With a new logo and a new message, the Kalispell brand has been launched.

Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau Director Diane Medler rolled out the details of the visitor marketing effort last week at the monthly Kalispell Chamber of Commerce luncheon and during a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony for the expanded Visitor Information Center at the Depot Park complex.

“We are in the middle of Montana’s most iconic natural places,” Medler said. “We’re a mix of proximity, comfort and discovery.”

Hence a brand that proclaims “Discovery in every direction.” The new logo features a compass pointing out in all directions, symbolic of Kalispell’s role as the hub of the Flathead Valley.

“Our brand defines a collective promise we make to visitors, a promise we must live up to and deliver consistently,” Medler told Chamber members and representatives of myriad local visitor attractions.

In marketing terms, branding is the process of getting customers to easily remember one’s products or services. It’s a tool that has become more visible in recent years in the visitor industry as resorts and communities strive to find new ways to leave an impression with their guests.

The Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau began the branding effort late last year when a group of more than 20 community stakeholders met to determine the Kalispell community’s strengths and weaknesses and map out a strategic plan.

The key question to be answered, Medler said, was: “What is Kalispell as part of a Flathead vacation?”

Partners Creative, a graphic and logo design firm based in Missoula, took the branding effort to the next level, conducting interviews with hotel guests throughout the Flathead to find out how they view Kalispell in the mix of their visitor experience.

“From there we determined our brand pillars, what we’re going to stand for,” Medler said.

What the branding experts learned from the interviews is that most visitors view Kalispell as a real community with an authentic history.

“They like that we’re a local community and not a resort town,” Medler said. “They like the variety we have in shopping. Large chain stores provide comfort to some” while others zero in on the variety of smaller, more eclectic shops.

Kalispell offers visitors a balance of city and outdoor adventure, with museums, shopping and dining in the city and rivers, trails and mountain peaks just miles away.

“That makes us a perfect destination for people who like a little city comfort mixed with their outdoor wonder,” Medler said.

The branding effort includes Kalispell’s people as well, who visitors said offer “genuine hospitality.”

Medler encouraged business owners to spread the brand message and build packages around the theme.

“Work with other businesses to create packages,” Medler urged. “Get creative. Talk to other business owners.”

Chamber members are able to promote such packages on the Chamber website, www.kalispellchamber.com, in the “Hot Deals” section.

Another goal of the branding campaign is to persuade visitors to stay one extra day, especially in the shoulder seasons. Nonresident visitors spent just under $276 million in the Flathead Valley last year, with an average stay of 6.42 days during the height of the summer season and 4.5 days during the coldest winter months.

The power of brand marketing relies on being able to deliver a consistent message about what’s available and what’s open, noted Glacier National Park Superintendent Chas Cartwright.

There’s often a perception that Glacier Park is closed when Going-to-the-Sun Road isn’t open. In reality, though, “it’s always open, 365 days a year,” Cartwright told the Chamber crowd.

“Let’s all work together to give a consistent message about what’s open and available,” he said.

Kalispell Mayor Tammi Fisher, another guest speaker at the chamber lunch, stressed the importance of being an ambassador for Kalispell when traveling out of the area. She admitted she has missed opportunities to promote her city when she wanted to remain anonymous and told others she was simply from a small town in Montana.

“Being an ambassador is taking the opportunity to promote our community, if for no other reason than to keep the economy we have going,” Fisher said. “It’s not false praise.

“I challenge all of you to give back by being spokespeople. Nobody knows the treasures of this place like us. We need not fear that travelers here will change our identity.”

Fisher said she has a new tack these days when she travels and is asked who she is: “I now respond that I’m the mayor of the finest city in Montana. Can I tell you about it?”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.