Wrangell's new tourism branding promotes 'travel outside the lines'

With vibrant colors, an eye-catching logo and the goal of telling visitors what they can expect, Wrangell has launched its new tourism branding campaign.

The "Travel Outside The Lines" slogan is meant to draw in tourists, said Brooke Leslie, with the Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau, who presented on the new branding at the June 8 borough assembly meeting.

"This is a project that we took up with (federal) CARES Act funding," she said. "In 2019, pre-COVID, there was a post-(tourist) season meeting held with some city officials and stakeholders in the tour industry. ... We wanted to be proactive in defining Wrangell as a travel destination that we envision as a community."

The new branding was put together with Spawn Ideas, an advertising agency out of Anchorage, which helped identify the community's target audience and work out how to portray Wrangell as unique from other travel destinations.

Leslie said this was accomplished through stakeholder and visitor interviews, figuring out brand attributes and "promise statements" to visitors, creating a tagline, among other work.

"A brand is a promise of an experience," Leslie said. "It's what people say when we're not in the room, it is not just the logo. It encompasses far more than that."

Carol Rushmore, Wrangell's economic development director, said the project cost about $45,000.

The new branding shows the name Wrangell, stylized with the silhouette of a totem pole embedded at the bottom of the "R," plus a new advertising slogan, "Travel Outside The Lines."

The brand's promise to visitors is that Wrangell is "an up-close exploration of an unspoiled, somewhat mysterious, insider's Alaska." The logo is meant to be bold and rough around the edges, Leslie said, like Wrangell.

The branding is meant to show that Wrangell is a unique, but friendly, tightknit community. Travelers come to Wrangell to experience Alaska in its original state, Leslie said, and once they come to Wrangell they'll want to know more. Wrangell is not a destination that follows trends, she said, and has its own special way of going about life.

"What's special about Wrangell is a bit of a secret, people want to know more about it and once they get here they want to know even more," Leslie said. "We get it, people have been coming here for at least 8,000 years for a reason. While it can look a little rough around the edges, we think it's perfect."

The new promotional campaign is at http://www.travelwrangell.com.