Mr Beckelman,
Welcome to the desert! It was a pleasure speaking with you at the
CVA holiday mixer.
As we discussed, much of this controversy over what to the call
the CVA can be attributed to confusing the name of the marketing
organization with the destination it markets. I'm sure you will agree
that what we call the CVA is less important than what it does.
The relative fame of the Palm Springs name may help in luring more
inexperienced meeting planners to the area for fam trips, but most
tourism professionals already know who the CVA is and what it does.
Whatever it is called, they know the CVA represents the entire area,
not just Palm Springs.
General brand development through marketing the area directly to
consumers is another matter. Palm Springs may contribute the most of
any single city to the CVA's marketing budget, but combined, the other
cities contribute almost twice as much. Collectively and individually, it
would be fiscally irresponsibile for them to allow this money to be spent
entirely on building another city's brand equity without getting some
branding value of their own. Conversely, we agree that it would be
foolish not to continue to exploit the inestimable value of the famous
Palm Springs brand as an attention grabber in any marketing campaign
intended to lure visitors to the area.
The solution I have proposed to this "Catch 22" is to create a new brand
which continues to exploit the fame of the Palm Springs brand but in which
all cities share equity. This brand is the Hwy 111 brand. With few
exceptions,
Hwy 111 is the one thing all of the CVA member cities physically have in
common. The Hwy 111 brand promotes the desert as a huge theme park
with Highway 111 as the way to its many unique attractions. Alternately,
it is
a necklace on which each city is a beautiful jewel with Highway 111 as the
common thread which binds them. Because stylized branded maps of the entire
valley would be an integral part of the campaign,outlying cities such as
Desert
Hot Springs and Coachella would receive equal exposure and virtually equal
equity in the brand.
A Hwy 111 campaign would use the fame of the Palm Springs brand to let the
public know there is more to the valley. (click for samples) As an adjunct
to a
broader Palm Springs based campaign, other slogans might diverge from this
theme to highlight other aspects of the desert experience (click for samples)
A
physical map is already in the works which will incorporate these design
elements.
The basic interactive online versions at HWY111.INFO and PalmCanyon.com
will also be updated with the new creative material. There is more information
available at the Hwy 111 Marketing Alliance web site HWY111.NET. Please
note there is no formal organization by this name at this time.However, a
501(c)(6)
may be formed in the future to raise matching funds for a CVA funded campaign.
Palm Springs has already launched a similar marketing campaign for Palm Canyon
Drive. In the past, the idea has been floated to re name all of Hwy 111 as
Palm
Canyon but this does not appear to have been well received. Palm Springs
residents
seem intent on keeping Palm Canyon unique to Palm Springs. For a variety
of
somewhat complicated socio economic reasons, most of the other cities seem
to
prefer it this way as was well. Cathedral City is the lone exception, having
long ago
changed the name of their portion of Hwy 111 to East Palm Canyon with
distinctive
purple and white signs. Informal surveys, however, reveal most residents
still prefer
to refer to it as Hwy 111.
Due perhaps to the intransigence of your predecessor and others in the community,
Palm Canyon Advertising has managed to establish trademark claims to the
commercial
advertising rights to both the Hwy 111 and Palm Canyon brands by virtue of
5 years of
continuous and exclusive use. Mr. Fife seemed intent on taking the path of
least resistance
on the Palm Springs branding issue with an "if it ain't broke don't fix it"
attitude of
maintaining the status quo. When I heard the unmistakable squeaking of un
oiled wheels
in the community, my efforts to warn him that "it" was indeed broke were
not very well
received. Those squeaks have turned into the shrieks of a machine in danger
of breaking
down completely. As a communications professional I must accept at least
partial
responsibility for failing to make a more persuasive argument. I hope I have
done a better
job at communicating the concept to you.
If you have questions or suggestions please do not hesitate to call.
Sincerely,
Lance Frank
Palm Canyon Advertising
P.O. Box 2883
Palm Desert, Ca 92261
760-899-6805
P.S.
Happy Holidays to you and yours!
cc: committees
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