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Client: Beaumont, Texas
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Marketers reveal slogan meant to sell Beaumont: 'Rich with Opportunity'
BY Dan Wallach, The Enterprise
North Star Destination Strategies introduced its 'Rich with Opportunity' ad campaign to Beaumont officials on Tuesday.
Beaumont today embarks on a new marketing approach dubbed "Rich with Opportunity" as city leaders begin to assemble a workable campaign.
After a year of research, interviews and surveys, the city of Beaumont's marketing consultant, North Star Destination Strategies of Nashville, delivered its finished product to City Council Tuesday.
The marketing campaign, called "branding," seeks to define the city, its people, culture and economic potential.
Steve Chandler, president of North Star, presented the campaign before the council meeting to members of Southeast Texas media.
Chandler said the research, reduced to its essence, showed Beaumont people comprise "a very proud community" that is rich in assets such as the petrochemical industry, which makes a fifth of the nation's jet fuel; Lamar University; the arts; and natural resources like water.
North Star interviewed individuals, focus groups and community leaders, and conducted online surveys that resulted in one of its largest-ever samples during its year of research into what makes Beaumont tick.
Despite the assets, there is a feeling of inferiority, stemming in part from the city and area's industrial nature, Chandler said.
Chandler called it the "Rodney Dangerfield effect," after the comedian who famously deadpanned, "I don't get no respect."
Of the petrochemical industry, he said, "It's not going anywhere. In fact, it's getting bigger."
Chandler mentioned a variety of other possible options on the "Rich with..." theme, including categories like music, culture, spirit, heritage and families, for example.
Carl Browning, general manager of Golden Triangle Power Sports on College Street, is a relative newcomer to Beaumont.
He arrived just a year ago from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where he'd lived for 20 years.
He said he'd been aware of Beaumont, having visited an aunt who attended Lamar University more than 30 years ago.
Browning said he wasn't familiar with the "Golden Triangle" nickname that first appeared in 1940s or '50s, so it didn't mean much to him.
He said he liked the sound of "Rich with Opportunity."
"It's got a nice ring to it," Browning said. "Our area economy has opportunities. We're showing some growth."
Browning, a Wichita Falls native, said he likes Beaumont "a lot."
Jim Rich, Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce president, will meet today with Dean Conwell, Beaumont Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director, and City Manager Kyle Hayes to begin making the campaign's transition from North Star's theory to reality.
"We really felt strongly that you can't brand a city without the city driving it," Rich said. "We wanted it to be something they can embrace. The theme is forward-looking and positive. It's hard to nail us, and they nailed us."
Chandler said the campaign is unique to Beaumont and that no other city has the same phrase working for it, so far as he knows.
Chandler said Beaumont ought to think of itself as a place where "rich natural resources are transformed into something greater."
"No one makes a decision based on a logo," Chandler said. "This project is understanding the right thing. We're going to take control of marketing our opportunity."
