Credit: Virgin Galactic
“‘Welcome to the dawn of a new space age,’ Richard Branson says after Virgin Galactic flight”
Everyone knows the Virgin brand – does anyone know Yelm’s brand anymore?
The Master of Branding, Sir Richard Branson, successfully launched his Virgin Galactic craft and brand to the edge of space on July 11, 2021. Whenever the Virgin brand appears, everyone know that belongs to Branson.
That made me think what has become of Yelm’s long touted brand, “Pride of the Prairie.” Where is the prairie now, as so much of Yelm has been developed? And the City of Yelm never exploited the nickname “Gateway to Mt. Rainier.”
With a new mayor and major changes coming to the city council, I recommend the new mayor appoint a branding task force to take Yelm into the future. Economic development will take front and center stage in a new mayoral administration, and that must begin with a dynamic new brand and branding campaign of which the entire community can truly be proud.
It’s all about marketing, something this town’s leadership has lacked for the last 2 decades!
These are the current, disparate Yelm brand of logos:
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4 comments
I remember way back, the City wanted to put some kind of sign on JZ’s property at the corner of 93rd and Yelm Hwy. We always joked it would be great if they put a sign that said “Welcome to Yelm, Home of Ramtha the Enlightened One”. I’m sure it would have really gone over great…
The city under former Mayor Harding’s leadership looked at the school as a detriment to this community, instead of exploiting Yelm as one of the well-known center for the spiritual world. His successor, Mayor Foster has never sought to acknowledge the school, all of the students who live here, those who started community functions like the Farmer’s Market, Food Co-op and Gift of Gobble, who also own businesses in Yelm, and pay taxes. Sad.
Yes, I always thought there should have been more recognition from local City leadership for the positive influences of RSE. There had been some acknowledgement from our US Reps in Congress. Harding was especially divisive — the way he campaigned against you was very revealing — the NVN was not a fair player at that time either.
But alas, the last few years and the huge embrace of the Qanon movement by the school, and JZ’s call to sedition have taken a devastating toll on its reputation that I don’t think can be overcome.
I concur. When the school became politicized and placed “Q” signs on their gates at the entrance to town, the comments I received questioning what happened, were voluminous. Yelm is no longer the spiritual bastion like in the 1990s, 2000s.
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