August 15, 2005
11:00 a.m.
Members Present: Peter Bez, Lynne Davies, Kathleen
Fitzgerald, Laurel Guadazno, Michael Peregon, and Mick Rudd.
Members
Absent: Rita “Hersh” Schwartz
(excused absence)
Michelle
Jarusiewicz, Acting Asst Town Mgr
Steve
Melamed, Chair-Economic Development
The meeting was called to
order at 11:05 a.m.
Lynne Davies gave a brief
introduction to the branding discussion.
She introduced Robin and provided a brief history of the adoption of the
current tag line “Provincetown, like nowhere else” and if possible, the VSB and
PBG want to continue to use that tag line as part of the branding, due to the
dollars invested in its promotion.
Concurrently the VSB is looking at other options and is now involved in
a two-fold approach. “We need a brand -
a slogan - a unified way of promoting this town.” With that mini introduction the meeting was turned over to Robin
Haueter and his “Branding Presentation.”
Branding Presentation by Robin Haueter (one-hour
presentation)
Mr. Haueter gave a mini
autobiography describing his background; he has been in advertising, public
relations for 30 years and, the last 10 years have been focused on the very
specialized field of Branding.
Branding:
Marketing is based on
understanding the audience. “What is
the audience focus?” Branding is all
about a rational process that involves setting the criteria. Decisions have to be based on group-based
criteria. Does the brand meet the criteria?
This is a key test.
Robin focused on defining the
terms used in the branding process, since the fundamentals are basically the
same wherever you go. He also stated
that the group first needed to determine two things - “What is our
objective?” “What is our goal?”
Based on the VSB and EDTF
input, he indicated that the objective was to develop a strategy to use
Provincetown’s cultural assets, in the widest sense, to stimulate economic
activity in a year-round, sustainable, and measurable fashion.
Robin continued, When people
talk about a brand they equate it to too many things, logo, tag line, etc. These are not a brand. What is a brand? A brand is really the idea of the thing. The goal of a brand is to create a desire in
the audience. Take Disney as an
example. What does it make you think of?”
This is what we are seeking.
Their core values are FUN – FAMILY – ENTERTAINMENT, thus when people
hear DISNEY, they automatically think of fun-family-entertainment. They have their branding. The tag lines and logos support the brand.
Next Robin selected the NIKE
brand to explore. Their core values are
AUTHENTIC – ATHLETIC – PERFORMANCE.
Notice, Robin said, it’s not about shoes or sweatshirts – it’s about
values.
These core values allow Nike
to go into any business and their core values are bible i.e., authentic,
athletic, and performance. The same is
true for Disney and their core values are fun, family, and entertainment.
There were many diagrams that
took place along with the presentation on branding. One was a chart with the brand in the center surrounded by
context, promise, and experience. It
was then elaborated upon:
Context –
what goes into it? The audience, the
offering, and the competition. Within
the audience there is a target. A brand
can have 10 different audiences, i.e. Amtrak’s Acela train – then Robin broke
it down into leisure, business, basic -
–
if the business audience
is satisfied then they have a successful venture as the rest of the passengers
will be happy also.
–
Robin said that the audience
is constantly comparing what they’re buying to what else is available. You have to know who you’re being compared
to – as in your competition. Focus
groups are all about qualitative findings – surveys are all about quantitative
findings.
Promise – is
all about positioning. The promise is
relative to what the audience wants and relative to the alternative
choices. For instance - Provincetown
provides this kind of offering to “these kinds of people” because…….. (fill in the blanks)
Some times branding happens
whether you like it or not in the absence of a formal campaign. The Bush and
Kerry campaign were used as examples. The Bush campaign did brand and the Kerry
campaign didn’t. In the absence of a
brand, the Kerry campaign allowed folks to fill the void, with many using the
Bush’s anti- Kerry brand.
So….the bottom line is: Provincetown is a lot of things to a lot of
people.
Positioning
has to be 4 things: It has to be
credible, sustainable, relevant, and differentiating. In positioning many are using Integrated marketing – a pie chart
was drawn with multiple wedges: i.e. Logo, tag line, packages, web, PR, signs,
advertising, incentives (give aways), etc.
Peter Bez asked if it were
possible to have one brand that would speak adequately to all visitors. Answer from Robin: “This is a fundamental problem in branding. The narrower the audience, the greater the
distinction that the brand will have.”
Lynne wondered if you can’t
you do that when you’re developing the core values, such as Choice, Fun,
Tolerance? By having that you can
target a larger audience.
Robin agreed all of these
things happen in a mix. How are we
going to segment the audience?
Mick Rudd asked, “Who is
qualified to define the core values?
Around the table we all have our own values.”
Robin’s answer…. Core values
concern the audiences – not us.
Ideally we would be able to make those assessments ------ we’re trying
to play to the audience that will spend the most money. That’s
who to target. Ideal is if you can
get everyone to participate in a cooperative way then you can come up with
branding.
Robin was asked what is the
timeframe? Answer: The more focused, the faster it
happens. He has seen it happen in a
matter of 2 weeks….. Amtrak took 5
mos. So there are no easy timeframe answers.
Lynne – we felt that we could
have something by the end of the year.
Mr. Rudd said, “Can groups like this even do something like this even
though we’re all well intentioned?”
Answer – absolutely. Robin just
facilitates the decision-making. Mick
asked, “So facilitation is an absolute must?”
Lynne felt that a facilitator
will be essential as well as a sub task force comprised of the primary
stakeholders. We have to make sure that
we have business groups involved as a part of the Adams Grant.
Michael Peregon mused that we
have been using the tag line for over a year.
What’s the implication of switching? Especially when people have come to
know it? Robin said that companies face
this all the time. You can look at
equity and decide. The people who do
the advertising are a lot more familiar with it but the people out there are
not locked into it.
Robin also recommended to do
a stakeholder analysis and identify variables.
Lynne Davies thanked Robin
Haueter for his presentation and told him it had been extremely
informative. The next step would be to
form a working committee and hire a facilitator. At the next meeting we will determine stake-holders/working group
and then we can begin the Branding process right after the Labor Day
period.
Steve Melamed said there are
5 members of Council on Economic Development and he is the chair and wants to
work with the VSB. Lynn said that the
VSB is very anxious to work with the CED – tourism is our primary economic
driver – tourism will be a topic on which we will be lead. We want to work in conjunction with the CED
and eliminate redundancy.
Motion:
Approve the minutes of the August 8th meeting.
Motion by Peter Bez Seconded by Laurel Guadazno
Unanimous 6-0-0.
Budget Update
There
is none since Alix hasn’t returned to work.
She is due back shortly and the figures should be available by the next
meeting.
Lynne
Davies passed out a memo that she will send to the BOS and the Town Manager
under date of August 18, 2005. The memo
and staffing plan are only need up to date numbers from Alix and the grant
writer’s estimate. If we can get the
VSB’s approval then we’ll put in the appropriate numbers and submit it to the
BOS.
Motion:
Approve the Staffing Plan Recommendations to send to the BOS.
The motion was made, seconded, and
unanimously approved 6-0-0.
The
ad for the public hearing on 2007 grant guidelines has been done.
Bill Schneider, Acting
Tourism Director, said he needs approval of the ads on pages 18, 19, and 20 in
the handout given to members of the VSB.
Everyone approved of the ads and no specific vote was needed.
Peter
Bez stepped out of the room for the presentation of the invoice for The
Graphics Group.
Motion: Approve the $475 invoice to come out of the
marketing budget.
Lynne Davies made the motion, Mick Rudd
seconded the motion and it was approved 5-0.
Peter
Bez rejoined the meeting. A sample bag
for trade shows was passed around. It
was enthusiastically received. The
design that Bill said he’d like would have “Provincetown, like nowhere else”
and the web address on it. Once a color
is decided upon, Bill will get proposals.
Next
a Gay & Lesbian Tourism marketing convention being held in Montreal on
October 5-7, 2005 was discussed. There
will be an Expo set-up for exhibitors from 2-4 p.m. on October 6th. There has already been an interest expressed
from vendors for tables. The
Provincetown Business Guild (PBG) is doing a booth. Bill said it was important to attend the 3 day conference. Means of financing attendees, who would
attend, and basically how many could attend were discussed but not
finalized. The registration for the
conference is $575 for one and $850 for two.
The consensus was to table the issue
until the next meeting.
All
board members approved.
Lynne
said that’s why we’re presenting our staffing recommendation to the BOS on 8/22
to meet the Oct. 15th deadline.
Questions
remain about bike racks. Bill is
working on a pamphlet. Lynne is waiting
to hear from Sandy Turner about appropriate sites and costs. The VSB wants to do more town-wide locations
for the racks.
Lynne
Davies proposed moving the Rack Card display from the Ryder Street doorway to
the main lobby as current location is too remote for visitors. After discussing with Michelle as well as
Vernon & Pam in the Town Manager’s office, it was learned that the display
used to be in the front lobby by many years back a selectmen wanted it moved
because it wasn’t kept up. Vernon and
Pam in the Town Manager’s office would love having them back out front as they
spend a great deal of their time responding to the many requests from tourists
for information. In addition, we have
the staff to monitor the racks.
Motion: Authorize Lynne to ask the BOS
permission to relocate the rack card display to the main lobby.
Michael Peregon made the motion,
Kathleen Fitzgerald seconded it and it was approved 6-0-0.
The
final update concerned the PBG Traveler survey. August 19th is the date set for completion of the
compilation.
Adjournment
happened at 1:15 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Evelyn Rogers Gaudiano
Approved by ____________________________on ______________, 2005.
Lynne Davies, Chair