"It's who you are and how you want to be recognized.”

That's how consultant Saj Jamal of eSolutions from Waterloo, Ont. described branding for the city staff and council in a conference call Wednesday afternoon as he reviewed the results of the branding survey done last month in the first phase of the project.

The project – including the $48,800 contract to eSolutions – is being funded with $50,000 from the territory along with $10,000 from the city, which is also overseeing the work.

Council voted to go ahead with coming up with an overall Whitehorse brand last October.

In addition to the 681 residents who responded to the questionnaire, Jamal interviewed stakeholders ranging from representatives with the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, Northwestel Inc., Yukon College and others finding that many residents often end up sharing what Whitehorse isn't rather than what it is when people from Outside wonder about it.

"Whitehorse isn't in the N.W.T.”, "We aren't really in the wilderness, there is a Wal-Mart” and "It's not New York City. It's not Grizzly Adams” were among some of the comments residents made during the survey.

Though many made note of the local amenities found in the South, they also spoke of what makes the city special for them.

Other statements described Whitehorse as:

• "A wonderful and relaxed place to live and work where the average person can make a difference”;

• "Whitehorse is the happy medium between the life of living in the North with all the benefits of the South”; and

• "If you like wearing a shirt and tie every day, Whitehorse may not be the place you're looking for.”

It was another comment though that Mayor Bev Buckway found herself circling in the report to council.

"Send my stuff” tells the story of so many Yukoners and Whitehorse residents she knows who came here to vacation for a week or two, then found themselves calling family members to ship up their things because they were going to stay. Forty years later, those same people are still here.

"That's how people get here,” Buckway told the Star after the meeting.

Once in the community, it seems that the scenery, recreational opportunities and quality of life keep them here, with those ranking as the top three reasons to live in Whitehorse.

As Buckway pointed out, the word "opportunity” seemed to come up a lot in the survey when residents and stakeholders talked about Whitehorse.

And while there may be opportunities, the city is not without its challenges. Affordable housing and a choice of housing, the downtown and public transportation were listed by many as the main areas that need improvement in the city.

In many ways, Jamal told council – and, at a later press conference, reporters – Whitehorse is a victim of its own success, with more people moving to the city and thereby limiting the amount and variety of homes available.

Among some other results found in the survey:

• the top adjectives to describe Whitehorse were friendly, historically important, diverse, cultural, welcoming, in touch with nature, a hub to surrounding areas and environmentally conscious;

• the top six self-described personality traits of respondents were environmentally conscious, adventurous, intellectual, compassionate, creative and sensible;

• the top three answers for residents' vision of the city in five years was a sustainable city, flourishing downtown and vibrant waterfront;

• 20 years down the road, residents envisioned Whitehorse being one of the top 10 places to live in Canada, an increased population with more infrastructure and having better and affordable housing; and

• Yellowknife, then Prince George, B.C., Fairbanks and Ottawa were seen as the top cities that compare with Whitehorse, though another common answer to the question was that nothing compares with Whitehorse.

The survey also asked respondents to identify a number of other logos used by the city.

A total of 94 per cent recognized the sternwheeler and 72.9 per cent recognized the Whitehorse Transit logo, with 40 per cent identifying the city crest.

Meanwhile, 60.7 per cent didn't recognize the bylaw department's logo, 52 per cent couldn't identify the city's coat of arms, 49.2 per cent didn't recognize the logo for the fire department and 45.76 didn't recognize the symbol for the Parks and Recreation Department.

Of the logos unrelated to the city, only 22 per cent identified the Yukon logo while 64 per cent recognized the Northwest Territories logo.

Additionally, 45 per cent recognized B.C.'s, with 36 per cent identifying Toronto's, 30 per cent recognizing Yellowknife's and just 0.4 per cent recognized the logo for Anchorage.

Before Jamal comes up with three potential branding options in the second phase of the project, city councillors have been asked to get back to him by next Tuesday on anything they feel might have been missed in the results.

From there, he will come up with the three choices to showcase and get feedback on from council, the public and stakeholders when he's here in early March.

"It's going to be a challange,” Jamal said of putting all the information he has into a single brand.

Adding to the challange even further is the need for the city's brand to correspond with the territory's own brand, which currently markets it as Larger Than Life.

The input he receives from his trip in early March will then be used to come up with the final proposal for the city, with part of that to also include testing of the brand through an online test group before plans are finalized.

It's expected Jamal will present his final brand proposal to council on March 29.