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...

Tone-Deafness

On the road, in a town, subjected to local political ads for candidates I don't know.

One was bragging that he made $6/hour in his first job...as if that showed that he started from nothing.

My first job paid $1.75/hour. So, for anyone over 50...his brag is tone-deaf.

Which is the problem with letting 20-somethings run political campaigns. They need someone to suggest that their reality may be accurate...but not universal.

Just sayin'

 

 

Here We Go Again

Another City Council has set in motion a process to shop its contract for Destination Marketing to other agencies besides the incumbent DMO. Before June 30th, the City clearly expects to receive several bids to perform the services of a Destination Marketing Organization

As if there are several experienced DMOs just hangin' around on the sidelines in Stillwater OK waiting for such a chance.

In the interest of attempting to prove ROI, the City acknowledges that such proof is difficult for destinations nationwide; that DMOs (especially in smaller markets) are often unable to categorically prove their impact. Of course, on the other side, no one can disprove a DMO's efficacy. 

So, pardon me for the spoiler alert...but, this is what is going to happen in Stillwater. The bidder with the boldest presentation will turn the Council's head. If it is Visit Stillwater, good on them. If it's not, the Council will have been hoodwinked by a masterful presentation with no underlying substance...because no challenger will possess the database of potential clients that the incumbent does. And, no other agency will have in place the long-term relationships with those clients whose future destination decisions can collectively run in the millions of dollars. Period. Game over. DMOs are sole-source providers like virtually no other.

This is another reason why practitioners of Destination Marketing would be wise to attend Destinations International's Advocacy Summit in fabulous Philadelphia, November 7-9. 

Because it's all about the presentation.

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.

 

 

Time for a Third Party

With 43% of the American electorate now identifying themselves as independent, it's time to end the duopoly of the nation's politics. But, that won't happen until the media accepts the notion and stops ignoring the candidacy of those that aren't blue or red (like Gary Johnson).

During the last presidential race, the former (and I emphasize former) CEO of CBS infamously said that Trump wasn't good for the country...but he was good for ratings. If that's true (and, sadly, I believe it to be), the next time around, the networks should embrace a third-party play.

That's what their audience clearly wants.

More drama.

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.

 

Fact-Checking Sedona's Alternative Media

For all the advantages the internet has brought us, the ability for the agenda-fueled among us to create web platforms that appear, to the unsophisticated, to be mainstream news sites has created a monster. One such site is read so widely in one destination that the spouse of a DMO Board Member there asked her partner why he served on that Board of "thieves." Oy!

What's happening in Sedona is a sad commentary on our times. Concerns of over-tourism are valid, to be sure, but placing the blame squarely on the DMO is neither fair nor productive to the conversation forward.

Yet, an alternative "news source," called the Sedona Eye, has been pounding the Sedona Chamber/DMO for months...most recently with a two-part treatise from a guy that clearly has an agenda...yet a vaporous bio. The problem is...the bots pick it up and repost it as news, giving validity to a lone man's rant.

Like the kid saving starfish, I'm not sure whether I can make a difference here...but when someone misrepresents the truth, I gotta give it a try, hoping someone will listen to reason.

Like many conspiracy theorists, the author buries the reader with so much content that they assume some of it must be true. But several of the rants are not:

"I’ve checked with the major Destination Traveler Industry ranking services known as Destination Market International (sic), BrandsUSA (sic), TripSavvy, The National Tour Association and the Destination Marketing Organization International (sic). They all rank DMO’s (Destination Marketing Organizations) and CVB’s (Convention Bureaus) up through the top 100 with some of them. Most of them rank the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp as the best in the United States last year.

Not so strangely, though, the Sedona Chamber of Commerce is not ranked by any of these rating services. Yet we keep hearing Council and Staff publicly distributed superlatives about our Chamber as a great DMO to support arguments as to why our Chamber shouldn’t be required to submit itself to competitive bidding through an RFP process.

This just doesn’t add up.

Ummm...this just isn't true. There are no "Destination Traveler Industry ranking services." Destinations International and BrandUSA do not rank the efficacy of DMOs. TripSavvy is a for-profit-business that highlights destinations where their business interests lie. And, the National Tour Association represents the motorcoach industry. One would think that the author wouldn't want to be on a list designed for value-oriented consumers. And, even if they did rate destinations, they wouldn't rate Destination Marketing Organizations.

Don't believe me? Click on the links and tell me if you can find "Destination Traveler Industry Rankings."

And, by the way, almost all the ranked DMO’s and CVB’s are managed and staffed by their own city governments whom they represent. Why isn’t our City Staff capable of doing what far lesser destination traveler resort towns accomplish with fewer employees relative to our City’s size.

Again...just not true. As there are no rankings...saying that "almost all" are city staffed is patently false. According to Destinations International (the sector's trade association), less than 10% of DMOs in this country are divisions of City government. Kinda far from "almost all," don'tcha think?

And, how do we know this?

23 years of being one of the top consultancies in this space in the Americas...and the author of Destination Leadership.

Any questions (mainstream media)?

When You Start Believing in Your Cleverness

One of my favorite "Dirty Harry" lines was, "a man's got to know his limitations." At the same time, one should also be fully aware of their strengths...but never to the point of self-deception.

Which certainly sounds like what happened to the Arizona State Senator that represents Sedona. As I read this piece over the weekend, another movie quote came to mind, as I could almost hear the Senator channeling Peter Pan: "Oh, the cleverness of me."

Far from having the whole backstory (or why he would pull such a Frank Underwood-style move), the politics surrounding Destination Marketing in Sedona have been far from productive over the past few years. From fears of over-tourism by some to the objection by others that the City simply "gives" money to the big bad Chamber of Commerce (it doesn't...it invests in its Destination Marketing program), there's been a lot of noise out there.

But honestly, in an age where there is always a digital footprint, how does a State Senator think he can get an investigation started against a Chamber in his own District by getting another Senator to introduce the complaint and then say he had nothing to do with it...when there are e-mails that prove that's exactly what he did?

So, I'll end with another quote. "(Bobby)...you got some 'splainin' to do."

The Tourism Trade War

As much gnashing of teeth there has been regarding the Trade War with China that has been set in motion by President Trump, there hasn't been much in the media about the impact it could have on travel between countries. Besides this article from Skift, the mainstream media is more freaked out about bourbon.

Greater Boston CVB CEO Pat Moscaritolo recently opined on how Tourism is just as (if not more) vulnerable on WBUR.

It's worth a listen.

Without a Plan B

While the importance of the Visitor Economy and the work of Destination Marketing Organizations is becoming more and more understood...there are still those among us that haven't a clue. And, when they are also the very people that are elected to ensure the highest possible Quality of Life for residents, it can be a scary combination.

The City of Santa Clara has elected to cancel its contract with the Chamber/CVB at the end of the month, effectively putting 14 employees on waivers.

The City's Plan B? They apparently don't have one.

With hundreds of millions of visitor spending (and hundreds of jobs) on the line, wouldn't you think a City Council would have a plan to replace a DMO before cutting their current one loose? But, because most politicians aren't anything more than part-time amateurs at running cities, this is what you get.

Imagine if an audit came back raising concerns about the Fire Department. Think the Council would shut it down and then go on summer vacation without a plan forward?

Of course not.