The Ego of Destination Marketing Funding

Government officials in Charlottesville and Albermarle County have been weighing in over the past few months on ways to make the Destination Marketing Organization there more responsive and accountable. Not that it wasn't. But, a handful of people are bound and determined to remold the organization and its work.

As a re-branding process approaches its conclusion, a County Supervisor is demanding that the name of the County be included in the logo, using a pretty common train of thought: “We are paying half the money, almost, and, yes, people in Oshkosh may not know about the name of Albemarle County, but...how we help them to learn that name is to see them together.”

So, if the County supplied "almost" half of the budget of Meet Minneapolis, should Hennepin County be included in the logo? If the County supplied "almost" half of the budget of the Greater Madison CVB, should Dane County be included in the logo? And, if the County supplied "almost" half of the budget of Memphis Tourism, should Shelby County be included in the logo?

To what purpose? 

Logos and destination identifiers aren't designed to educate. They are designed to inspire a visit.

You want people to know about Albermarle County? Inspire a visit to Charlottesville...and that's not achieved by jumbling the message with superfluous information that only serves to support your geographic ego.

Just sayin...

Comments

[Laura Mandala]

Hopefully research was used to determine if the target audience felt the addition of the County name was viewed as confusing or diminished their intent to visit, or if it introduced them to the sites and attractions outside of Charlottesville, and encouraged them to extend their stay and their spend in the region.

Research can save destinations a ton of misspent advertising and promotional dollars. (I suspect you'll agree!)

[Beth Javens]

My most thoughtful question to those who subscribe to this logic is to ask them where their last vacation took them. Then I ask them what county it's in. They almost never know.

[Bill Geist]

True Dat.