Image quest

Consultants define, create brands to reflect unique assets
Think like a tourist. What does St. Petersburg/Clearwater bring to mind? What do the names Tampa and Tampa Bay conjure?

Now think like a business owner or a resident, and ask yourself the same two questions.

Because image is so important to the economy, those questions are being asked by tourism officials in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties in separate studies.

After adopting Florida's Beach as a brand, Pinellas continued with strategic planning to find out what needs to be done to keep the county's No. 1 industry healthy.

A study commissioned by Hillsborough tourism officials recently found some perceptions about the Tampa Bay area image that resulted in recommendations about changing marketing strategies, as well as branding.

"One of the main things we were looking at from this study is the current perception or image of Tampa vs. Tampa Bay," explained Vicki Isley, vice president of marketing for the Tampa/Hillsborough Convention and Visitors Association.

"We knew it was critical for the future of tourism and the future of the community," Isley said. "There seems to be a lot of consideration given to the public and private investment in infrastructure, and the importance of getting that message out."

Some branding questions have arisen because of changes in the Tampa market, including the up and coming Centro Ybor project in Ybor City, hospitality, entertainment and retail projects in the Channelside District adjacent to the Port of Tampa, and entertainment/retail developing in International Plaza next to Tampa International Airport.

Some of those projects had public support and required public infrastructure improvements.

Similar changes have taken place in Pinellas County with the addition of museums, attractions and other services in downtown St. Petersburg, as well as in Tarpon Springs, Pinellas Park and Largo.

"All of these things have changed the county's inventory from the tourism perspective over the last few years," explained Carole Ketterhagen, executive director of the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Based on visitors' perceptions, combined with Pinellas's 35 miles of beaches, the bureau has adopted "St. Petersburg Clearwater, Florida's Beach" as its new brand. The bureau's previous marketing brand focused on position with "St. Petersburg Clearwater On Florida's Gulf of Mexico" as the brand.

New branding was the first step toward revitalizing Pinellas's image. Now the bureau has completed a destination audit and is forging ahead with a destination visioning program to produce long-term, strategic planning to sustain and improve tourism.

"The first step was to get the big picture of the county and the products, attractions, accommodations, services and infrastructure issues from the visitor's perspective," Ketterhagen said.

"Now that we have the findings and conclusions of the audit, we're bringing together individuals throughout the county in a series of visioning sessions to get feedback from the community as to where they see the future of this destination, as it relates to tourism."

The study by Indianapolis-based Destination Consultancy Group found that Pinellas has five distinct tourism zones at various levels of tourism development and potential. The zones are Clearwater/Clearwater Beach, Gulf Beaches, St. Petersburg and area, Old Tampa Bay and Tarpon Springs.

Consultants advised officials of county government and the governments of Pinellas's 24 municipalities, along with tourism entities, there is great need to combine efforts to develop eco-tourism, cultural, sports, event, health and convention tourism, in conjunction with the beaches and future transportation needs.

The study found that Pinellas's destination image is based on two unique product appeals -- beaches and its relaxed and diverse culture.

Toronto-based Longwoods International, commissioned by the Tampa/Hillsborough Convention and Visitors Association, concluded that Tampa is a national destination with three-quarters of overnight trips coming from outside the region, not an equal national-regional split as previously thought.

In addition to rethinking Tampa's national campaign, Longwoods found that the name Tampa has a more positive image than Tampa Bay.

That resulted in consultants' recommendation that the association change its name to Tampa Convention & Visitors Bureau, to eliminate the unrecognized reference to Hillsborough, and change the organization to a bureau, which is standard across the country, as opposed to association.

Consultants also recommended "Visit Tampa" as the public brand and to concentrate on market position with collateral ideas such as Tampa along the Gulf beaches, a waterfront resort and the capital city of Florida's Gulf Coast.

"We believe this is the first step in looking at where to go based on what consumers or potential customers think of you," Isley said. "That includes residents who feel passionately about where they live and work. We need to work with them, as well as political and business leaders."

Over the spring and summer, the bureau and consultants will discuss image with different groups. Then a marketing strategy supported by all will be developed for implementation this fall.

Pinellas's strategic planning process goes through early September. Ketterhagen hopes it will result in a common vision among 25 different governments within the county.

"I think it is extremely important to have all of the communities working with us together because, if there is a strong foundation and a strong community partnership, we can certainly achieve so much more together," Ketterhagen said.

"I think we will have a focused vision for sustainable tourism and sustainable communities."