|
|
Client: Sequoia Valley, California
|
Tulare County, California Gets Brand Name
VISALIA — Ask outsiders what Tulare County is known for and they'd likely say: cows, crops and cannabis.
What it needs is a makeover, local officials say.
So on Wednesday, Economic Development Corporation officials unveiled a new brand name designed to make
Tulare County stand out as a cool place to hang a shingle.
"Sequoia Valley. As Big As It Gets" was the shiny, new slogan presented to 500 community leaders and
business people at a packed luncheon at the Visalia Convention Center. It was paired with an image of a cone from
a giant sequoia tree.
"Great things grow from small beginnings," said Don McEachern, chief executive officer of North Star
Destination Strategies in Nashville, Tenn., which created the brand.
Sequoia Valley will be adopted immediately by the EDC when it contacts industries that might consider building
a plant, warehouse or office in Tulare County, said Paul Saldana, the EDC's chief executive officer.
"This is it. This is who we are," Saldana said.
By uniting "Sequoia" of big tree fame with "Valley" of agricultural bounty, the brand name has the potential to
give the region of Tulare County a distinct identity in a state filled with "heavyweight" brand names such as
Napa Valley, Silicon Valley and Hollywood, McEachern said.
"The list of superlatives in Tulare County is amazing," he said. "You've got the tallest mountain, the largest tree
and the most milk production of any county in the nation. And no one knows about it."
McEachern, whose sole business is branding communities, showed ads, such as one showing four milk bottles,
with one of them being very large compared to the others.
"It needs to take root in the community," he said. "If it simply becomes the logo for economic development,
that's not enough. The task at hand is to get a good base of people using it."
Reaction was generally positive among business and community leaders.
"I think the image has a lot of potential," said Carolyn Rose, executive director of the Community
Services Employment & Training jobs organization.
"The EDC deserves a lot of credit," said Glenn Morris, executive director of the Visalia Economic
Development Corporation. "It's going to help to get some unity from a regional standpoint. There really is no
one community in Tulare County that has all of the pieces by itself. Presenting our face to the outside world has to
be regional."
