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The Windup - and Now the Pitch
New Elm City marketing czar speaks straight from the Hartt
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Business New Haven
8/21/2000
By: BNH
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The ballyhooed marketing study for New Haven by Baltimore consultant Sandra Hillman recommended the establishment of a “combined marketing organization” to centralize the city's marketing function. Earlier this summer, funded by Yale, the city and the Regional Leadership Council (RLC), that concept assumed the form of Market New Haven Inc., a non-profit whose directors are Mayor John DeStefano Jr., Yale Vice President Bruce Alexander and New Haven Savings Bank CEO Charles Terrell, representing the RLC. To run its day-to-day operations, the trio hired Susan Hartt, a consultant and freelance writer from Baltimore, who began her new job July 10. BNH spoke with Hartt exactly one month later about her new job and its challenges.
When you interviewed for this job, who 'marketed' New Haven to you - and what was the pitch?
It was an easy sell. I grew up in Cheshire before I left for college. I came back during the late '60s and was publicist and ultimately advertising and subsidiary-rights director at Yale [University] Press. [Earlier this year] I met with Sandy Hillman, whom I had known for many years, and mentioned that I was thinking about returning to New England. She said, 'Have I got the job for you.' She then got in touch with Bruce Alexander, and a couple of days later Bruce Alexander called me and asked me to come up for an interview. I came up a week later, and the enthusiasm of Bruce Alexander, the mayor, Charlie Terrell and [city Director of Special Projects Barbara] Lamb was so contagious. A very significant reason I came was that New Haven is so clearly a place that can be marketed - that is, there really is a story that needs to be told.
What did you ask that group about what they saw as the greatest challenges?
I asked questions about what I perceived to be possible challenges - that is, were there people who were already doing this, and would this organization come into conflict with them? And the answer was no - there were people who were doing a worthy job promoting aspects of the city, but the larger promotion of, particularly, downtown as a destination - there was not one organization that was doing that.
That's interesting, because three years ago the Town Green Special Services District sold itself to property-owners as an entity that would market downtown.
You're asking that as if I need to defend my position.
No…
Of course [the role] of Town Green was explained to me. But the explanation was that there needed to be a broader emphasis than specifically the Green. Mind you, the Green in terms of iconography is still the symbol of what we mean by downtown. Now, for budgetary reasons, some of the [special tax] money that might have gone to Town Green for marketing will go to Market New Haven.
What are the actual parameters of 'downtown' for your marketing purposes?
The emphasis of what we will be talking about most is downtown and, specifically, the Green as the icon for it. But the target is much broader. Our primary market is people who live, work and breathe in New Haven, and then also in surrounding [communities]. But obviously your first public has to be your own public.
In the month you've been here, what have you been doing?
I've been spending a great deal of time sticking my nose in things, listening to people, going to meetings. I'm meeting with people high and low. I think it's very important for all of us in Market New Haven to be very present, because one of our roles is to be a sort of news bureau for the city - ferreting out stories and [illustrating] some of the neat things that are going on around here. I sort of see myself as a cheerleader - one of a mass of cheerleaders with a really terrific winning team that just hasn't gotten the crowds that it deserves. Sort of like the Ravens [laughs].
What kinds of things have you heard talking to downtown merchants?
Mostly they've been enthusiastic. Of course, there are concerns about things like parking. This is a mystery to me, because I park in the Temple Street garage, and there is lots of [available] space [there].
What do you see as New Haven's most salable assets, besides the obvious cultural attractions?
People say, 'Well, everybody knows about all these things, so why are you marketing them?' But everybody doesn't know about them. There's no hard evidence I've seen that everyone in New Haven understands and/or participates in the things that are going on at Yale or the Creative Arts Workshop or at the theaters.
Well, certainly the Shubert and Yale Rep do their own marketing….
My charge is not to market individual things necessarily; my charge is to market that this is a place rich with resources.
Will the Sandy Hillman plan now become the blueprint for your efforts - things like getting the Food Network to do a show in New Haven?
The [Hillman study] was a plan and a proposal. Nobody ever said any of it was set in stone. PR people by nature are enthusiasts - or else they should find another line of work. Some of that [Hillman] stuff was blue-sky; some of it was borderline hare-brained. I don't deny that, [because] in a burst of enthusiasm it was, 'Let's do these things.' So the Hillman plan is not in its particulars a blueprint for Market New Haven Inc.
But the result [of the Hillman plan] was a loss of credibility on the part of those [who commissioned it]. Ideas are a dime a dozen; however, these were $80,000 ideas.
The fact is, Market New Haven now exists. So now it's up to me, my staff and the other people who have greeted this so enthusiastically - and I have to tell you I have met no hostility. The time has now come to sing the song of New Haven and put all the squabbles and power struggles behind us.
By now you surely have formed at least some preliminary conclusions about this 800-pound gorilla known as the Long Wharf mall. What is your view of it?
Unreserved support. Based on having done retail work for years, I understand the positive effect retail malls have. I believe, and smart merchants know, that the presence of this mall should help the strong merchants. Will the marginal merchants be hurt? Possibly. With retail, just as in a mall, you need to have strong anchors; and one anchor knows there needs to be another. These days Macy's wants to have Nordstrom there. Similarly, I think the presence of a mall will strengthen the city as a whole, which will then strengthen its other retailers.
Who is your target audience - people here, people nearby, or people far away?
Yes. During the first year, the primary targets are the people who live and work in New Haven and surrounding communities. Then, the effort will broaden outside the area to, ultimately, New York and Boston.
By what measure or measures should the rest of us gauge your performance over time?
I keep asking myself that, because I want it to be more [objectively] benchmarked than it is at the moment. One of the things I'll be asking [prospective] advertising agencies is, 'How can we benchmark this in a way that's significant to tell whether you're doing your job and I'm doing my job?' I think it's important for the funders to be able to say that yes, Market New Haven is making a difference. Because if we aren't, we'll go away. It's as simple as that.
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