COUNTY - What's in a name?

 For marketing purposes, apparently quite a bit.

 "Sometimes you have to say 'your baby is ugly,'" said Jennifer Faulkner of Headspace - a company specializing in strategic branding, print and web design - during a recent committee presentation to the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg (MODL).

 "Your name is lengthy, it's confusing and it's really not sexy, to be honest. That's where 'your baby is ugly,'" she laughed. "It's really a political term."

 Therefore, the MODL plans to bill itself as the Lunenburg Region in future tourism initiatives.

 "You need something you can market and recognize," said community economic development officer Dave Waters.

 "When I met with tourism agencies and groups in the area, the biggest difficulty I ran into was people don't recognize that the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg is not part of the Town of Lunenburg.

 "One of the things we wanted to do was find a name that was simple, not complex and something that would represent the area as a whole, and not a specific part."

 He said Lunenburg Region does that while differentiating itself from the town, but not too much.

 "Although we're trying to say we're not the Town of Lunenburg, it would be suicide for us to ignore the town, because they're the draw. We're not a tourism destination, we're a diversion. Having the name Lunenburg in there ties in to what we want to do."

 Councillor Martin Bell said the name also allows a more open invitation for partnerships with other municipal units that want to market the area.

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 "That was a real selling feature for me. We weren't just raising our own flag, we were raising a flag for the region and capitalizing on a name that is recognized internationally."

 The Lunenburg Region moniker is expected to be used in context with marketing initiatives such as advertisements and brochures.

 "It's just a vessel to help carry the message," said Ms Faulkner.

 That message is expected to be delivered primarily to people in the Halifax area and beyond.

 "This will not replace our municipal name or logo," said Mr. Waters.

 "This is strictly for tourism purposes only."

posted on 03/24/09