Get Midwest...made me a believer....almost

Okay. First I hated it. Then I forgot about it. Then yesterday I heard a 30 minute presentation on the brand "Get Midwest." I saw collateral material. I heard about the research and the logic and all the people (locally and the test market) who believed in the message because it related to the values that the brand seeks to evoke. It was about the values and not the location, but even the image shows a shadow of the country with Ohio and Dayton highlighted (just in case). I actually bought into it.

Then the bubble deflated. I learned that the underlying motivation for the brand was the fact that the Ohio Department of Development was providing funding for ALL the regions of Ohio to come up with a brand. Columbus has one. Cleveland has one. Toledo has one. And the list goes on. Check them out. They're pretty direct. Nothing has to be figured out. They all have the core city's name and not something nebulous with the city plugged in as an afterthought.

Launched yesterday was the Get Midwest website. I was looking forward to getting back to my office to check it out. Imagine my disappointment when I got back and found out that it's not 100% functioning and that the content is merely reflective of the Dayton Development Coalition. It might as well be their company website with the Regional Overview as a mere afterthought. Why can't the website reflect the regional overview and the Coalition have it's own company website?

The other sites mentioned above all have one thing in common. They speak to the consumer - people who might relocate to the area. They are abundently filled with information on housing, amenities, employment information, entertainment and more. The Get Midwest site reads like an annual report. I understand that the Coalition is focusing on industry clusters. It seems to me, however, that they're forgetting they're also reaching out to people. People have needs and desires and often need pursuaded to make choices. Interestingly, we might Think of Everything. But Columbus says they're the Best of Everything. How did that one slip by? I also saw a video/cd-rom titled The Dayton Region: Work. Play. Discover.Dream. It's excellent and should be the focus of the content on the Get Midwest website. A link for the video is on the site but it doesn't work. I checked out the Columbus site this morning and was surprised and disappointed at the same time. Guess what... Not only do they say they have the Best of Everying but their brand is liveworkplaycolumbus! Sounds awfully familiar! Who copied from whom?

To top it off, there's more to come. The Creative Class people have their own marketing going. Additionally, the City of Dayton is supposed to unveil its brand initiative in the next couple weeks. I'm not sure whether to hold my breath or throw in the towel. Who speaks for us and exactly how many messages are we going to have?

Comments

[Matt]

I've just been tinkering around other local sites. Why can't all the promoters of Dayton just collaborate on a website. There are some really good sites (like the Downtown Dayton Partnership's new site) and there are sites with good content but horrible design (like the Dayton Convention and Visitors Bureau). I'd love to see a site that brings the best of all of them together!

[T Gasper]

Please don't confuse the Creative Class Initiative "This is Dayton" as being a branding campaign. The important part is not "This is Dayton" but rather the visual images and facts about various points of pride. We're not trying to establish a brand, we're trying to foster a stronger self esteem.

Personally, and I'm speaking as one member of the intiative, not for the entire group - I'd like to see us incorporate the Get Midwest brand to portray our message. I still believe "united we stand, divided we fall".

It's hard to explain - we're not trying to establish the identity for the region, just trying to remind region/Daytonians of all the reasons we should be proud to say we live in Dayton.

Clear as mud???

[Matt]

Theresa,
Thanks for the making the distinction. I appreciate you taking the time to say something. There are obviously alot of people who are proud of Dayton and are doing good things to communicate the message. I also believe in the "united we stand, divided we fall" motto. I realize the messages serve different purposes but some kind of tie-in might be nice. My big thing is wanting to do whatever we can to get the average citizen on board with being knowledgable and proud of Dayton and the greater Dayton area.