Future Feature: Spreading the Word

Creating Award-winning Campaigns

Having rebranded a few years prior with a new logo and other marketing components, BBNC was open to the idea of sharing its story through mass media channels.

“We started an ad campaign that included print, television, and ultimately social media,” says Metrokin. “Our TV ads’ vivid, simple, disciplined message seemed to attract people the most.

“The tagline is now quoted regularly by our shareholders and has even been said by multiple former governors,” he adds. “Is it a household phrase? I’ll leave that to others to decide.”

One of the more surprising takeaways from the campaign, according to Metrokin, is that those who have seen the TV spots remember more than what was actually said. 

“We have a thriving culture, history, and economy in Bristol Bay, but at the time these aired, the proposed Pebble Mine posed an underlying threat to the region,” he says. “While we never uttered the words Pebble Mine, not even once, when we ask people what they recall, they talk about the mine.”

BBNC’s internal communications team worked with the public relations firm Strategies 360, as well as a number of skilled photographers and videographers. “Their collective talent knocked it out of the park,” says Metrokin, adding that not a day goes by when he doesn’t hear from people commenting positively on the campaign.

In the past eight years, BBNC’s media marketing has focused on a variety of themes including courage, balance, culture, and heritage. 

“In the early days, we knew we wanted to build upon our brand and impress upon folks who and what we were,” says Metrokin. “Not a lot of people get to come out to Bristol Bay, so we wanted to find a way to bring it to them. Lots of people in the state watch TV, so we thought this was a good way to bring Bristol Bay to Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, and other Alaskan communities.” 

BBNC is currently in the process of creating a new campaign that will feature the tagline, “More Than a Corporation.”

“The term ‘corporation’ has a negative connotation to some folks, and we want people to understand that we are about more than profits and the bottom line,” says Metrokin. “We focus on our community, culture, the diversity of our workforce, and being good stewards of our land base. While we are not hiding the fact that we are a for-profit, tax-paying corporation, our entire history has been about supporting our people and all of the residents of Alaska.”

Read more about the efforts Alaska Native corporations are making to tell the story of their brand and their people in the upcoming September 2020 edition of Alaska Business.