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THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
Cents playoff hockey this weekend No more implementation
until branding open house By Michael Potestio THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
CENTS AND VEES FACE OFF The Merritt Centennials and Penticton Vees are renewing their storied rivalry in round one of the BCHL’s Interior division playoffs. Action got underway on Tuesday at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton with the Vees pounding the Cents 8-0. Game two was scheduled for the SOEC on Wednesday. Games three and four of the best-of-seven playoff series are set for this Friday and Saturday at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena in Merritt. A loud and proud hometown crowd is expected to be on hand to cheer the Cents on. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. both nights. For more on the Cents and Vees showdown, turn to page 21. Ian Webster/Herald
The “farm fresh” ad for Merritt displayed at city hall was not done up by the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) or its lead contractor on the destination branding project, Terra Firma Digital Arts. The ad, which pictures a young man and woman standing face to face in a field with a picnic blanket covering their heads, was designed by a separate ad agency for economic development manager Jerry Sucharyna. The ad had to go forward to meet deadlines for an economic development magazine and the Gold Country visitors guide. The rest of the campaign will have to wait until TOTA gives the city its branding implementation guidelines, TOTA’s Simone Carlysle-Smith said. “He [Sucharyna] needed to get some ads out for a couple of publications by a particular deadline, so those ads were done by an ad agency that he works with. The logo and the tagline were in production at the time, and those were released to him in order to make those ad deadlines. Those are not our work,” CarlysleSmith said. Sucharyna said he went ahead with implementing an official advertisement because that was the direction council approved at the Feb. 11 meeting when the new branding was adopted. He said Merritt needed to have an ad in those magazines for marketing purposes. “Merritt’s always participated in those magazines and to just drop out of them, that’s too big of a piece to miss,” Sucharyna said. “We took a step so that we could meet their deadlines.”
Carlysle-Smith said TOTA and Terra Firma Digital Arts weren’t able to accommodate that requirement, so the ad was done by another organization. “We weren’t ready to do creative because we want to set the foundation for the future rather than try to deal with short-term ads in the middle of a process,” Carlysle-Smith said. Sucharyna said there will be no other implementation of the new branding until after the open house, which takes place March 12. “We are working as closely with TOTA and Terra Firma as we can. We’re working through this process and we’re happy to do so,” Sucharyna said. Carlysle-Smith said the open house will provide an update on some of the projects currently underway as part of Merritt’s recently adopted tourism plan, particularly the brand project. “We’re just not getting our day in court, if you will. We just need to get there on the twelfth,” CarlysleSmith said, noting TOTA hasn’t had a chance to present the destination branding yet. The open house will take place at the Civic Centre between 6 and 8 p.m. and everything presented will be available on the website totabc.ca for those who can’t make it. Carlysle-Smith said it will feature visual samples, writing samples, the rationale for changing the branding and a profile of the target markets for the branding. The new tagline and brand logo will be discussed at the open house, she said. “We want to make sure that there’s community engagement,” CarlysleSmith said.
See ‘TOTA’s work’ Page 10
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