"Culture and creativity at the edge of nature."

That's one slogan being tossed around as part of a branding campaign for Nevada County.

The campaign is being led by the Economic Resource Council as it seeks to create a more unified image of the county to outsiders.

Business leaders will meet Monday to kick off the effort.

"Branding is a phrase that becomes recognizable for a product or area," said Gil Mathew, head of the economic council since January. "If I say 'M'm! M'm! Good!' you'd know it's Campbell's Soup."

Mathew said he borrowed the "culture and creativity" phrase from the Nevada City Downtown Association.

If it proves successful, "people would know it's the place where culture and creativity exist," Mathew said.

The suggestion is not cast in stone, but Mathew will seek consensus on some phrase before the group starts marketing it, he said.

Others business group leaders agreed, including Mary Ann Mueller of the Grass Valley-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce.

"The key is coming up with the right brand that is indicative of what we are," Mueller said. "There's so much diversity within the community as to how we look and how we will grow."

To move the county forward, business groups in Grass Valley, Nevada City and throughout the county must join together "to see what roles we'll play and what jobs we'll do to avoid duplicating, which exists," Mueller said.

Farther out on the economic council's agenda will be a workshop on Internet marketing, Mathew said. He hopes the workshop will occur in mid-May.

"How do you drive people to your site and how do you measure it," will be topics, he said.

To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail dmoller@theunion.com or call 477-4237.