Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

1000

Today marks my 1,000th blog post. It's an interesting milestone that wasn't even a consideration when I first posted back in September 2006.

Fascinating that my first post was about the need to develop mobile versions of our websites...something with which we continue to wrestle today.

Thanks for stopping by to read this (almost) daily commentary. You make it all worthwhile.

Which Is It?

Just back from a sensational National Tourism Week event in Door County WI, where I shared the stage with the Bureau's Jack Moneypenny and Travel Wisconsin's Kelli Trumble.

On the way home, I stopped for gas (just trying to do my part for the travel economy) and saw this sign in the station's window: "Home of the Original Door County Hot Dog." The sign also read "Chicago Style."

I'm confused...which is it? A Door County Hot Dog or a Chicago Hot Dog? And, the gas station looked relatively new. Is the "Original Door County Hot Dog" that recent of a culinary introduction into the food scene there?

Just goes to show that Culinary Tourism isn't just for white table cloth restaurants anymore. Even gas stations can play...

Well, Johnny Did It...

As kids, many of us defended our boneheaded decisions to an angry parent by blaming a friend.

"Well, Johnny did it." To which your mother would invariably say, "if Johnny jumped in front of a moving train, would you?" There's just no good answer for that one. Busted.

I'm wondering if that is what the brainiacs in New York State said the other day as they announced that they were scrapping plans for its summer tourism campaign.

"Well, New Jersey did it."

To which Mom would say, "if New Jersey wants to throw away millions of dollars of new tax revenues and thousands of jobs, would you?"

Like I said...busted.

Doing What Needs to Be Done

In tough times, leaders make tough choices. Like the City Council of Myrtle Beach did last year when it levied a 1% sales tax...and invested the proceeds into funding tourism promotion and marketing.

The results have been simply amazing...and serve as a serious wake-up call for those that a) think that room tax is the only way to fund tourism promotion and b) those who believe that reducing tourism marketing won't have a negative impact on their community.

And analysts are predicting that Myrtle Beach hotel occupancy could be at 80% by the first week of June. How can that be, given the lingering recession?

"There is a Myrtle Beach ad on TV every day somewhere," said Chamber/CVB CEO Brad Dean. "The community has never been able to reach that kind of market."

Don't you wish you had leadership in your community that had a backbone and could make tough choices?

Bringing Back an Oldie...But a Goodie

When I got into the Destination Marketing game back in the '80s, I heard of destinations that had armed convention delegates with $2 bills to spend while they were in town. The goal was to showcase to local retailers and restaurateurs the impact of visitors on their businesses. Cool idea.

I haven't seen the tactic used much over the past decade...until now. And, this time, it's a statewide effort.

The California Travel and Tourism Commission is distributing $100,000 of Jeffersons to businesses, stamped with spendtom.com to drive home the message this Tourism Week. A great example of how some of our original ways of communicating the importance of tourism to an economy still resonate today.

A Better Org Chart

Most Organizational Charts start at the top with the Board of Directors...which connects to the President/CEO...which connects to management and staff. Fairly typical.

Except at the South Shore IN CVB, where Spero Batistatos' Org Chart starts with a box over the Board:

"The Hospitality Industry...with 35,000 Jobs."

A great thing to keep in mind this National Travel & Tourism Week...that those of us in the Destination Marketing Industry are in service to the Hospitality Industry. And those thousands of stakeholders, whether they know it or not, depend on us each and every day.

What a Long Strange Trip it's Been

It was twenty years ago this evening that I stepped onto Madison's Capitol Square and its iconic State Street for the first time. The occasion: the first of two interviews for the top spot at the Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau.

We often wonder how our lives would be different had we taken a left turn instead of a right...or had said to ourselves, "no way" when looking at a job opportunity that seemed so obviously to be completely out of our reach.

Thankfully, Randy Alexander, Bob Brennan, Kathy Gallagher, Steve Saffian and a few others on that search committee (whose names sadly escape my memory) saw something in that kid from Kankakee...and gave me the opportunity of a lifetime.

How my life changed forever on that day. And, I'll be forever in your debt...

You Think Non-Alcoholic Beer is Funny?

It is when you aren't constrained by the FCC and can enlist the aid of one Mickey Rourke.

This European ad for Bavaria is the perfect way to kick off Iron Man 2 weekend.

While the images are all good...the audio may be NSFW. Ear buds, please.

Next Stop: The Comedy Circuit

When Kim Guadagno completes her run as Lt. Governor of New Jersey, she may well have a future on the comedy circuit. How else to describe her recent comments following the elimination of the State's summer advertising campaign? She must be rehearsing a new act.

First, she told delegates at the State's Tourism Conference that they should "step back and do something really wild for the people of New Jersey." Yeah...like let J-WOWW and Snooki be your tourism ambassadors?

She's had a few weeks to think about that and, this week, shared an idea with the tourism industry at an event in Cape May County. "Word of Mouth" is what will bring new visitors to the Shore.

Stop, stop, stop...you're killing me here.

As an opening act, she has to look no further than the Chair of her Assembly Budget Committee, Louis Greenwald. When told of the return that tourism promotion creates on the New Jersey economy he was reportedly impressed, saying, "that's a pretty good return on an investment, and one that we should be paying closer attention to when budget priorities are being considered."

What? You act like you've never heard those numbers. And I know you have. You've just chosen to ignore them because the tourism industry doesn't vote.

Let's hope the 32,000 residents in Cape May County that get a paycheck from tourism start.

The Hubris of Big

Seriously. Was there NO ONE in the brain trust at GM or their PR agency saying, ummmm, "hey, Ed...I think someone might challenge your claim that you've paid back all the federal bailout money?"

Or is the culture so toxic there that no one had the nerve to speak up?

Regardless, a formal complaint has been filed with the Federal Trade Commission to investigate GM's "deceptive advertising" in running that now notorious TV ad with GM's CEO bragging that they had repaid the government's loan "in full."

Yeah...by using other federal funds.

What is it about running something big (a company, the government, etc.) that makes people at the top think everyone else is stoopid?