Missouri City Begins Image Make-Over at 50

Community Branding Contract Approved by City Council

Missouri City is 50 years old and a decision for a make-over will include finding out about current perceptions, images, and feelings that citizens and visitors hold about the City.

This is part of a process for developing a positive self image for the City and setting the stage for creating a marketing plan to brand the City by answering questions about what Missouri City wants to be known for, how to have it stand out from the crowd, and what thoughts the City would like to have come to mind when people hear its name.

This task is important to Missouri City because its image and visibility are vital for economic development, and for the community at large. It is part of an economic development effort to generate increasing city sales tax receipts by bringing businesses and other opportunities to the City, including employment. This will also have the effect of encouraging spending and investing, which will help Missouri City prosper for years to come.

“We want to reshape Missouri City’s image to the best advantage, have it undergo a kind of make-over,” states Mayor Allen Owen. Action this month by the Mayor and City Council approved a contract for services to North Star Destination Strategies, LLC of Nashville, Tennessee for municipal branding consulting services. This company will soon initiate a campaign to reach an understanding about the City as a result of obtaining insights. It will culminate in an evaluation about what Missouri City needs to do to perform the job it intends to accomplish.

“We have a tremendous number of positives,” says Mayor Owen, “like the quality of life, our geographic location, our beautiful parks and lakes, superior neighborhoods, exceptional people; a lot of good things go on here, and we need to tell the world.”

suppositions “altogether portrayed a picture of Missouri City that was not accurate,” states Mayor Owen. “We want to be known for whom we are, all of us, collectively in the entire community, not this neighborhood or that one, or this section of the City or the other; and we need to put ourselves on the map, literally,” says Mayor Owen. He reports that responses to his recentRecent media coverage about the City’s intent to contract for services for defining its self-image together with name change letters to Houston TV station meteorologists about a Missouri City mention in weather segments are very promising. “Tim Heller (meteorologist) of Channel 13 even asked us to help him identify a storm tracker, a weather geek, he said, that would make it possible to include Missouri City in their weather reports and I am pleased to know that our residents responded to the call.”

In the meantime, North Star, the consulting community branding firm, will soon start its interviews with community leaders and focus groups along with “on the street” interviews. Understanding, insights, imagination and evaluation are the key components of this campaign. “A brand is what people say about you when you’re not around,” states Steve Chandler, President of North Star Destination Strategies, LLC. Chandler, who will take the lead and oversee the branding campaign effort for Missouri City. He says that among the steps to improve a city’s image could be changing the city’s logo on its flag, vehicles, stationery and so forth. “But the campaign is to improve the city’s overall image,” he explains, adding that the focus is on first learning what the city thinks of itself.

“So, what comes to mind when you hear the name Missouri City,” asks Bob Graf, Economic Development Coordinator for Missouri City. “We will soon find out from North Star, which will gather extensive statistical data and engage itself in research and surveys that will help us market a definitive campaign for the City,” he says. “This way we can better market our community by coming up with a brand that will fit all of Missouri City’s prospective opportunities,” he adds.

“This is a great city,” says Mayor Owen, “but it’s often overshadowed by Houston and our neighboring communities. At our 50th anniversary, the time has come for that to change and we are confident that a branding marketing plan will take us to the best of what is ahead of us.”

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