Squamish is Hardwired for Adventure.
British Columbia used to be the Best Place on Earth.
And Bowen Island is…
During the month of October, Bowen Island Municipality is asking everyone to help it fill in the blank by taking part in a resident survey.
Why did you move here? Why do you stay?
“If you want to understand the values of a community you have to understand their experiences and personal stories,” says Mayor Murray Skeels.
For council, he says the survey will provide “a pretty good feel for the values [we] want to reflect and what [our] priorities are.”
For the municipality’s economic development committee, which is spearheading the project, “It will really help us understand what is making Bowen unique and special,” says committee chair Gord Ganong. “It is a learning process.”
It’s the stories that we tell one another that tell us who we are. Islanders Ed Wachtman and Sheree Johnson , the dynamic force behind Storytellings Consulting, have devised and will analyze the survey pro bono. They’ve taken international clients such as Ford Motor Company and Jack Daniels on a similar journey to discover the heart of who they are and what they represent.
All the survey questions are open ended except for those that help define the survey’s demographic.
The survey is one step in many — there was a visitors’ survey in 2014 and a business information-gathering process earlier this year — that the municipality is undertaking to come up with a new brand for “The Happy Isle.”
“Our economy is not only tourism,” Skeels says during an interview with Ganong and Councillor Maureen Nicholson. “We want the brand to be something residents can be proud of so there’s a consistent message. It’s much broader than trying to bring tourists to the island.”
The committee stresses that a brand is not a logo or a slogan. “A brand is the meaning of a place, the heart and soul… How it emotionally connects with you. A place brand reflects what a place currently is and inspires what it can be in the future.”
Once the stories from online survey are analyzed, Rethink Communications will take over the process. Responsible for one of the most successful recent marketing campaigns — the Molson Canadian Beer Fridge that opened when a Canadian swiped their passport — Rethink would be far beyond the municipality’s price range were it not for another island connection. Rethink’s founder, Chris Staples, lives on Bowen and has also agreed to do the work pro bono.
“Their track record is outstanding,” Ganong says, with Skeels adding that one of the things that makes this community of 3,600 souls so dynamic is having all this world-class talent at its fingertips.
When it comes to the survey, Nicholson says “Just think of those things that make you smile and couldn’t happen anywhere else.”
“We want the vignette,” Skeels says, “the memorable.”
But just like Canadians don’t like being described as “not American”, the municipality does not want to define itself by the negatives. “We’re not looking for the good, we’re not looking for the bad. We’re looking for what is,” Skeels says.
The survey, which is anonymous, is open to anyone 15 years of age or older. It’s available online but you can also call the municipality to ask that a hard copy be mailed to you. It’s expected to take 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
“We know from previous research that residents feel a strong sense of community,” the committee says. “We need to know what specific things about living on Bowen bind us together.
“This survey is about our future, ensuring that we can protect those aspects of Bowen Island we collectively value. What is the Bowen Island story.”
To tell your story go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MyBowenIslandStory from October 1 to 31.
