Visit Spokane’s community branding effort is thoughtful, well timed, and has depth. The organization is to be applauded for providing a fresh brand that can be applied in a variety of contexts.

Business organizations and the community as a whole should get behind Visit Spokane’s effort to ensure its success.  

The new brand includes a number of elements: a catchphrase, “Creative By Nature;” a logo in which the “A” in Spokane is a tree that can be turned upside down to create two hearts; a description of Spokane as the “capital of the Intermountain Northwest;” and a narrative that’s intended to serve as a customizable script that different organizations can use to describe our community.

Those elements are the result of an effort started in 2015 to replace the longtime “Near Nature, Near Perfect” brand, one that served its purpose but needed to be retired. Through the rebranding process, Visit Spokane CEO Cheryl Kilday says, the organization and its consultants sought input from more than 300 people from a wide variety of business and organizations in the Spokane area, talked to 28 meeting planners, and polled about 960 consumers from other markets. The consultants tested the brand with similar research, and it tested well. Whether you like the end result or not, Visit Spokane did its homework. 

That said, we do like the end result for a number of reasons. 

Describing Spokane as a creative community is accurate, though that’s not necessarily how it’s been viewed, inside or out. In addition to projecting such an image to potential visitors, it’s healthy for us to see ourselves in such a light. While the word “creative” initially conjures thoughts of arts and entertainment, it also applies to innovation in business and leadership. Spokanites would be served well by thinking of their community as a creative one.

Beyond the slogan, the description of Spokane as the capital of the Intermountain Northwest, situated between the Cascade and Rocky mountain ranges, gives the community a much-needed, new geographic identity. For those of us who live here, that description isn’t likely to replace Inland Northwest anytime soon. But for those visiting, it gives a clearer vision of our place in the western U.S.

Perhaps the most valuable piece to come out of the rebranding effort is the narrative. It talks about Spokane as a cultural, economic, educational, and social hub. It touts other features and ends talking of our “civility, livability, and simplicity, for highest possible rate of reward in life.” As we read that, we found ourselves nodding our heads in agreement. 

Individually, one might not care for elements of the new brand. Some people are lukewarm about the slogan, and others might not embrace the notion of the tree/heart logo. Collectively, however, the brand stands to do what it’s intended to do: Give people considering a visit to Spokane a positive image of the community. 

As a bonus, it also gives those of us who are here an opportunity to have a fresh perspective on our home.