North Star's Background

A strong brand shouldn’t require a million-dollar budget.
Using the big-budget advertising agency process as a guide, Don McEachern developed an affordable research-based branding solution for small to mid-sized destinations.

To market the service, North Star Destination Strategies was launched in the year 2000. As the company evolved, Don realized that many cities are best served by a community-wide solution, wherein an umbrella brand is developed to market tourism, economic development and the city, itself. Thus the Community BrandPrint was born.

North Star has helped more than 80 destinations and municipalities in 25 states guide residents, businesses and tourists to their communities. In addition to a darn good product, the success of this venture can be attributed to the North Star teams' impressive credentials, which deliver a powerful one-two punch of tourism and economic development marketing experience and packaged goods expertise.