingrid Rose, a resident since 2004 and the first woman to join the Brandon Rotary Club.

For residents who have been around longer, such as Bank of Tampa President Dan Dail, it's balloons. Not the kind people blow up for birthday parties. Dail's talking about the giant hot-air balloons that once dominated the skies of Brandon each year during the community's annual balloon festival.

The event attracted more than 50 hot-air balloonists from across the country who would compete in balloon races and Brandon reaped the benefits both visually and economically. The hot-air balloon became the community's logo. Lapel pins, bumper stickers, posters and coffee mugs featured hot-air balloons. However, Brandon's proximity to MacDill Air Force Base and the need for secure air space during Operation Desert Storm, combined with the area's unpredictable weather, put a permanent damper on the balloon festival years ago.

The rustic wood and stone signs near Westfield Brandon mall on the west end of Brandon Boulevard and in front of The Home Depot on the east end in Valrico are the first things that come to mind when longtime resident Fred Schwabe of the Fred Schwabe & Associates insurance agency thinks about a Brandon "brand."

"Our slogan's always been 'Great Today, Greater Tomorrow,'" Schwabe said.

The Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce commissioned the original sign on the west end of Brandon Boulevard in 1989. Jack Mineo of Signs by Mineo constructed it. Ten years later, Brandon's honorary mayor, Jean Barfield, raised money to have the second sign, also made by Mineo, put up.

Both signs have seen better days, and the chamber is seeking the community's help in capturing a new brand for the area.

The chamber has hired Catch Your Limit Consulting to research and help create a positive, more recognizable identity, chamber President Tammy Bracewell said.

"The Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce is excited about the opportunity to involve our residents, our businesses and people from surrounding areas in our branding Brandon initiative," Bracewell said. "As a result of everyone's input, we will be able to create a brand that has long-term benefits to our community."

The initiative kicked off the first two weeks of December, when the chamber asked residents and businesspeople to participate in an online survey asking residents to assess the community's strengths and weaknesses, qualities that make Brandon unique and community values.

The consultant is tabulating the results of the surveys. Once it is completed, Bracewell said the chamber can start to identify the positive aspects of Brandon and communicate those to current and prospective residents and businesses.

"Once the research is compiled and we have a strong sense of the community's perception of Brandon, the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce will move forward in the process and develop a marketing campaign that communicates our brand and its values to a variety of audiences," she said.

Similar to what the community hoped to accomplish with the Brandon Main Street project, Bracewell said the branding initiative is intended to create a sense of place for Brandon's residents, businesses and community organizations.

The Brandon Main Street project, to be in the area roughly bordered by Brandon Boulevard, Pauls Drive, Lakewood Drive and the Brandon Parkway, was intended to be developed as an old-fashioned downtown, giving Brandon a focal point. The chamber hoped to jumpstart development by building its headquarters in that area. However, a breakdown in negotiations between the county and one of the major landowners has halted development.

Tom Laughon, president of Catch Your Limit Consulting, noted the branding initiative should not be just a chamber initiative but one for the entire community.

"The community's perspective is the most critical component of the branding process," he said. "Community brands are not created by marketing people in ivory towers. They are created by the beliefs, perceptions and values of the people who live and work in the communities."

For information, contact Laura Simpson at (813) 689-1221 or lsimpson@brandonchamber.com.

Reporter-columnist D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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