| During the past six months, the Wis. Dept. of Tourism has seen a change in its top two positions. First, Kelli Trumble was appointed secretary by Governor James Doyle in February, and then Mark Richardson was appointed deputy secretary in June. This change comes at a time when the State of Wisconsin's tourism promotion is approaching a crossroads. Tourism is the third largest industry in Wisconsin behind agriculture and timber. The tourism industry is also very competitive right now. Turn on the television almost any night and you'll see advertisements for any of the dozen or so states that want to compete for Wisconsin's advertising dollar. The competition is getting fierce. Tourism is doing well and that is oftentimes the time to start making plans. "Tourism is one of the big drivers for Wisconsin's economy," Richardson said during an interview with The Capital City Hues in his office on W. Washington Ave. "It's a great position to be in because obviously we are in demand, but we want to make sure we stay in demand and make sure others know what we have to offer. We have to be able to say 'All right, tourism is up and it's up for a reason. We are doing things right. But we want to make sure that we don't get comfortable and get complacent.'" Tourism is poised to embark on a strategic planning process that will develop a roadmap for tourism's marketing efforts over the next 3-5 years. It will bring together professionals and stakeholders from around the state to help Tourism "brand" Wisconsin. "Our hope in this department for the next three years or so -- hopefully Governor Doyle runs again and is reelected -- is to change how we market the state," Richardson said. "We want to keep doing the things that have been working, but also look at building a strong universal brand for Wisconsin. The north woods is different than Milwaukee is different than Prairie du Chien, is different than the Chippewa Valley. Each part of the state has different assets. Without a single, agreed upon strong brand, it's hard to market the state itself without talking about specifics." Richardson is well equipped to help lead this effort. He has a degree in English, Humanities & Marketing from Augustana University, worked nine years at Charter Communications, including a stint as its director of sales and marketing and was most recently director of membership and marketing for the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce where his team brought in 500 new members and increased new member revenue by 35 percent. Branding Wisconsin, which has a diverse array of attractions and things to do in its tourism arsenal, will be no easy feat. "We're putting together professionals from all over the state in different industries to give us a highlight of what it means to be in their region," Richardson said. "Then we will distill that and come up with a brand -- at least an overarching brand -- for Wisconsin, underneath which all the regions can sell themselves. It's going to be interesting. It's going to be a very cool exercise to see what it is we end up with. The prime challenge is to take all the different things and be able to boil it down and say 'This is what we are about.' But really to compete against Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois for the travel dollar, we really need to be able to communicate what it means to come to Wisconsin in a very succinct, quick delivery with some takeaways and lure people to our site for further information. If a commercial and a brand makes you go to www.travelwisconsin.com, you can find out where you want to go and what you want to do whether it's mountain biking or visiting wineries. Did it capture your attention and did it get you to want to look further? That's our goal in the short-term. And then that roadmap we build will guide us for the next few years." Lest people become concerned that the new Wisconsin look will be radically different from the past, Richardson wanted to reassure people that it is not abandoning the past. "We have the traveler as a customer," Richardson said. "But the industry is a customer as well, people who have the bed and breakfasts and the water parks and snowmobile areas. We wouldn't want to walk away from those things." One of the biggest concerns that Tourism has is Wisconsin's fickled weather of late. While northern Wisconsin is known across the country as a wonderful winter getaway, this intense and solitary branding can be detrimental when little snow stays on the ground as it has in recent winters past. Tourism wants people to keep on coming regardless of the amount of snow. "People know Wisconsin for those things," Richardson said about snowmobiling and other winter sports. "But there is also the unexpected. Those are the things that we have to find a way to highlight. We have a burgeoning wine industry. Culinary tours are starting to happen. Milwaukee is undergoing a renaissance of sorts. There are a lot of unexpecteds here as well as what you would expect. How do you promote those unexpecteds without walking away from what people expect to get when they come here? There might be a lot of other reasons to go when there is no snow, but the question is did we tell people about them. Did we make sure people knew about the unexpected things so that people would go regardless of the weather? So there isn't a lot of snow, but there are bed and breakfasts nearby. There is a winery or a brewery you could tour. There are other reasons to go wherever you are going to go." Richardson sees multicultural tourism has an important part of this new marketing endeavor. "It will play a greater role going forward," Richardson said about multicultural tourism. "The market itself is diversifying. We have to realize that while the pursuits and the activities might be different amongst different niche markets, they might be the same too. Well, Latinos golf. African Americans golf. Asians golf. So it's not necessarily the majority population that does a lot of these things. But how you reach those markets needs to be different. And the message sometimes needs to be different. Sometimes it needs to be the same and you just need to get it in front of that multicultural audience. But sometimes the message can be and should be different." "We really need to make sure we look at emerging markets," Richardson continued. "One of the markets that is emerging -- I know it isn't autonomous -- is collectively the multicultural market. African Americans, for example, in Milwaukee and throughout the state, spend some of their biggest dollars on family reunions. There's the same strong family component in the Latino market. Are we attracting and are we out in front of those populations and do they know all of the different things that are available to go and see? Do they know about the bus tours that we have with Circle Wisconsin and all of the gaming throughout the state? There are different activities and recreation within the African American and Latino communities that might not be as strong within the overall general population. You might find gaming to be higher among African Americans and you might find less hunting and fishing as an example. We are starting to look closely at what drives not just THE market, but those niche markets too." Richardson recognizes the hazards that promoting multicultural tourism faces. "You want to take your message to that market, but you shouldn't dictate or assume that you know what people will want to do or go and see," Richardson said. "But you need to provide that information and you need to recognize the market. To say a market segment is there is hopefully not to limit what is available to that market." So in the future, look for the new Tourism branding to be inclusive of all of the markets in Wisconsin. "Just keep an eye on what you see out of the Department of Tourism and see the brand grow," Richardson advised. And Wisconsin will remain competitive for Wisconsin's -- and the region's -- tourism dollar. |
| An interview with Deputy Secretary Mark Richardson Branding Wisconsin By Jonathan Gramling |
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