Looking at Siksika’s brand

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Siksika Nation is looking to breathe some new life into its brand awareness, and to create a learning campaign for surrounding communities to be more in the know about the reserve. 

Siksika Nation councillor Susan Solway said a need had been identified to create a brand awareness for the nation as a whole.

“Typically, when you think about brands, you think about business corporations and consumers and products and stuff, but I think with us, our takeaway was more or less about creating an awareness and learning campaign for some of our neighbours within the surrounding communities,” said Solway. 

Once the need was identified and the goal was established, Siksika Nation Chief and Council began reaching out to experts in the field who would be able to help get their messaging out effectively. 

“(Chief and council) don’t have a lot of time on their hands to dive right in and create these creative solutions on our own, so we definitely reached out to a recognized and reputable firm that does branding and marketing,” said Solway, adding that they partnered with Pluto Pictures Advertising, a firm based out of Calgary. 

Siksika Nation intends to be in collaboration with the Pluto team throughout the course of the summer.

Solway added that there is intent to also make use of the production team’s presence in the nation as an opportunity for interested nation members to get some hands-on training and experience helping with the project.

“We are still in the beginning stages. (They) have come out once and we have a work plan and scheduling that we still need to finalize,” said Solway. “(The team) will be in the community throughout the next two months capturing landscapes, capturing historical site footage, cultural site footage and event footage.”

Ultimately, Solway added, the hope is to create an honest and positive appreciation of Siksika Nation through storytelling and relationship building.

The goal is to be ready to launch the modernized awareness campaign by the end of August, rolling out a media placement strategy, a short commercial and a brand collateral campaign.

“The success of it would be to have more people come out to Blackfoot Historical Park or visit our small businesses that we do have on the nation, and just having people overall feel comfortable enough to reach out to any one of us and be open to dialogue,” said Solway. “We’re hoping that this branding campaign will allow for … business partnerships or organizational partnerships to flourish. We do have a lot of opportunities where we could bring in a lot more partnerships and relationship building within the nation to help assist us in all areas whether it’s education for secondary education, health and wellness, just overall community development.”