Can Kalamazoo be "branded"?

Not a week goes by that I don't hear opinions about how Kalamazoo "should be branded."

I'm not a contrarian on the point merely because I grew up out west where a brand was something like Circle K Ranch. I went to the brandings and the smell of burning calf hide was none too pleasant, by the way.

No, the reason I can't get into branding Kalamazoo is because, other than labeling cattle, I really don't know what branding is. Pity, because as a marketer, I've been exposed to any number of books and articles on the subject. At the end of the day, I'll give you the fact that the Nike Swoosh and the Coca-Cola bottle or logo look a lot like brands. But with billions of mental imprints, the look of those has been burned into my brain. But, what are you going to do in a crowded marketplace of international signals with a $40,000 budget to make people believe that if, "yes, there really is a Kalamazoo" (the closest thing we'll probably ever have to a brand), what should it stand for?

If my marketing expert buddies ever would seem to be talking about the same thing when they were talking about brands and branding, I think I know enough about Kalamazoo to tell you it can't be branded. In fact, I've been on committees that have tried, and I've pretty much held my tongue, because when I work with people, I have a thing where I don't tell people what they can't do (they'll always surprise you).

But, ask yourself this: With Western Michigan University running a "Saddle Up" campaign, the Convention & Visitors Bureau telling you to "Discover Kalamazoo," and with the downtown marketing arm running a different message, Southwest Michigan First another, the Chamber another, and throw in the Promise of a Greater Kalamazoo, do you think we could collapse all those messages into a single campaign?

I don't. And I don't think we should. Reason? The beauty of Kalamazoo (County) to one person is completely different than the meaningful part of the community to another. For some it's the arts. For others, it's Lake Michigan. Still others think we should be the educational community (I'd vote for that one). How about biotech? High tech? High touch? One of my favorite things is street lights, so you can run in the winter on city streets.

We don't need a single message to all pull together in the same direction. We'll have to live with brandemonium.