"Overall, we're an exciting destination," Underwood says. "Vancouver's not just about things like the 2010 Games."

Down to the green wire

I arrive at city hall sweaty and out of breath, gasping after my steep bike ascent up Cambie Street. A milky grey sky lends drama to the hulking mountains in the distance, all the more striking from my hill-side vantage point. I'm here to meet Michael Magee, chief of staff to Mayor Gregor Robertson, and one of the creative minds behind a bold attempt to re-imagine Vancouver -- a mere six months before the Olympics.

"The city has never really branded itself," Magee tells me, as we settle into his corner office. "It doesn't really have a narrative or a story."

That could all change in the coming months. There's still some tweaking here and there, some lingering details, but Vancouver is close to launching a focussed, green persona. The goal is to cast the city as a global environmental leader. Draw green-minded companies. Sell the world on B.C.-style sustainability.

This all sounds great, I tell Magee, but why wait until so close to the Olympics, when the city's had years to contemplate its winning 2003 bid? Civic branding here has never been a real priority, he suggests. It's a job officials have largely left to the private sector.

Now, though, with climate change top of mind, Vancouver wants to capitalize on the global spotlight afforded by Games. That plan took a small hit when the feds cancelled the Forbes CEO Forum in Victoria, scheduled right before the Olympics.

But Magee's confident there's still plenty of chances to entice foreign investment.

After all, Vancouver offers much lower corporate taxes than places such as California. And the city's sheer livability, which is consistently ranked among the top in the world, is draw enough of its own.

"We've got a tremendous opportunity to bring a lot of business here," Magee says.

What are they smoking?

Last May, New York-based Bloomberg news agency posed this question to 2010 Games organizers: "Is it an Olympic torch, or a big fat joint?" The wire service barely suppressed giggles as it reported on the torch design unveiled by Canada's "marijuana capital," a whitish stick bulging in the middle with a flame burning at one end.

The design team had hoped to evoke skis slicing through powdery snow. Surely, any stoner likeness was coincidence. While the disparity made good comedic fodder, it was also symbolic of a larger disconnect -- Vancouver's own ideas of itself are not necessarily shared by the world.

A recent Angus Reid survey asked North Americans to describe B.C. Predictably, the Pacific coast province evoked the Olympics, great vacations and good weather for most respondents, British Columbians included.

More interesting, it also pointed to big gaps between local, national and international perceptions.

A majority of B.C. participants saw their province as an environmental leader and innovator of cutting-edge technology. Only 41 per cent of Canadians could vouch for B.C's green credentials. And a mere 28 per cent thought the techie label applied.

Meanwhile, less than a third of Americans surveyed identified B.C. as "Hollywood North," though Vancouver is the third largest film centre on the continent.

'Great story to tell'

"We've got a great story to tell here in British Columbia," Angus Reid research director Hamish Marshall says when I phone him about the results. "But perhaps we're not telling that story as well as we would like."

Do the Olympics offer a chance for renewal, I ask. Can a two week mega-event help Vancouver shape an identity worthy of such a pretty face?

"Absolutely," Marshall replies. "But people are focussing on the vacation destination. If the Games reinforce that I don't think we'll have seized all the opportunities they've presented us."