Brand New con't
Our integrated communications program will include a major consumer and trade magazine advertising campaign, a strong WRCLA presence at trade and home shows and more promotional visibility at the retail level. The campaign will stress the benefits of REAL CEDAR however unless this strategy is supported by strong brand identification on product and at the point-of-purchase, transfer from our promotional efforts will be compromised.

The original mark was designed in the mid '90s and one of its objectives was to counteract a problem back then of inferior quality cedar on the market - the phrase "Today's Cedar' underscored that our product was modern cedar graded to intended use. This positioning is no longer relevant.

The mark was also intended for end tag usage, which for various reasons has proved unsuccessful, plus its extended format makes it hard to integrate with a Member's own branding on a limited space. The result is that WRCLA member brand tie-in has been weak because many members are not using it on their products.

We have also been concerned about non-member usage. The original brand primarily promoted Cedar with the WRCLA logo as a minor component. Consequently, our members were contributing to a promotion of cedar for producers who did not belong to the WRCLA.

The new brand corrects these past weaknesses and addresses current challenges. The design incorporates a greatly enlarged WRCLA logo, which is as prominent as REAL CEDAR. Emphasizing 'REAL' is critical because of the current proliferation of competing substitutes.

A more compact format means members should have no difficulty using the new mark as a tag or face stamp in conjunction with their own brands. So when our upcoming ads and promotional material exhorts consumers to "Look for this mark!", they will have no problem doing just that at the point-of-purchase. The brand is also readable big or small, usable in black & white or colour, and is easily reproduced by any printing process.

Finally, by making 'WRCLA' an intrinsic element in the cedar message, it makes it far harder for major producers who are not members of our association to get a free ride on our efforts.

Our new brand is major component of our upcoming advertising campaign. We urge our members to apply it to their products and display it in their own marketing material. To that end, we're working on a brand manual to provide illustrations and instructions for brand use in a variety of applications and reproduction quality artwork.

Together we can position 'REAL CEDAR/WRCLA' top of mind in the marketplace - where it naturally belongs.