The City of Mississauga created a marketing strategy within the Culture division focused specifically on the high-caliber live performances we offer at our various venues. Most municipalities do not own their own venues, which puts Mississauga in an interesting and unique position. However, the idea of what “SaugaLIVE” should be has been up for debate within the Culture division for years, with several different takes on the subject offered and argued continually. It has reached the point where outside parties have been contacted for advice who simply expressed that the opinions of everyone involved differed so much that was not a clear way forward.
Having a clear and official brand strategy that everyone can agree and refer back to is key for making SaugaLIVE work. Efforts to be everything to everyone only dilute the brand’s focus and force further questioning about why it even exists in the first place. Originally modelled after entertainment brands like Ticketmaster and Live Nation, this offshoot currently has the most followers of any of the City’s channels on Instagram, so the content is obviously resonating with our audience. Internal disagreement on the channel’s purpose will only slow the success of this endeavor.
First, we need to find a way to simply express what SaugaLIVE is all about. Then, we can use that as a starting point for discussions with key stakeholders involved in the project. From there, a strategy can be written up and a clear standard can be set for the brand.
The initial step suggested by my manager was to create a Venn diagram for each of our accounts that we can use to highlight which types of content belong where and, also, where there is overlap between accounts (which should lead to collaboration). This could then be presented to key stakeholders as a discussion starter.
Together, we created this and presented this Venn diagram which got the ball rolling on the discussion. It eventually led to a meeting where a formal outline was extrapolated from the Venn diagram and the outlines were discussed and debated with the important parties.
After the meeting was over, the project lead took all the feedback and crafted the brand strategy. Although I did not by any means work on this project alone or lead this initiative, the Venn diagram created by my manager and I proved to be the missing piece of the puzzle which caused a major breakthrough in the issue. This highlighted for me the importance of clear, visual communication. Sometimes, verbal discussion spirals and makes it difficult to visualize concepts. In expressing an idea through an organized form, like a Venn diagram, it simplifies things and leads to greater, more focused discussion.
