Bunbury to be strongly rebranded

BUNBURY’S new CEO Michael Whitaker has put his first major stamp on the Bunbury City Council since taking office by appointing four new managers to replace the positions previously held by directors.

Anthony Blee has been appointed manager of economic development and marketing, a new position created to increase the profile of the city to Perth businesses and the general populace.

In an interview with Business News, Mr Blee outlined his intentions for the new role.

First on Mr Blee’s list is to develop a marketing image for Bunbury.

The marketing strategy will grow out of an appraisal of what Bunbury has to offer and what areas still need to addressed.

However, he feels it will not be hard to market the city because of its natural attributes.

“I believe we have a city which is attractive for business as well as a place to live,” he said.

“Bunbury is going extremely well at the moment as is the greater South West region. There is a lot happening here.”

In order to harness the interest of Perth businesses, Mr Blee hopes to set up a Economic Development Business Centre.

He said economic development was about a joint venture between the Council and business.

Both could help each other to achieve their goals, he said.

The Centre would help identify opportunities for businesses who wanted to expand to the South West and needed a regional presence.

“We will identify opportunities for economic benefits in the City and we will be going after those fairly aggressively,” Mr Blee said.

“We will be identifying what is attractive for businesses here and what is lacking and showing that those areas can be addressed.”

For Mr Blee the move to the City Council was a natural progression after being proprietor for the past eight years of public relations and media consultancy firm Anthony Blee Media.

Clients on his books included the City of Bunbury, Agwest, Depart-ment of Premier and Cabinet, Bunbury Health Service, South West Development Commission and the Bunbury Tourist Bureau.

Mr Blee also has a long association with government having worked in the then South West Development Authority.

He also worked alongside Federal backbencher and member for Forrest Geoff Prosser.

Mr Blees’ heart is clearly in the the South West having lived and worked in the region for most of his forty years.

Schooled at Bunbury Catholic College, he went on to become a journalist for the ABC and the South Western Times before becoming the managing editor of the Bunbury Mail.

Mr Blee said he believed it was important to be aggressive in marketing the City.

“Even though Bunbury is doing well we can’t rest on that,” he said.

“We always need to look for new opportunities.”

He said the task would be made easier because of the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of the South West.

“There are people out there already doing great things. We need to bring them together and give them focus,” Mr Blee said.

“We like to be recognised as a progressive and innovative city but we don’t want to destroy the good things in going after the new,” he said.