Tourism Consultant IV - Cross the Capitol off the list!

As reported by the Independent Record, marketing consultant Roger Brooks of Olympia, Washington's "Destination Development" held another public meeting in Helena on May 10, 2007 to discuss his ideas for "branding" the city, which he claims would help draw in more tourist dollars.

The Independent Record previously reported that Brooks has so far been paid $75,000 by the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce, the newly-reconstituted Helena Improvement Society, and the Downtown Helena Business Improvement District, which is spearhead by Jim McHugh.

At a January 2007 public meeting, Brooks rubbed some Helenans the wrong way by suggesting that the time-honored moniker "Last Chance Gulch" be dropped from promotional material (see this blog's April 3 2007 entry). Reports are that he was confronted at least once during his previous visit by an offended Helena citizen.

Brooks' latest meeting capped another of his clandestine community assessments, where he mingles anonymously with locals for a few days, trying to get - in the words of Jim McHugh - "an outside perspective".

Here are some angles of Brook's latest "perspective", as quoted by the IR's John Harrington:

• Cross the Capitol Building off the list of Helena attractions: "It’s a very small niche of people that travel around the country looking at Capitol buildings..."

• Forget Helena's historic downtown as an attraction: "Have you ever gone anywhere because it has a historic downtown?"

• Helena has poor signs: "Of all the cities I have worked in, you need a better wayfinding system," he said. "If people are frustrated about trying to find you, they’re going to say one word - ‘Next!’ - and they’re gone." Is Helena not on the road maps? Does Brooks not know about GoogleEarth? It must be noted that Brooks' Destination Development is heavily into the design of signage.

In the end, Brooks seemed to once again offer nothing in the way of specifics, but he says he does want to hear from you: "For the next 30 days, we want to hear from the people of Helena. What do you think we should hang our hat on? What do you think we should address? What do you think your brand should be?" You can email Mr. Brooks here.

Which, if any, of Mr. Brooks' proposals might be funded by taxpayer dollars is as yet unknown, but the old saying "Follow the money" certainly applies.

In a curious aside, The Independent Record's original online headline for the latest Brooks story read: "Consultant has strong views on city's brand", but it was changed around 8:00am on the day of publication to the bland "Consultant to help city create brand", placing it squarely in "old news" land. When asked via email about this odd change, the IR's on-line news editor Martin Kidston replied that the headline change was "...more of an aesthetic change due to space usage than an editorial change." Oddly enough, the original headline appeared just fine in Internet Explorer.