With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/394777
bcbusINess.ca November 2014 BCBusiness 63 from the NPA. Instead, it's activists and a network of community groups spread- ing the meme—a meme the NPA is poised to take advantage of. There's one final piece of the brand- ing puzzle for mayoral candidates in particular. The ones who achieve the greatest success, become the best known, are those who seem to per- sonify their city—or what the residents of that city aspire to be. Dianne Watts, in Surrey, has been the quintessential blend of suburban Real Housewives style with a layer of contemporary coolness: a Buddhist, a one-time backpacking world adventurer—a person who wanted Sur- rey to become a cosmopolitan city. In Calgary, Naheed Nenshi, running his election campaigns through social media, personifies a new Calgary that is more than just cowboy hats and oil: Muslim, a professor with a PhD, funny and flamboyant. But he also incorpo- rates into his projected image parts of the old Calgary that people are hungry for, as he tweets out endless messages about community events and lost pets that evoke the city as a smaller town where neighbours helped each other. In the 2002 civic election, former coroner Larry Campbell embodied a Vancouver many people wanted the city to become: compassionate but realistic about its many residents with drug problems. For the last six years, Robertson has been the symbol of what many people take Vancouver to be: a bike-lovin', oil-tanker hatin', techie, startup, digital city. But maybe the voters in this city—which can sometimes surprise Lotusland mock- ers with the lesser-known, conservative side of its personality—have a different idea of their Vancouver. Oh, and, by the way, on the car thing. Rob Ford, who should be a man-of-the- people Chevrolet guy, drives a Cadillac Escalade SUV. Gregor Robertson, when not on his bike, drives a Volkswagen Jetta—the safe, middle-of-the-road, reli- able car that he seems slightly embar- rassed about. LaPointe says his favourite car of all time was the Mini Cooper he drove for seven years, until his step- daughter grew out of the backseat's legroom. At the moment, he's driving a rather hefty corporate car, an Audi S4 A-line. But it's not really him, he says. He'll be ditching it as soon as he's out of the lease. ■ Primary Colours What the hue of your poster says about you and your party Purple. It's the new colour for the party that's trying to take down the blue of vision vancouver. Irrelevant you say? In a study called "The Impact of color in marketing," published in the non-flaky journal Manage - ment Decisions, researchers determined that people make up their minds about products within 90 seconds of viewing. and between 62 and 90 per cent of their decision is based on the colours they see. marketers warn, however, that the colour has to match the essential brand personality—sincere, sophisti - cated, competent, rugged, excit- ing—of the product. so what is that colour purple whispering? sophistication is one association that pops up persistently in stud- ies. Luxury, creativity, quality are others. Think Yahoo, Purdy's chocolates, cadbury, Hallmark, craigslist. The downside? Purple is linked, for some people, with arrogance and excess. also, it's a least-favourite colour for men, although women like it. Blue. so what about the blue of vision? Yes, they did nab the colour that banks and american Democrats love. Its associations: calmness (sky, water), stability, success, authority. (Downside: can seem icy, cold, melancholy.) It's the most popular colour for both men and women, which is probably why companies from Ibm to Twitter to Ge to rbc have chosen it as their defining brand colour. Green. and the Greens? Name, brand and colour perfectly aligned. The earth, organics, nature, growth. starbucks and TD canada Trust, it's true. and associated with money and jealousy. but also Greenpeace, the sierra club, the Nature conservancy, Western canada Wilderness committee, Happy Planet. 'Nuff said. yellow. coPe's yellow? optimistic, cheerful. mcDon- ald's, best buy and IKea, on the one hand. The No Name brand, on the other. (Downside: used for danger signs, can seem too lightweight.) —Frances Bula