Groups seek long-term fix to Cleveland's image woes

Friday, January 13, 2006

Sarah Hollander and Becky Gaylord

Plain Dealer Reporters

 

Why should anyone want to live, work, visit or invest in Cleveland?

 

A coalition of civic groups plans to develop a regional marketing campaign to answer that question.

 

The initiative, tentatively called the Cleveland Marketing Alliance, would fill a vacuum left by the disintegration of similar efforts in the past few decades, such as New Cleveland and its successor, Cleveland Today...

 

www.cleveland.com

 

Cleveland surely is a plum

 

:-)

Cleveland surely is a plum

 

:-)

 

Goodness I hated that!

"Cleveland – The Greatest Location in the Nation!"

 

will always be Cleveland's best slogan!  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

let's hope they have a diversity of marketing/non-marketing folks working on this.  I cringe when I think of all the "rock n' roll" themes that they'll come up with.  They'd do well to cater to more than just the conventioning, hotel, media, and business crowds... actually, they should just us here on Urban Ohio to do it!  We can knock this thing out in a week or two, no problem!  And we'd probably do it for free!

MGD has read my suggested slogan elsewhere, but I thought I'd post it here:

 

"Come Home to Cleveland"

 

It can be construed as an invitation to those in the suburbs and elsewhere in the nation who have entertained thoughts of coming back but just need a little prodding. Believing in Cleveland doesn't necessarily create economic development. Moving back to the city does.

I love it!

I wasn't aware Cleveland still had an image problem.  I know in the past that it was "the mistake by the lake" but I thought since the city cleaned up it's act, it's been known as a national urban renewal success story.

 

Some relatives of mine visited Cleveland a few years ago for a Browns game.  They live in the suburbs of Detroit.  I listened when my uncle came back telling how Cleveland was so clean and a real neat city.  After listening to him rave I had to see Cleveland for myself and I came away impressed.  I've heard of others say great things about Cleveland too. 

 

So could Cleveland's image 'problem' be solely among residents of metro Cleveland?  I don't think there is nearly as much division between Cleveland and it's suburbs as there is between Detroit and it's suburbs. And that puts Cleveland in a very good position for growth, as I think the biggest pool of potential future residents to the city will come from Cleveland's suburbs.

 

And I don't think any city that isn't Miami, NYC, Chicago, or some west coast cities should spend any money or time trying to advertise itself to tourists.  Cleveland won't be a tourist mecca for a while, if ever.  They are nice to have and add a little life to the city and some extra revenue, but the real meat and potatoes are the people who will live in the city.

Woodward,

 

Thanks for the comments.  I lived in Detroit for a few years and understand what you are saying.  The worst opinions that you will find about Cleveland are from the suburbanites who haven't been downtown in decades.  There is an unjustified negative attitude that holds back the entire region.  This campaign is aimed at improving our region's self-confidence.

Opinion of city? They just can't say

Cleveland inspires neutrality in outsiders

Friday, June 16, 2006

Sarah Hollander

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

If you drive a Ford Taurus, you fit right in with Cleveland's image.

 

Both locals and out-of-towners associate Greater Cleveland with a practical sedan - family-friendly and far from racy - according to recent surveys by the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance...

 

www.cleveland.com

This backs up what I found when moving back to Cleveland from NYC. Most people there just shrugged at the mention of Cleveland. When I got here, however, there was much head scratching about why I would want to leave New York for Cleveland. We're our own worst enemies...

I remember a PD article put out 7-2 months ago about strong negative perceptions from NEO residents. Newcomers had a much more favorable opinion of the city. I think it concluded with someone illustrating the lack of confidence in the area by comparing it to when asking someone out on a date the response is "why would you want to go out with me?" Does anyone know if this article was posted somewhere?

I've said it once (well more than once) and I'll say it again.  Cleveland/Cuyahoga county has no pubic relations strategy.  Nor a paper who praises the cities amazing qualities.

 

We have so much more than people know about is sickening!

 

As Blinky said yesterday:  "....Typical of Cleveland, you'd never know this amazing stuff was there unless you dug around. Let's get some big signs up or something..."

 

 

 

I've said this before, too, and I'll say it again -- we need a core city newspaper (preferably an Internet-based one). I'd love to start one, but I'd need a daddy-warbucks to get it started since I'm flat boke. I even know several other reporters who'd be willing to write for it and tell the public all that's going on and all the things we already have. But, gotta have a sugar daddy!

KJP- that sounds like a great idea to pitch for the Civic Innovation Lab. They helped get Cool Cleveland and City Wheels started. They give start up grants up to 30K, and I think help you get situated to make it a self-sufficient enterprise.

Starting from scratch

Ad agencies vie for chance to banish blank stares about region

 

 

By JOHN BOOTH

 

6:00 am, June 19, 2006

 

 

 

It’s not that people across the country think bad things about us here in Northeast Ohio — it’s that they don’t think about us, period.

 

Research commissioned by the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance shows that while the region has shed its image of soot-belching smokestacks and rivers afire, what has taken its place over the past few years is, well … nothing. So, the alliance is looking for a local ad agency to come up with a regional branding strategy and a way to fill that empty space in people’s heads...

 

www.cleveland.com

Northeast Ohio to Make a Name for Itself

Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance Selects Agency for Regional Brand Development

Greater Cleveland Growth Association

 

CLEVELAND, July 31, 2006 - The Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance, founded by the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the Convention & Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland and Team Northeast Ohio (NEO), today announced that advertising and marketing firm Doner will help the Alliance brand the region to visitors, businesses, college students and young adults.  Doner, the nation's largest privately held advertising and marketing agency, will lead the Alliance's brand strategy and implementation work over the next 12 months ...

 

... More at http://www.clevelandgrowth.com/News.aspx?id=920

_______________________________________________

 

Here's a look at San Antonio's CVB site: http://www.sanantoniocvb.com/

 

And here's Anaheim's: http://www.anaheimoc.org/

 

I'm not sure if these website represent the cities' "place-branding" campaigns; I do think it's odd, however, that I can't seem to locate a website for Doner ... one would think that the "nation's largest privately held advertising and marketing agency" would maintain some kind of web presence.

 

All I could find was that BrandInsights previously worked on Jacksonville's branding: http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2001/10/08/focus1.html; while some of the language is still being used by the CVB, the city's logo has apparently changed since the article was released in late 2001 (http://www.jaxcvb.com/). Hmmmmm.

I don't believe a slogan can capture all that Cleveland is.  Cleveland does have its population, crime, and education problems but it does offer a fertile ground for future growth.  The relatively low cost of living is a big attraction; however some of the "condos" being built are outrageously expensive for the location and townhouses tend to be in locations far away from basic accomidations such as grocery stores but this can be remedied.  There is a fairly vibrant culture scene in Cleveland, and one that is very proud of its location.  The various museums in the university circle (including the award winning art museum now under rennovation), the play house, severence hall etc. are destinations that do not seem to be as advertised as the rock museum and stadiums to tourists or even prospective citizens.  Cleveland is a relatively old city for an American city and has a rich history, everything from some of the first automobile manufacturers to the mob to Millionaires Mile on Euclid Ave.  Of course Cleveland's history is obscured from most people but I really think that would be a strong aspect to emphasize.  Heck even the public transportation can be decent at times, and with an increase in the city's population will come an increase in RTA funding.

I think they should emphasize that what makes Cleveland great is that it has all the diversity, arts and cultural amenities you'd want in a big city, plus great natural assets like the lake, river and parks, but what sets it apart is that it doesn't have the pretentiousness, expense and hectic pace of other large cities.  "Cleveland - World class urban living for REAL people."

I always liked the title used by author Peter Jedick for his 1980 book "Cleveland: Where the East Coast Meets the Midwest"

 

It describes the city's excellent location, its mixed culture/values between those of the East Coast and Midwest, and even suggests and instruction... If you folks on the East Coast want to have a business meeting with folks in the Midwest, meet in the middle right here in Cleveland.

I've always liked that, too, KJP. It also is a great jumping ground for explaining Cleveland's history and why Northeast Ohio has historically differed from the rest of Ohio ... i.e. settlement by Connecticut rather than by Virginia.

 

I also have to say that I've always liked the term "America's North Coast". Of all the slogans I've heard for Cleveland, I think this one gives Cleveland the most room to develop a brand image all of its own, rather than competing with the Midwest, other Rust Belt cities, etc.

Personally...my favorite slogan is [move][glow=red,2,300]The Greatest Location in the Nation[/glow][/move]

 

someone will buy into it, even if the next person believes its not true.  Its all about the "hype"!!

Once unveiled, marketing alliance effort will get plenty of face time

With Cleveland as anchor, region will be emphasis

 

 

By JOHN BOOTH

Crain's

 

6:00 am, March 26, 2007

 

Nearly a year in the making, the new regional branding campaign of the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance is almost ready to be revealed.

 

And while officials remain mum about taglines and logos, when the lid does come off, the results will be all over the place...

 

www.crainscleveland.com

question?  Does anything think this and the "marketing cleveland" thread should be merged?

 

they discuss basically the same thing.

^ Yes definately.

ah... "regional branding"... the saviour of the rust belt... we just came up with "P!ttsburgh: Imagine What You Can Do Here!" last year... probably cost a few hundred thousand dollars to come up with that...

 

Change the reality... and the image will take care of itself.  When businesses evaluate NEO as a place with a locational advantage due to cold hard economic cost-benefit analysis... NEO will flourish.  When more good jobs are created than lost... when more people move in than move out... when the brain drain turns into a brain gain... when investment and economic vitality revive the long dormont urban centers... the image will follow.  No amount of "feel good" slogans will save Cleveland. 

Evergrey,

 

Nobody is saying that this is a silver bullet or some sort of saviour. I know it serves your agenda to think superficially and then diss the city, but how does that help anyone?? Do you really think that the folks behind this campaign believe that this will turn Cleveland into Paris? C'mon, you're better than that.

 

Everything that you mentioned is necessary to help improve a city. Image is greatly linked to all your suggestions. Cleveland, however, has long suffered from unfair reputation. It has a lot more to offer than the region's citizens give it credit for. Of course new jobs, etc will greatly help the city. But if a well-crafted marketing campaign brings more patrons to downtown venues and entices more suburbanites to relocate to core neighborhoods, then the 'regional branding' effort can be part of the overall solution.

Evergrey,

 

Nobody is saying that this is a silver bullet or some sort of saviour.  I know it serves your agenda to think superficially and then diss the city, but how does that help anyone?? Do you really think that the folks behind this campaign believe that this will turn Cleveland into Paris? C'mon, you're better than that.

 

 

Please refrain from personal attacks.

I agree with 3231; the marketing is going along with other changes. With that said, I sent this Web site over to the people doing the actual marketing. Hopefully they'll check it out and maybe interact.

 

Sometimes its easy to rip on people when they do things you wouldn't do. I'm trying to do this less because it's not fair. That's frustration talking.

ah... "regional branding"... the saviour of the rust belt... we just came up with "P!ttsburgh: Imagine What You Can Do Here!" last year... probably cost a few hundred thousand dollars to come up with that...

 

Change the reality... and the image will take care of itself.  When businesses evaluate NEO as a place with a locational advantage due to cold hard economic cost-benefit analysis... NEO will flourish.  When more good jobs are created than lost... when more people move in than move out... when the brain drain turns into a brain gain... when investment and economic vitality revive the long dormont urban centers... the image will follow.  No amount of "feel good" slogans will save Cleveland. 

 

Pittsbugh has a regional marketing strategy? I haven't heard or seen anything about it. Was the promotion just regional or national/international? If it was regional I would liken that to the aforementioned "Believe in Cleveland" campaign, but this, from what I gather, is more "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" ie the national stage.

 

Anyways I agree with everything 3231 said.

            - Cleveland -

Coastal Living in the Midwest

I think it needs to be two-fold. You need to get people outside the region to move here (and many to move BACK here) but you also need to get the community who is here to realize what they have in front of him.

 

My brother and I took a banker who's job it is to lend money for projects in Ohio City and he was shocked by how great the Market was... we had lunch at the cafe there, and he couldn't believe how cool it was. This guy needs to know about Cleveland, especially in the community he's lending money in.

If you don't like to hear selfish bragging, pay no mind to this post....

 

As part of the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance's rollout of its new marketing campaign for the region, they will take local media up in a plane and do the press conference high above the city. On board the plane will be honchos from the Greater Cleveland Partnership, Team NEO and Greater Cleveland Convention & Visitors Bureau. Yours truly will be among the media to fly with them!

 

This will be too damn cool. I'll bring a camera, of course, and pray for good weather so I can get some good photos from the plane.

 

I'm sure it will be fun, but I doubt the views will be as good as the one I got while aboard Channel 19's helicopter in the mid-1990s. We flew between Key Tower and the BP building, at a height of about the 45th floor. The pilot then hovered about 1,000 feet above the Cuyahoga River, behind Terminal Tower, and then tilted the helicopter forward so you had little choice but to look down. Our photographer stood on the runners, but was tethered to the chopper. He was a nut.

 

But I digress. I'll give a full report this Thursday. BTW, I've written a column for this Thursday's papers about the marketing campaign, and even included a plug for UrbanOhio in it.

^Cool, be sure to get some good pix. As far as the marketing campaign I know its geared more towards people outside the area, but can we expect to see anything in Cleveland or Ohio area media Thursday?

do you know the media markets that will be targetted?  Or can you discuss anything at this point?

KJP, remember to charge the batteries and set the camera on the highest setting you can :-)

Hey, I told the GCMA people about UrbanOhio. I hope they're reading!!

Maybe we should start a GCMA "task list (to do) " thread

^Cool, be sure to get some good pix. As far as the marketing campaign I know its geared more towards people outside the area, but can we expect to see anything in Cleveland or Ohio area media Thursday?

 

As far as I know, most Cleveland-area media was invited.

 

do you know the media markets that will be targetted?  Or can you discuss anything at this point?

 

I'm not bound to withhold anything, which is too bad because I'm going into this pretty green. A PR firm just told me when and where to go to board the plane (at NASA). So I don't know which media markets were targeted. I will keep my eyes/ears open to see if any non-Northeast Ohio media is there, and where they're from.

Thought I'd point this out to you folks - please go to bing.com (aka microsoft's homepage). On it, they have a photo of the Atlanta skyline. When you scroll over the various boxes, they pop up with factoids - well, one claims that Atlanta elected the nation's first African-American mayor in 1971. A simple check on wikipedia shows that Springfield, Ohio was first (1966) - and that Cleveland was the first major US city to have an African-American mayor in 1968.

 

Go to the site, scroll to the bottom and on the  lower right is the feedback button. Sock it 'em, kids!  :whip:

 

http://www.bing.com/

 

Thought I'd point this out to you folks - please go to bing.com (aka microsoft's homepage). On it, they have a photo of the Atlanta skyline. When you scroll over the various boxes, they pop up with factoids - well, one claims that Atlanta elected the nation's first African-American mayor in 1971. A simple check on wikipedia shows that Springfield, Ohio was first (1966) - and that Cleveland was the first major US city to have an African-American mayor in 1968.

 

Go to the site, scroll to the bottom and on the  lower right is the feedback button. Sock it 'em, kids!  :whip:

 

http://www.bing.com/

 

 

Dial 1-800-642-7676[/font]

Nothing says "We can compete with Google" like giving people false information

Sent my email out... that honor belongs to Cleveland and Carl Stokes.

I opted to de-snark my reply, but yeah, I surely sent them some feedback.

OK --- so I'm reading all this stuff from 2006 and 2007 about Cleveland's plans to roll out its new city "branding" strategy.  Everything is ready to go for the big announcement - and then, no additional word until this story about Atlanta claiming to be the first big city to elect a black Mayor - from 2009.  Anyway -- whatever happened with the slogan and branding?  Hate to say it but, here in Indianapolis, I've never heard of any new brand or slogan for Cleveland during the past two years.   

 

Indy just came up with a new slogan that I like.  It is --- "Indianapolis  - Raising the Game".  I think it is great because it reflects all of the big sporting events that the city hosts and also the way it has recently really "upped" its local convention offerings by spending over $2.5 billion in the last three years on: Completely new Airport Terminal $1.1 B; New Lucas Oil Stadium $750 million; 350,000 sq ft. expansion of Convention Center (will be 750,000 sq. ft by end of 2010) $250 million; and 1,620 new hotel rooms at the Marriott Plaza complex connected to the Conv. Center $450 million.    Anyway --- what is Cleveland's new brand and "slogan"? 

This topic has been discussed in many threads before, but never directly in it's own thread.

 

I would like to focus on Cleveland's perception nationally, statewide and locally.  Why is it that Cleveland's perception continues to be negative throughout the national media?  What can be done to change it?  The link below came from another post, but is relevant to this discussion.

 

A couple of points-

 

The article below points to the growing positive perception of Pittsburgh, while reporting negatively towards the perception of Cleveland.  Both are metro areas which have lost population for the last 60 years, lost their main employment sectors to southern and overseas markets, and both have transitioned (for the most part) to an economy which is based on eds and meds.  It can be noted that Cleveland is a leader in the midwest in regards to venture capital and biotech-business start-ups.  In fact, the Cleveland regional economy's largest employer is now health-related, as the 2001 recession finally pushed Cleveland in that direction (for better or worse). 

 

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/oct/11/lessons-las-vegas-can-learn-rust-belt/

 

Lessons Las Vegas can learn from the Rust Belt

 

By J. Patrick Coolican (contact)

 

Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009 | 2 a.m.

 

The images streaming from Las Vegas during the past two years — foreclosed homes, long unemployment lines, unfinished eyesores on the Strip — must be shocking but also achingly familiar to many Americans.

 

For although they’ve come to expect, from media images and their trips here, a dazzling Las Vegas of perpetual change, growth and prosperity, at the same time they know all too well the signs of economic decline.

 

 

 

Regionalization is the only solution that I see having any significant impact in the near future.  As long as local and national commentators are able to base their perception on the raw numbers/data associated with Cleveland proper, the image will not change. 

 

It's our own fault for creating a MSA that is five or six times the size of the actually city.

 

I wonder how the numbers in that article would change if just the inner-ring suburbs of East Cleveland, Cleveland Hts, Shaker Hts, Garfield Hts, Parma, Brooklyn Hts, Old Brooklyn, Fairview Park and Lakewood were included.  My guess is that only EC would have lower per capita, housing value, etc.  The inclusion of the rest would bring the data up and would make Cleveland comparable to other major cities in land size.

 

EDIT:  I forgot about the Village within our City - the very well-to-do Bratenahl.

Pittsburgh's central municipality doesn't cover many of it's poorest areas.  Many of Greater Pittsburgh's worst slums are suburbs. It's as if Hough, Glenville, and Slavic Village were suburbs, and Cleveland Heights, Shaker, and Lakewood were included in the central city numbers.

^ Exactly...My wife took me through Rankin, Homestead, Wilkinsburg and Duquesne last summer, and I was shocked. It looked awful; however, these are independent municipalities that lie just outside of Pittsburgh.

What the heck does this statement mean... "Cleveland, for instance, has been trying for three years to create a “Medical Mart,” a convention center and hotel complex that would host specialty medical trade shows, the foundation of which would be the famed Cleveland Clinic. According to Welki, however, the idea has stalled because of bureaucratic infighting and inertia."  That last statement seems to be blatanly false currently.

 

This article just seems to be a slash article on Clevleand, Detroit etc...  I think sometimes articles like this are written because they're easy and the readers agree, as it validates there choice to have left one of these cities.  This article brings up a lot of issues that Cleveland is at the forefront of dealing with; i.e housing the less fortunate, the foreclosure epidemic, pollution of our waterways, but instead of showing what is being done here in a positive light they just focus on the negative.  Every point in the article has a counterpoint and unfortunately until this city starts touting the counterpoints change will not happen. 

 

The funny thing though, as I read some of the comments afterwards it made me feel like I was reading the PD.  Jeez the people that post on these sites are all the same.

^ "as it validates there choice to have left one of these cities." 

 

I have agreed with this statement all along... and feel that they do this because it is a good formula to sell papers to the overly paranoid who have not been downtown in 25 years.