‘Rossmoor Walnut Creek’ voted as the community’s brand name

By Mike Wood

Staff writer

Wednesday, April 9 (2:30 p.m.): The Marketing Task Force settled on more of its objectives at its March 31 meeting.

The task force gave unanimous support to designating Rossmoor Walnut Creek as the brand name for the community. That name already has been registered with Contra Costa County for Golden Rain Foundation’s “doing business as” name, and this move points toward a broader scope for that name designation.

A six-part values statement also received unanimous support. Task Force chairman Dwight Walker expressed confidence that the task force is on target to deliver its recommendations to the GRF Board on May 29.

“There’s light at end of the tunnel,” Walker said, while thanking all those involved in contributing to the extensive effort. “It really is valuable to our entire community.”

The marketing group already had developed its mission statement and its vision. The scope of a brand guide for marketing was discussed during an overview by GRF Director of Communications Ann Peterson.

A brand guide encapsulates myriad aspects of marketing, in this case specifics for visual elements such as brand colors, typography, imagery and logo, plus brand personality (mission, vision, values and tone), applications and messaging.

All six values – connection and community; fun, recreation and lifelong learning; safety and security; beautiful surroundings; inclusivity and respect; independence and convenience – already had each received a majority of votes prior to the meeting from the task force, several garnering unanimous support, said task force member Kathleen Schaub.

The next of the final three scheduled Marketing Task Force meetings is today, April 9, in Creekside’s Mulligan Room. That meeting will include discussing possible narratives to accompany the values that could explain them better, Walker said.

This time, the task force drilled down on sources of confusion regarding what’s what in the community, particularly for new or prospective homeowners. That’s why Peterson said it should be Rossmoor Walnut Creek inside the gate as well as outside. Otherwise, she said, “we’re Rossmoor, we’re Golden Rain Foundation, we’re GRF, we’re the Mutuals, and it confuses people.”

Rossmoor Walnut Creek already has shown it can forge a more precise identity outside the Bay Area, task force member Ted Bentley said.

Bentley used the term Rossmoor Walnut Creek while on a trip to Cambria recently, “and they knew exactly what I was talking about,” he said.

Branding must be consistent, said Amy Bollinger of the task force. “I don’t care what we choose. You’ve got to be consistent, because that’s your messaging.”

Task force members concede that many residents may shorten the new brand name to Rossmoor but remain in support of the name designation.

To clear up another point of confusion, Task force member Linda Register said marketing should stress that Rossmoor is home ownership, to avoid a misconception that it has apartments. “I just don’t think people completely understand, and they’re still asking for apartments,” she said.

Part of that confusion is because many other 55-plus communities do have apartments, Walker said. “I think that’s a very good point that we need to be clear: This is home ownership,” he said.

A PowerPoint presentation by Peterson gave an overview of what a marketing website could look like, which included elements of what Laguna Woods Village in Southern California utilizes.

An emphasis on lifestyle makes sense to Michael Kuller of the task force “because people aren’t coming here to buy a 50-year-old condo with $2,000-a-month homeowner dues. They are coming here for the lifestyle,” he said.

Bentley said he’d like to see the proximity to Broadway Plaza shopping center noted in the eventual presentation.

Peterson would like for MLS (Multiple Listing Service) real estate listings to be shown on the new marketing website, noting that “it costs money, but it’s worth doing.”

Peterson also presented a working outline for the final marketing report, which the task force will keep developing.

With the task force already recommending Rossmoor.com to focus on external marketing and myrossmoor.com to be used within the community, discussion continued about how a social media approach would function.

Peterson described how a low-impact approach would function, as well as a high-impact one. The latter, Peterson said, would necessitate adding a new staff member. Any social media approach decision should wait until a new marketing website and redesigned residents’ portal are launched, she noted.