News Photo by Reagan Voetberg The Alpena Community College Board of Trustees and President Don MacMaster pose for a photo in their ACC hatchet logo shirts on Sept. 17.

ALPENA — Branding is an important aspect of any organization or business, from a grocery store to a community college.

In their Sept. 30 visioning session, the Alpena Community College Board of Trustees discussed branding and how they would like to market ACC in the future.

Secretary of the Board of Trustees Jay Walterreit went over the history of ACC’s branding and goals for the future.

The elements of a brand are a unique identity and strategic communication, according to the visioning session presentation slides. The brand should establish the college’s unique personality by highlighting specific mission, location, and academic strengths. A cohesive narrative needs to be crafted that tells the college’s story across all mediums, from social media to print materials.

Other elements of a brand include stakeholder experience and reflecting community values.

There are seven P’s that should be remembered, Walterreit said. The focus should be on four of them — product, place, price, and promotion.

“One of the most important things is putting butts in seats, so that would be enrollment and recruiting students,” Walterreit said.

In advertising, the college should emphasize the value of higher education, explain why higher education is important, and encourage students of all ages to take higher ed courses.

There was a time when ACC focused on recruiting non-traditional students, but there was not much success, Walterreit said.

The board discussed some of the old logos as well as the lumberjack mascot. President Don MacMaster noted that after graduation, graduates like to take photos by Kaiser Paul, the towering lumberjack statue on campus. The fact that it draws students’ attention is notable, he said.

The lumberjack mascot is known by many titles, including Cedar Savage and Larry the Lumberjack, according to the presentation slides. The mascot is a cartoonish looking lumberjack with a red shirt, ACC cap, and an axe over his shoulder. The mascot was created prior to 2001, but little is known about who created it.

“There is a lot of opinion about the look of our mascot and the usability of it,” Walterreit said.

There was a redesign contest in 2016, but there were very few entries and no consensus was reached.

Some people are turned off by the hyper-masculinity of the mascot, Walterreit said. Questions have been raised about whether there should be a female version of the mascot.

Reaching a consensus on this would be near impossible, but another attempt at a redesign is not out of the question, Walterreit said.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.