cBus Syndrome: When your client has low self-esteem

Last Thursday, Experience Columbus invited me and 60 of my fellow bloggers to check out their newest tourism and convention campaign: Not In Columbus.

First, let me say -  it was a very well-conceived effort.

• Right people: Columbus is home to a really diverse group of Gen Ys and Xers who love the city. They blog, network and otherwise talk in just about every medium there is. Engaging them (um, us) to preview pro-Columbus propaganda is a great fit.


• Right partners: All local agencies and others (Creative: engauge; PR/Social: FahlgrenMortine; snacks and treats: Jenis; swag: Skeened)


• Right process: Over the last few months, a number of Experience Columbus staffers and leaders have started following me on Twitter. And presumably reading local bloggers. They've interacted with the community and gotten to know us.


• Right presentation: Pete McGinty - VP of Marketing - was tasked with talking to the bloggers. He  brought us in on the process of developing the campaign before the big reveal. He was happy to tell the back story and answer questions.

Which brings me to the unasked question: Can we see the other 23 concepts that hit the cutting room floor?

Ok, here's the setup:

Pete starts off by taking us inside the process. He holds up a board titled Challenges:

• No one outside Ohio knows us
• And, we don't have anything our competitors don't have

Sure, he couched it in it's not really that bad. But, the POV still seemed to be that we're somewhere between milk toast and total suck.

The agreed upon solution to this mediocrity morass was to have a little bit of fun; to make fun of ourselves.

Then the campaign was unveiled: Not in Columbus.

It's a collection of light-hearted videos, print ads and tShirts that point out some of the iconic things you can't do in Columbus and then pays it off with the variety of things you can do. It's a teaser, a page-turn stopper. If it works.

An example:

Browse the tees. Watch the videos. Download the print ads.

If there's one thing we've done plenty of in this town, it's make fun of ourselves. The variations on Cow Town alone are uncountable. It's part of cBus Syndrome: the ability to live in a vibrant, growing city and talk about it like it's a pile of cow crap.

And a campaign like this one feels like only more of the same. We're the marketing equivalent of the fat guy at the party making jokes about his girth so that the girls won't look at him with pity.

Oh, except, we only think we're the fat guy. We're actually the totally ripped hot guy who just has really  low self esteem.

If I were to re-invent this campaign, what would I talk about? What are the reasons to come to this city?

#1 for me: Columbus is a destination city for creative people. You're basically guaranteed to be rubbing elbows with an artist whether you're shopping the North Market or noshing on Hyde Park steaks.

Proof points:

• Robust creative economy
• Affordable, eclectic neighborhoods (i.e. places for artists to live)
• Groundswell of independent art activity
• Slew of professional arts organizations (from museums to the ballet)
• Nationally-known arts festivals - art fest, comfest
• Tons of programs and outlets for individual artists - from live/work spaces to monthly art sales and gallery hops
• Huge local music scene
• Nationally-recognized chefs
• Passionate foodie community

(Think you can't market that? Look at Toronto, Minneapolis, Portland)

#2 Ok, don't like that first one? How about the vibe? Columbus has this totally open, do-your-own thing vibe. The kind of city that has cool things to do at every level of hip. The kind of city that would produce the largest privately financed redevelopment project in the nation The kind of city that would have the country's third largest gay population and still almost go red in the election. The kind of city that would have multiple boutique and gallery districts - just to house that army of entreprenuers who feel like they have the right foundation to take the big risk.

(Think you can't market that? Look at Jamaica, Boulder, the other Portland)

#3 Still searching? Ok, how about we're a Big 10 town. And, we're home to the second largest college population in the country (behind Boston). That's exciting sports. A young, engaged population. And, all the cheap fun a college town has to offer.

(Think you can't market that? Ok...someone will have to help me here. You know Advergirl and sports. Like fish and bicycles.)

Anyway, my point is - Columbus has lots of compelling marketing messages. If we could just get over the cBus Syndrome and take an honest appraisal, I think we'd all see what the bloggers you invited over already see.

Comments

[Roger D]

I just saw the Eiffel Tower ad in the AAA Journeys magazine. I like everything about it except the concept and execution! It is the worst ad Ive ever seen. Theres no need to evaluate it further. People of Columbus should be mortified, to live in a town that allows this crap to represent the community. Its fascinating to observe the poor judgement that decided this is the best work for marketing Columbus. They are so out of touch!

[Tetincobiaben]

- For myself, if I have the choice between millions of dollars are already easily made by those who without awakening follow a by rote prescription of feeling warm fuzzies because they engage the teachings from the side of that is that life does not consist of positive thinking, it consists of removing negatives. [url=http://glohret.seitenclique.net/kayne-la02/abrham-lincoln.html] abrham lincoln [/url] [url=http://glohret.seitenclique.net/kayne-la02/stroller-tray.html] stroller tray [/url]

[non-Columbus CD]

Has anyone ever done a decent local travel campaign? I’m not convinced the “creative class” is a draw, unless you’re seeking to attract creative class enthusiasts. So it’s tough to offer suggestions or input here without having the original brief in hand. I feel sorry for the ad agency responsible, especially if their client is using these comments as directives for revisions. The agency should be leading the charge on the revisions. I mean, what does it say about a client who seeks outsider opinions like this? Reminds me of the executive who takes the layouts home to show his wife. That said, I still stand behind my original critique that the work is inherently flawed because of a bad conceptual format.

[Holly]

I completely agree with your assessment that Columbus' draw is its creative class. I'd love to see them rework the campaign with a real point of view like this. The "you can do everything else here" idea is vanilla, tired and meaningless. Could Pittsburgh and Indianapolis say the same thing? You bet they could. And it would be just as meaningless to them.

[non-Columbus CD]

Well, since everyone else has offered an opinion, here’s mine. I always think it’s tough to create problem-solution/negative-positive advertising where the problem/negative becomes more memorable and interesting than the solution/positive. The line says, “But I did everything else,” but we never really get a sense for everything else. And the small pics in the print don’t make everything else interesting. At all. Plus, they’re comparing apples and oranges. The Eiffel Tower is not an option to vacationing or visiting Columbus. Ditto the pyramids and other attractions. It has nothing to do with a client having low self-esteem. It’s really just a matter of a bad conceptual format. If a creative team presented this idea to me, I’d say, “Nice try. Show me some new ideas tomorrow please.” I don’t think the work can be fixed without making it worse.

[Beth]

I think they would've lost my vote with the intro of "Not in Columbus"…it's really hard to pull off a campaign that's all based on negatives: "not in Columbus", "I didn't see the Eiffel Tower"…it begs the question, "well, is there anything you CAN do in Columbus???" Guess not…just all the stuff you can't do.

The campaign is clever. It's definitely not cheezy. But it's going to be tough to cast a positive spin with all the negative thoughts.

[HighJive]

Holy shit, did Pete McGinty even read your post? You ripped him a proverbial new one, and he’s thanking you for the deed. Damn, you made Bob Garfield look like Gandhi. You go, Advergirl. Hee-larious.

[Billy Fischer]

First off, I'm impressed with Experience Columbus and its partners effort to include the local blogging community. I agree though, Columbus needs to stop apologizing.

We need to take off the comma. Notice when describing other cities you didn't include the state that follows. Next time I travel I want to be able to tell people I'm from Columbus and they know I'm not from Georgia.

[Greg]

Leigh--

I've visited Columbus a few times and have to say it's a cool, 'creative' place as you describe.

I wonder who the 'target' is for this campaign.

I assume they are people within driving distance. I can't imagine the city has the budget to advertise enough to increase the awareness of Columbus enough to make someone buy a plane ticket.

So, let's say the target is people within a couple hundred miles...

Within a few hundred mile radius of Columbus are residents of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia. Just a few competitive cities in the region are Nashville, Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Indianapollis and Louisville - so there are more than a few alternatives that Columbus is up against.

If, as noted in your piece above, one of Columbus' two challenges is that "no one outside of Columbus knows us" why dosen't the creative mention that Columbus is in Ohio?

If the "we don't have the eiffel tower" message gets the prospect to stop and consider Columbus the next part of the equation falls a little flat. What would motivate them to come to Columbus over another nearby destination? They (and I) ask, well Columbus, what do you have then?

To me, someone who already is a lukewarm fan of Columbus, nothing grabs and inspires me to make the next step.

Maybe the "right process" above should have (and maybe it did but wasn't reported) also included some research among the target audience to see what they'd find most compelling about a visit to Columubus.

[Pete McGinty]

Leigh,

I'm glad that you were able to make it to our event last week. We found it extremely valuable to gain the direct feedback of people like yourself. And, of course, the feedback keeps on coming, which is what we hoped for.

It is exciting for us to hear from those who are engaged in this city and have the same kind of passion for it that we do.

Thanks again for coming and thanks for your post.

Pete

[Lara Kretler]

Leigh, thanks so much for coming and for your take on the event and campaign. I agree with you completely that Columbus rocks. Now, how do we sell that message without sounding like everyone else!

[David Griner]

Wait, if you guys aren't going to use "somewhere between milk toast and total suck" as a slogan, can I call dibs on pitching it to some folks?

Have to say I agree this campaign is lacking something. I was really impressed with Columbus during my (admittedly short) stay, and I definitely think it's true that you guys have nothing to be ashamed about.

Some of the ideas in the new campaign are clever, but I have a hard time seeing how they would spark me to visit. With tourism stuff, it's always tough to avoid the trap of "We've got everything." Even when it's true, it's just not specific enough to spark my curiosity.

All that said, I applaud them for doing anything that's not a montage of beauty shots with some cheesy slogan like "Where dreams come to awaken."