In East Village,
Centre City Comes Together at Last

Branding Calgary's Oldest, Newest, Coolest, Warmest Neighbourhood

East Village, downtown Calgary’s least-loved neighbourhood, is set to become the most talked-about part of the city thanks to a major redevelopment effort and a unique ‘place branding’ initiative.

Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), the developer, is transforming East Village into a pedestrian-friendly urban village with a lively and varied mix of residences, offices, retail, restaurants and entertainment venues. The neighbourhood is expected to house as many as 11,500 residents in the future.

CMLC engaged place branding specialists Resonance Consultancy Ltd. to help shape and communicate that vision to Calgarians and prospective development partners. Place branding is an approach to economic development that seeks to define a neighbourhood or city by more than the sum of its functional parts or amenities. While economic activity, housing, transportation and educational and cultural institutions are the logical hardware of a place, place branding is the software of policies, sights, sounds, and experiences surrounding the built environment that form a unique and compelling ‘sense of place’ and attract us to it. Place branding, in short, is the magic: it speaks to the heart, just as the ‘hardware’ of place speaks to the head.

“Every community has a ‘brand’ that is made up of the feelings, perceptions and attitudes that locals, visitors and businesses have towards a place,” explains Resonance Consultancy President Chris Fair. “Communities are beginning to realize the importance of place branding and creating a unique sense of place as they compete increasingly with cities around the globe for capital investment, residents and visitors.”

Resonance Consultancy relied on interviews and surveys with thousands of Calgarians, and workshops with a host of planning consultants to define core attributes for the neighbourhood where Centre City comes together at last – these include East Village has an “Off-the-Grid” Energy; East Village is Confluence and Connection; East Village is a Living Downtown Waterfront. “These differentiating characteristics make up the East Village brand promise and its ‘sense of place’, and have helped guide our creation of a new identity for the neighbourhood,” says Resonance Consultancy Chief Creative Officer Dianna Carr.

The logo created by Resonance Consultancy for East Village is fresh but sophisticated and celebrates the new urban energy that will differentiate the neighbourhood. The choice of lower case type and “ev” abbreviation is friendly – human, welcoming and memorable. The eye-catching ovoid shape enclosing the logo is a creative and unusual design element inspired by the pebbles and river rocks found along the Bow and Elbow Rivers.

“The improvements underway for East Village will create an irresistible opportunity to live, work and play in a single location while also providing a long-awaited setting for cultural exuberance and entertainment in the city,” says CMLC Senior Marketing Manager Susan Veres. “The new identity for East Village embraces that vision and is a key element in our transformation of this important neighbourhood.”

ABOUT CMLC
Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) is the developer responsible for managing the rejuvenation and development of a vibrant, mixed-use, inner city community in Calgary’s East Village. Incorporated in 2007, CMLC operates as an independent developer and over the next 10 – 15 years will bring new energy to Calgary’s oldest neighbourhood and redefine the city’s core. For more information on CMLC, visit www.calgarymlc.ca.

ABOUT RESONANCE CONSULTANCY
Resonance Consultancy Ltd. is a strategic communications firm that specializes in the envisioning and branding of places and lifestyle-oriented consumer products. Based in Vancouver, B.C. and New York, NY, the principals of Resonance Consultancy have more than a half-century of experience in real estate and economic development throughout North America and Europe. For more information on Resonance Consultancy, visit www.resonanceco.com.