Client: Columbus, Georgia

City's Past to Market Future: Marketing Firm Comes up with Slogan to be Used to Promote Columbus

BY Chuck Williams - Staff Writer

Looking for a catchy slogan that will sell, the city of Columbus has turned to its past and present.
Columbus, Ga., What progress has preserved.

The city hopes to turn those six words into a unified marketing plan that will appeal to potential tourists, businesses and students.

"I believe it is something that will make an impact in the marketplace," said Don McEachern, president of North Star Destination Strategies, the Nashville, Tenn., marketing firm that developed the slogan. "It affords enough connectivity to the different groups -- historic, arts and entertainment, tourism, economic development and the colleges. It works on all fronts."

North Star took more than a year to research and create the slogan and four logos for the city, the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce and the Columbus Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The new marketing plan was presented to about 75 city leaders Monday afternoon. The reaction was positive:

"This is not only a brand we can live with, it is a brand that I can see this community prosper with," said Columbus State University president Frank Brown. "It is a really a pretty profound statement. We got here because we preserved the right things and improved others."
"Preservation is a tool for economic and community development," said Historic Columbus Foundation executive director Virginia Peebles.
"It is one message for one Columbus," said community volunteer Nancy Buntin.
"This is a step in separating our Columbus from the 19 other Columbuses," said Chamber of Commerce chairman Jack Key.

McEachern and his associates spent a lot of time in Columbus trying to unearth a message the city could use. They interviewed hundreds of people inside and outside the city, and asked questions ranging from "If the city were a candy bar, what kind of candy bar would it be?" to, "If the city were a person, who would it be?"
During that research, a number of people responded that if the city were a person, it would be NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., using the reasoning that the city was young, aggressive, with a strong heritage and a lot of unfulfilled promise.

In the end, the research pointed to the city's preservation as a marketable tool.

"The preservation of the buildings is evident," McEachern said. "But we heard people talk about the ease of doing business here. Part of what progress has been preserved is that ease of doing business."

Now, the question is: How much money will the city and various agencies spend to market Columbus?

"I don't think anybody can tell you that," said Chamber of Commerce president Mike Gaymon.

The Convention & Visitors Bureau has an $80,000 annual advertising budget. A lot of that money will be used to get the message out, said executive director Peter Bowden. The Convention & Visitors Bureau's Web site is expected to undergo a $25,000 makeover this summer. The new slogan and logo will be a prominent part of that effort.

The chamber will use the logo and slogan in its economic development efforts.

But, perhaps, it was Laura Lowe, who works in marketing for the RiverCenter for Performing Arts, who best summed up the new slogan. Lowe, who has lived in Columbus for 35 years, said, "When I saw the brand, I said, 'That's why I decided to live here. That's why I decided to stay here.' "


Copyright 2005 North Star Destination Strategies