The Wilson County Tourism Development Authority has jumped onto the branding bandwagon, no doubt thanks to some prodding by a consultant or two, and will spend $35,000 to create a new "brand" for Wilson. The authority will pay the money to a Raleigh consulting firm that, no doubt, will pitch a variation of the brand it had created for some other sucker ... I mean, city. The Tourism Development Authority has problems, but branding is not one of them. Before it spends a dime on branding, the Tourism Authority should solve its more serious problems:
1. The authority is spending thousands of dollars for a "visitors center" that is nothing more than a rented storefront next to a cigarette store at Interstate 95 and U.S. 264. Think about the name of the place: "Visitors" implies the customers want to "visit," not just travel up and down I-95. "Center" suggests the joint should be at the "center" of something. The only thing this location is in the center of is traffic, and you know how people love to visit traffic congestion!
2. Lack of promotion. Wilson, despite what you hear from the nay-sayers, has some attractions. Its barbecue restaurants are famed all over the East Coast. Its collection of bungalows and other historic homes could attract preservation tourists if promoted properly. The North Carolina Baseball Museum plays to the widespread nostalgia and love of what used to be called "America's Pastime," but, like other attractions, it's not well-promoted. Wilson's arts community is impressive and growing. One resident's suggestion that Wilson promote itself as "the City of the Arts" would take some work but was plausible. It was ignored by the Tourism Development Authority. The Round House Museum is a unique institution that could attract ethnic tourism, but it needs good promotion. Wilson's Civil War and Revolutionary War histories are so ignored that few longtime residents are familiar with them. Wilson was the site of a Confederate hospital. General Cornwallis camped here on his way Yorktown, and British cavalry (under Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton) fought a skirmish at what is now the N.C. 58 bridge over Contentnea Creek near Stantonsburg. Historical tourism is a growing trend, but you have to advertise it.
3. Billboards. The Tourism Development Authority is investing money in billboards on Interstate 95. Even if these billboards were effective, which they are not (the 'What, Where, When' is non-sensical and too wordy for speeding motorists to read), the money could be better spent in other places. Ads in travel magazines (including Our State and Southern Living, which have travel features) would attract people who are actually interested in visiting unique, charming or interesting places and who are not just pedal-to-the-metal down I-95 to get to Florida.
4. An ineffective Web page. The county's tourism Web page is not just ineffective, it's awful, and a lot of the information there is out of date. What is there is not attractively presented. The site hasn't been redesigned recently. It needs redesign badly, and it needs a new designer, someone with an appreciation of what a Web site can do and what makes one attractive. In this century, a good Web page is essential, and Wilson County tourism doesn't have one.
The Tourism Development Authority has focused on all the traffic on I-95, as if each traveler were a potential visitor. They aren't. The authority's focus needs to turn to Wilson County's attractions — arts, houses, museums, history, etc. — and spend money getting those attractions known by more people. To promote those attractions, the authority must first establish a visitors center near those attractions (and no, the Smokers Palace is not an attraction).
If the Tourism Development Authority doesn't change its focus and begin touting the histories and places that will actually attract visitors, the only brand it will have is one word: Dumb.
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10 comments:
...dude, this opinion needs to be in the Wilson Daily Times!
...and way too many hoteliers are on the board. That might be why focus is I-95 oriented, and that is the cash cow that funds this agency.
It's my understanding that the membership on the tourism board is set by statute, specifying a certain number of seats for the hotel industry. I do agree that that is a big part of the problem, but, if my information is correct, it will take an act of the legislature to correct this.
I don't understand why having hoteliers on board is the problem in this instance. As a matter of fact, wasn't it a hotel person who objected to the little attempt (pending) of a strange and overpriced purchase of a certain downtown building for tourism's HQ? Look elsewhere for the blame.
From another Blog:
Wilson Tourism "officials", together with the Wilson Downtown Development Corp., Wilson Economic Development Council and Wilson Chamber of Commerce, are kicking around that "Branding" thing again. Wow, this latest "here they go again", includes a perennial favorite; the hiring of a "consultant". This time apparently with Raleigh-based Market Force. Apparently they will start with a "logo" then move on (thousands of dollars later) to the "slogan". They need a new one because they can't use old ones like "A Unique Southern Experience." any longer. WHY NOT? Did Wilson suddenly become not unique? Not an experience? Not Southern? Not "A"? We can understand abandoning "The City of Beautiful Trees". After all, it would be a stretch, since this city allows trees to be cut down at an alarming rate. (We'll get to that in another rant). Although in the spirit of creativeness, they could opt for the singular. "City of Beautiful Tree? Nah. And then there was the infamous ....."Wide-Awake Wilson". Wilson is now officially tired.
Funny, yet what we're wondering is, if they paid consultants in the past to come up with these catchy slogans, and they discard them like a used shoe, anyone with half a brain would realize they didn't work. Right? So wouldn't it stand to reason that this search for the holy grail (which we suspect is just someone trying to justify their keep), will also be a failure and at the very least just some temporary thing?
May the farce be with you.
Furthermore, the Visitors Center at I-95 is not even open on weekends! That's just ridiculous.
We're still shaking our heads at The Tourism board's recent funding decisions. Who knows what reasoning is behind that.
$10,000 to the Wilson Tennis Foundation? $5000 to a Museum that doesn't even exist?
I assume the Wilson Tennis Foundation will use the money to fund tournaments at Barton College that will bring in revenue...However, I agree with EE about the lack of promotion. Wilson should be holding an annual barbecue festival instead of a whirligig festival. I know a barbecue festival isn't exactly a novel idea but it's something with which most people with backgrounds here can identify. The whirligig thing is about one guy who most people in Wilson don't know.
Barton is already on that list of Tourism recipients.
But assuming is probably not always a good thing. For instance, it could be easy to assume anything is a tiny bit odd when the head of a Foundation channels Tourism monies via some tax exempt entity to his or her own employer.
Btw; why was the Red Cross on that list? They bring tourists to Wilson?
It is my understanding that Barton has also recently adopted a new logo or "brand" which must be included on anything they send out; letters, brochures, envelopes, media releases, etc. even though they still had lots of paper containing the "old" logo. I don't know what they paid for the consultation fee, but it would appear that someone in the "branding" business is making a killing in Wilson. I think they saw us coming...
Barton College may already be on the list but that has nothing to do with the Wilson Tennis Foundation, which uses Barton's courts for its tournaments. The WTF and Barton are completely separate entities.
I agree, assuming is probably not always a good thing.
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