MarilynJane’s reaction:
Positively Not Necessary…
Positively Not Original…
Positively A Waste of Money…
Positively a Laughing Stock…
Positively Who in the Hell’s Opinion Did You Ask About This…
Marketing genius:
The Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland (CVB) announced today that it is changing its marketing moniker and adopting a more energetic icon-based logo. Positively Cleveland is designed to fit in with the region’s Cleveland Plus branding initiative, while shortening the organization’s name and expressing more of the city’s vitality and spirit…
From Bob:
The last mile reference in the title of this post refers to my belief that the traditional marketing of the Northeast Ohio region has been conducted from afar and has not been designed to be overly helpful to one individual. With all compliments to the efforts that are currently underway, as broad-based marketing/branding is always helpful, those efforts will not make a college student scream “I need to be in Cleveland!” The message needs to be taken right to the student and customized based on their wants and needs…
You all are witness to the launch:
The time to begin this campaign is now and we have all the resources necessary to accomplish great things. Northeast is home to resources that other regions would die for and these need to be marketed to the right people at the right time using the right methods. My team and I will be taking this message across the State of Ohio (and throughout the midwest in the near future) to college campuses to begin to change the perception and mindset that Northeast Ohio is not the place for a recent college graduate. I will be sharing my experience in this blog with the hope that real experiences that involve real people will open the collective eyes of this region to the true assets that we have to market and why people move here… the reasons may surprise some people.
Recruiting to Cleveland: The Campaign to Grow Cleveland Begins…One Person at a Time!
Monday through yesterday I attended a great Conference at the Renaissance Hotel on Public Square with 200 professional real estate investors from all over the country. I was attending because next week I start working with a fast growing local technology company called realeflow and they were one of the organizers (i.e. their web-based on-demand software is a comprehensive business management system for the attendees allowing them to simultaneously manage 100’s of transactions at a time, and everything in between).
Tuesday it occurred to me that no one from the CVB, etc. had officially welcomed the delegates to Cleveland. What a great opportunity and a nobrainer to speak well for the city. Tuesday night I was lucky enough to connect with the Tech Czar, Michael DeAloia, in the evening and mentioned this to him. Unexpectedly he offered to come over on Wednesday to welcome the delegates. He did just that to kick off the afternoon session after I introduced him, apologizing for all the construction (but leverage this as evidence of all the exciting development going on downtown) and invited everyone back again.
Everyone was excited and impressed by this welcome from a City Official who cared enough to call them out. I’d like to publicly thank the Tech Czar for doing this. He’s truly a class act and one of the best ambassadors I know for Cleveland. Now you could argue that no one from our group made it known we were in town. On the other hand, how difficult is it to check with event sales at all the downtown hotels and send an official over from any of our handful of official organizations to welcome those who are spending good money to fly in and come downtown for a conference?
It’s really the little things that count…
