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The Battle for Your Brain
State, cities continue to press positive perceptions on public weapon in your company's sales arsenal
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Business New Haven
2/18/2002
By: Fiona Phelan
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What do a newly opened fitness center, the latest gourmet chicken sandwich, a pair of blue jeans and a ballpoint pen have in common? They all need creative and consistent marketing campaigns in order to be successful.
So too, it seems, must the towns and cities of Connecticut - along with the Nutmeg State itself. At the end of last year, Connecticut launched a campaign promoting itself as a high-tech “hot spot” worthy of the same attention given to Silicon Valley and suburban Boston's Route 128.
In late November, a collaboration of greater Hartford entities kicked off a marketing initiative for the capital city: “Hartford: New England's Rising Star.”
That campaign comes on the heels of New Haven's promotion: “C'mon: Live a Little!” which was created just over a year ago.
Did New Haven's 2001 efforts put much of a dent in negative or indifferent public perceptions? Hard to say. It certainly didn't help that last fall Susan Hartt - who as executive director of the nominally private Market New Haven Inc. oversaw a $1 million-plus marketing budget - quit her job scarcely a year after a high-profile recruitment and hiring process.
That start-and-stop model can also be applied to the city of Bridgeport's campaign, whose TV spots featured Mayor Joseph P. Ganim touting the renaissance of the Park City (which the spots made look, according to one Connecticut columnist, “like a village in Vermont”). That campaign, too, is no longer running, as City Hall attempts to cope with a massive FBI corruption probe.
The goal of these marketing campaigns, of course, is to change people's perception and increase awareness about the product, which in these cases are cities and specific business sector such as entertainment and retail.
“One of our goals is to increase awareness of Connecticut as a great place to do business,” says Tom Ciccalone, executive director of public affairs and strategic planning for the state's Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD). “Connecticut has positioned itself highly in a number of areas but nobody really knows about it.”
The “hot spot” campaign represents a partnership among DECD, Connecticut United for Research Excellence (CURE) and the Connecticut Technology Council (CTC). Both CURE and CTC were drivers behind the state's decision to create a marketing campaign in the first place. DECD is overseeing and funding the $800,000 effort.
Alongside the marketing campaign, the state has also established an Office of Bioscience - one of the first such offices in the nation devoted exclusively to providing business development assistance to bioscience firms. The office will be housed at DECD.
The purpose of the office, according to the office of Gov. John G. Rowland's, is to facilitate the growth of existing Connecticut companies; encourage new company formation; recruit additional companies and suppliers from out of state; act as a single point of contact for bioscience companies needing business assistance; work to make the state's policies and programs, as well as its permitting and regulatory practices, conducive to bioscience growth; and spotlight Connecticut as a global center of bioscience.
“It makes sense for the state to focus on the businesses that are growing,” says Ciccalone.
“We continue to have multiple priorities here in Connecticut,” explains CURE President Debra Pasquale about the bioscience and information technology/software industries. “There is a need to increase visibility within our own state among college graduates and post-doc[toral students and graduates] about job opportunities and also with other people in the state so they get a sense that this industry is so vibrant here.”
In its annual biotechnology report released in November, Ernst & Young, LLP, ranked Connecticut seventh in the nation, relative to population, with regard to the number of biotechnology companies operating within the state. That places Connecticut ahead of Georgia, Florida, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Long-established biotech communities in Massachusetts, California, North Carolina, New Jersey and Washington ranked ahead of Connecticut - another factor in the decision to launch an advertising campaign.
“Connecticut doesn't have the reputation of a Silicon Valley, but that's a perception that we're out to change,” says DECD spokesman Jim Watson.
“It's time for us to articulate our story,” adds Pasquale.
That story would be that there are more than 16,000 people employed by companies in bioscience industries; and bioscience-related research and development expenditures exceeded $3 billion in 2000. Many of the bioscience companies are headquartered in greater New Haven, many of them outgrowths of Yale University research.
“Most people in the state don't know how many bioscience companies there are in the state,” notes DECD's Watson. “Our companies are not visible the way biotech and software companies are along Boston's Route 128. We have to let people know those companies are here, they're doing well - and that's the point of the campaign.”
Like the state campaign, Hartford's “Rising Star” initiative is also about reminding residents, employers and employees of all the capital city has to offer: great restaurants, entertainment, theater, museums, sporting events, family events, festivals and historical sites, to name a few.
Hartford's collaborative effort focuses on a stylized treatment of the name Hartford with a yellow rising star and trail on a blue background. The Hartford Image Project, a collaboration of the city, the Greater Hartford Tourism District, MetroHartford Regional Economic Alliance, Hartford Economic Development Commission, Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau, Greater Hartford Arts Council, Capital City Economic Development Authority, Waterford Development, the state's Office of Tourism and Hartford 2000, created the brand. The city of Hartford contributed $100,000 in seed money to get the campaign rolling.
Through advertising and promotional materials produced and distributed by the project's supporters, the new Hartford brand is designed to create an estimated seven million impressions this year. Success of the campaign will be determined by factors such as retail revenues, ticket sales, attendance at events etc.
“The research for the strategic planning side of this campaign indicated that people in the region don't have a good understanding of all the things to see and do in downtown Hartford,” notes Mark Kintner, vice president of marketing and communications for the MetroHartford Regional Economic Alliance.
At the end of last month, the Greater Hartford Tourism District announced that tourism in the state's capital increased for the fourth year in a row. In 2001, tourists spent $20.7 million - a 17-percent increase over the previous year. The region's top three attractions are the Mark Twain House, the Harriet Beecher Stowe house and Bushnell Park and carousel.
“These numbers prove that the central city is not dead,” says Kintner. “We plan to promote a lot of festivals, events, food fairs, craft fairs, to bring as many people as possible to the city.”
Focusing on the city's under-appreciated attractions and activities is also important for employers, says Kintner. Businesses need a strong, vital, entertaining city to attract a workforce, he notes. The marketing campaign aims to show those employees who come to work here - and people in the suburbs - that there are ample reasons to stay in Hartford at the end of the workday or come in to the city for entertainment.
Hartford's campaign includes posters and television spots that will run on AT&T Broadband and Cox Cablevision. The civic partners will use the new Hartford logo alongside their own logos in their communication materials.
“Getting all the players together was a coup in itself,” explains Kintner. “This is the first time that all the various groups involved in greater Hartford life are all working together with one common branding and marketing strategy. Everything is integrated and coordinated instead of each group doing things independently.”
Like Hartford, New Haven's campaign is a collaborative effort involving the city, Yale University, the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, SBC-SNET (which of course has its own marketing issues as one of the world's oldest telecom brand names is subsumed into that of its giant Texas acquirer), United Illuminating, New Haven Savings Bank, Bayer Corp. and the Town Green Special Services District. Market New Haven Inc. manages the project with the creative work coming from Cushman & Katz. The sponsors have committed $1.3 million over three years for the program.
“We think we have made quite an impact in the first year,” says Market New Haven acting executive director Ronelle P. Williams. “We know that people's attitudes about New Haven are improving.
“Our promotions and advertising have gotten the word out that New Haven is here. It's a small city where big things happen.”
Can that be proven? According to Williams, who was communications director at Market New Haven before Hartt left in the fall, Quinnipiac University is in the process of putting together data to determine just how effective the “C'mon: Live a Little” campaign has been.
The initial campaign included radio spots, 15-second TV advertisements and print ads, which continue to run periodically. This year, Market New Haven plans to focus on events with a year-long calendar filled with activities that will showcase the city. The group plans to make the calendar available on its recently unveiled Web site: www.infonewhaven.com. Earlier this month the group also ran a Valentine's promotion: “C'mon: Love a Little,” that encouraged visitors to shop and dine in the Elm City. When they had receipts totaling $250 or more they would receive two tickets to a theater event.
“It's smart for a city of promote itself and the things that are happening here,” says Williams. “It will take a while to chip away at people's perceptions of New Haven, but we're making it happen.”
Williams noted that at the end of last year, city attractions were featured on three cable television networks: Home & Garden TV (HGTV), the Learning Channel (which featured the women's clothing store Seychelles), and the Food Network (which featured New Haven restaurants in a segment).
“The attention we're getting here has to do with the collective efforts of everyone involved,” says Williams.
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