One of our initial questions about Warren Worx was the value of branding.

As we have said consistently since the Warren Worx idea was first broached, branding doesn’t accomplish much unless you have something to brand around. In Warren County, that’s the outdoors and our natural beauty. We’re not exactly sure what Warren County’s new brand, “The Place To Become,” means in the grand scheme of things. It’s a little reminiscent of a branding initiative more than a decade ago in Chautauqua County, which tried to brand itself as The World’s Learning Center. Has anyone in Warren County heard of that brand? We didn’t think so. It didn’t lead to an influx of anything — businesses, people or tourists — before fading away into obscurity and giving way to a new branding effort — Live CHQ. We hope that we’re wrong, but we’ve got a feeling “The Place To Become” is going to face the same fate as The World’s Learning Center.

In our view, the money spent on branding is a waste. Remember, there has been $400,000 in public money committed to Warren Worx, $300,000 over three years from Warren County and $100,000 from the city of Warren, as well as private funding commitments. Not all of that money has been spent on branding, but we hope the public funding spent on branding so far hasn’t been wasted. No one is going to locate in Warren County because we have a spiffy new slogan and logo that is confusing at best and a punchline at worst. Were sixth graders to care about branding, they’d have a field day with “The Place To Become” at recess. Don’t ask a smart-aleck high school senior to fill in the blank after “The Place To Become.” We have a feeling we’d blush at their responses.

A brand isn’t our problem. It never has been. If Warren Worx is going to be successful, it will be because it overcame this brand, not because of the brand it created. Bringing new residents to Warren County, thankfully, doesn’t hinge on branding. It hinges on things we can attempt to create and market — housing, education, a workforce and the beauty of the outdoors here in Warren County. We’re much more excited about a housing study that can help guide future housing policy at the city and county levels than we are about the brand. We’re much more excited about even small concrete actions — like public wifi in new areas of the county — than we are about this brand. We’re more excited about the idea of outbound attraction efforts than we are about this brand. We’re more excited about the fact that city and county leaders know population loss is the existential threat facing Warren County than we are about the brand that they hope will help them attract people.

Jim Decker, WCCBI director, described regrowing and revitalizing Warren County as “A surmountable task.” We’d say the same about the county’s new brand. It’s surmountable.