Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

A Guerrilla Play

A few months ago in our client newsletter, we wrote about the South Shore Convention & Visitors Authority's expansion into community development by leading an effort to persuade Chicago Metro residents to move to Northwest Indiana. It has been wildly successful...and the next shoe drops today and tomorrow.

In the midst of the highly contentious race for Illinois Governor, The Grass is Greener campaign moves to WGN Radio with ads that start out mimicking campaign commercials, but quickly pivot:

"Illinois residents: Tomorrow your choices are Rauner's crippling debt or Pritzker's skyrocketing taxes. Instead...Vote for Indiana. Lower income and property taxes, shorter commute times and more house for your buck. Visit MoveToIndiana.com."

They're playing pretty close to the top of the hour every hour of morning and afternoon drive and bottom of the hour during mid-day on WGN.

Can't wait to hear the buzz...

The Power of Attitude

I grew up in a small town an hour south of Chicago. Not quite South Side then...but, increasingly so now.

It was a sensational place to grow up. My memories of Kankakee are fond.

When I elected to stay after college, I was one of the few. And, as the local economy began to tank, the wisdom of that decision was sorely tested. But, I loved my town...and eventually became its head cheerleader as the director of its fledgling Destination Marketing Organization.

In time, destiny called and I moved to the Mad City. But my love of Kankakee never wavered.

But, truth be told, in 1990, it was time to go. I could do no more for them. The naysayers (the "lifers") held sway over the city. After shedding thousands of manufacturing jobs, the general feeling was the town was dying a slow death. An entrepreneurial spark was nowhere to be found.

Those lifers still exist in Kankakee...but they are, thankfully, being replaced. And my High School friend Gary Moore (entrepreneur, author and columnist) who stayed, chronicles that evolution in a recent column for the local paper.

It made me smile...but, it also caused me to consider how many towns suffer the voice of the lifers.

May Gary's words inspire you to move to change the narrative in your town.

Every Destination Covets a Todd

While government can jump start a visitor economy through the development of a Convention Center, Tournament-grade Sports Complex or other compelling infrastructure asset, it is often the private sector entrepreneur that can have the most profound impact.

Take Todd Nelson...a regular guy who owned a bar and pizza place in Wisconsin Dells. Today, he oversees a hospitality brand that grossed over $300 million in three destinations (soon to be four). A brand most of us would love to have in our destinations.

This USA Today story is both inspirational (from a personal point of view) and motivational.

Find your destination's Todd.

Because he (or she) is out there...just waiting.

The Unsophisticated Response

Don't get me wrong; I understand resident concern about over-tourism. I have no desire to live in a community where the quality of life is degraded by hoards of self-absorbed visitors. At the same time, I certainly appreciate saving hundreds of dollars in taxes and having lots of cool new restaurants and experiences to enjoy. So, it's a balance, n'cest-ce pas?

Except, balance doesn't count for much much in politics. In Coronado CA, candidates for City Council are spouting ignorant slogans like “Residents First, Residents Only” (assuming, I guess, that similar statements somehow worked for the President). Others are pressing for a toll bridge and increased tickets for parking violations to slow tourism's impact (spoiler alert: they probably won't work). All of these measures are short term, unsophisticated responses to an irritant.

Interestingly, the local Destination Marketing Organization has already begun to address the concern, discontinuing leisure marketing initiatives into their primary feeder market and focusing on convention sales. These visitors pay higher room rates, visit during the off-season, normally don’t bring cars and tend to spend more money in restaurants. A sophisticated response.

The unsophisticated response will only serve to annoy potential visitors (i.e., future investors) and decrease Quality of Life.

Residents of Coronado? You should ignore the histrionics of politics and let the professionals handle this.

Just a thought...

Three Sides to Every Story

It's one of my favorite Don Henley lyrics:

There's three sides to every story, babe. There's yours and there's mine and the cold hard truth.

It's a pretty universal truth...and one that is playing out in Santa Clara CA, where the City has announced its intention to cut its contract with the Chamber of Commerce there to provide management services for its Convention Center and Destination Marketing services.

The City's "truth" is an audit of the Convention Center. The Chamber's truth is that, for decades, no one had indicated any dissatisfaction with the job it was doing.

And, the "cold hard truth?" Hell if I know...but there's something pretty powerful about this story and this analysis in the region's alternative newspaper.

Maybe it's that I'm consistently amazed when government utilizes outside "audit" firms that have no concept of the industry in which we work. Maybe it's that a blind devotion to political agenda derails the success of so many destinations (and the citizens who depend upon a professionally guided destination marketing strategy for their livelihood).

And maybe, just maybe, there will come a day where our cities are managed by individuals who are actually trained professionals that care more for their communities than their contributors and re-election plans.

 

 

The Evolution of the DMO

On this World Tourism Day, we celebrate the positive impact, both fiscally and socially, that travel visits upon every one of us on this planet. At the same time, we must be increasingly mindful of the challenges that poorly planned tourism can have on regions not prepared to handle large numbers of visitors.

And, at the heart of it all is the Destination Marketing Organization, the agency that provides the inspiration and incentive for consumers to choose and consume a community, region or nation. 

Sojern's Richard Black penned a great op-ed piece for PhocusWire called a DMO's Guide for Finding the Metrics that Matter.

So worth a read.

Making Lemonade in DC

A number of destinations suffer from a generally accepted image, often perpetrated by the media or lifelong local curmudgeons, that is far less flattering than one would like. And, most DMOs respond with a blind eye to the negative brand and attempt to simply counter with a positive message. And, I get that.

But, what turns my head is the acknowledgement of a destination's challenge...and a bold response to challenge that perception. Discover Puerto Rico went viral when they did it a week ago. Destination DC just did it with the simply sensational "Discover the Real DC" campaign.

Check out the video. 

Oh, hell yeah.

Changing the Conversation

After Dubrovnik imposed restrictions on cruise lines, the Vice Chair of Royal Caribbean began a dialogue with the city's Mayor and jointly developed a solution to the community's fear of over-tourism. Adam Goldstein offered the story during a panel discussion at the World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit in April

Virtuoso CEO Matthew Upchurch responded, "I do think it’s an interesting approach to say, 'What do you want? Don’t tell me what you don’t want.' When everybody focuses on what they don’t want, it’s always somebody else’s responsibility. When it’s what I want, it makes me focus."

He went on to say, "The over-tourism report suggests DMOs should be destination management organizations rather than destination marketing organizations. The problem is, we live in a world where it’s actually hard to manage people anymore: You’ve got to inspire them to do the right thing."

Brilliant...and the rest of the panel discussion, moderated by Travel Weekly's Arnie Weissmann, can be found here.

Labor Day Actually Puts Millions Out of Work

So, here we are. The last week of summer...at least in America.

For most, school is already back in session, throttling one of the best times for families to travel. For more sophisticated States, there are yet a few days to go.

But why? Why the first Monday in September? That's the question that Rene Mack recently posed in Travel Weekly.

While many of us are trying to secure the barricades for a post-Labor Day School Start, Rene proposes something altogether unique.

Let's end summer (and start school) where summer should rightfully conclude...the Fall Equinox.

Best quote from the article (which is a must read for those of us battling the August School Start militia): "Ironically, modern Labor Day puts millions of Americans out of work."

A School year that spans from Fall Equinox to Summer Solstice. What a fascinating thought.

 

Cover the Progress

It's one of the banes of our existence as Destination Marketers. We promote great brands and experiences. And a hurricane, tornado, flood (fill in the blank) occurs. And, then the "Jim Cantore Effect" descends upon our community. The reality that the national media arrive, showcase the carnage...and then leave, with no intention of coming back to report on the recovery. Thus, consumers believe destinations to be off the board far longer than they are. And far longer than they need to be.

Puerto Rico suffered just such a devastating blow almost a year ago. And after an embarrassing lack of aid from the Federal Government and hours upon hours of coverage of the devastation...most Americans are still leery of a vacation there. And, they so shouldn't be. I was in San Juan last December and could find few examples of a city not ready to welcome the world.

To be sure, the more rural areas were still struggling...but, they are now mostly back. And, none more sensationally than Punta Santiago...the site of the iconic SOS image painted on their street.

Today...there's a different message from the air. And Discover Puerto Rico (the island's brand new DMO) was bold enough to tell that story.

200 views on Monday. 7,500 by Wednesday. Yeah...this is going viral.

Share the story and demand #CoverTheProgress.