The Town of Lincoln has embraced a new tourism and destination brand identity, the Niagara Benchlands. The Town of Lincoln’s Committee of the Whole unanimously supported the new tourism and brand identity during its meeting on October 18. This project was the collective vision of staff, Town Council, the tourism industry, and the community.

The new brand will now ignite Lincoln’s five-year Tourism Strategy and Action Plan.

• See Staff Report AD-22-21 Lincoln’s Tourism Destination Brand Identity | October 18, 2021
• See Presentation to Council re Lincoln’s Tourism Destination Brand Identity | October 18, 2021

Review Timeline: December 2020 - Fall 2021

Phase One- Inform and Audit

• 1.1 Completed in January 2021; 42 local tourism operators, key stakeholders and community groups were interviewed to provide niche sector insights and market research to inform the positioning and brand narrative development for Lincoln's tourism and destination place brand identity.

Phase Two – Define and Design

• 2.1 Brand Strategy Development (Includes name, positioning and key messaging)
• 2.2 Brand Workshop 2 (Includes name and strategy recommendations; creative brief and discussion)
• 2.3 Visual Identity Exploration (Includes logo, colours, fonts, graphics, sample applications)
• 2.4 Brand Workshop 3 (Includes visual identity review and product development prioritization)
• 2.5 Community Consultation (Includes online survey to key stakeholders community at large)

Timeline: Summer 2021

Phase 3- Implementation

• 3.1 Product Development
• 3.2 Brand Workshop 4: Final Brand Recommendations (Includes; product recommendations, and marketing plan review)
• 3.3 Three Year Marketing and Communications Plan Development
• 3.4 Brand Applications and Templates
• 3.5 Brand Guidelines and Artwork

Timelines: Fall 2021

*All development work completed with guidance from the Tourism Strategy and Implementation Team, consultation with local, Lincoln Tourism businesses and key stakeholders.

The Town of Lincoln is committed to building a strong, vibrant community by ensuring sustainable growth that serves the long-term interest of our economy, businesses, environment, and our citizens. A key to creating that prosperous future is the Town of Lincoln’s Economic Development Strategy & Action Plan 2019-2023, which identified tourism as one of the four key pillars that will drive Lincoln’s economic future.

The Economic Development Strategy outlined two strategic tourism objectives:

1. To develop a Lincoln-centered tourism strategy and action plan to provide needed infrastructure, expand capacity, increase visitor accommodations, and create memorable destinations, value, and services to attract more visitors to Lincoln.
2. To initiate action on local tourism-related needs that lend themselves to immediate action (i.e. seeking investment for accommodation and signature destination experiences, and wayfinding signage).

Recognizing the sector’s potential for economic growth, the Town committed to the development of a comprehensive Lincoln-centered tourism strategy with tourism consultants, Wavefront Planning and Design Inc. and The Tourism Company in March 2019. The intent of this plan aimed to protect /promote Lincoln’s assets, ensure sector sustainability and support economic development by:

• Defining the role of the Town in the tourism sector;
• Strengthening and growing the local tourism economy, through job creation and sustainable jobs;
• Evaluating the Town of Lincoln’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities;
• Attracting new investment; and
• Preparing a 5 -year action plan to guide the Town’s efforts.

After much consideration and consultation with the tourism industry, the Tourism Strategy and Action Plan identified that the Town plays a key role in moving the industry forward and takes the lead in developing partnerships with public and private sector stakeholders, to ensure job creation in our community. In addition to this change in tourism leadership, the Tourism Strategy and Action plan also recommended:

• The Town of Lincoln continues with a third-party organization to help drive destination promotion and product development. *Similar to the Twenty Valley Tourism Association but with a more narrowed and defined scope.
• Collaborate with public and private sector partners to fund and manage a newly governed Destination Marketing Organization (DMO)
• Review opportunities for greater municipal collaboration when strategically appropriate across West Niagara.

One of the key aspects of this strategic initiative was to determine the Town’s role in tourism for the community. For approximately 20 years, the Town has outsourced tourism development and management to the Twenty Valley Tourism Association (TVTA), officially our Destination Marketing Organization (DMO).

After careful consideration and consultation with the tourism industry, the recommendation is that the Town plays a larger role in managing the destination while allowing a public-private partnership between the Town (and other public sector stakeholders) and our private industry stakeholders to market the Lincoln-centred destination.

On September 18, 2020, the Town of Lincoln and the City of St. Catharines formalized a sub-regional tourism marketing partnership. The partnership has been finalized through the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between both parties. The agreement expands both municipalities’ capacity to market to a broader audience and combine a shared rural and urban tourism experience.

The MOU will also serve to lay the foundation for a potential joint Destination Marketing Organization to assist with destination marketing and management of the collaborative destination. This partnership recognizes the mutual benefit of promoting our distinct destinations in tandem.