RobPollard1
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"Using the Pure Michigan brand for business marketing is not new. Over the past two years, we have expanded the Pure Michigan brand beyond tourism to market the entire state."
Oh really?
Then why does the Pure Michigan website call itself "Michigan's Official Travel and Tourism Site"? Did they not get the memo that "Economic Development" should be included as well? Same with the Twitter, Facebook, and Google accounts - all of them focus (in terms of imagery, posts, site design) on travel/leisure. You'd have to scrape hard to find anything about "freedom-to-work."
It's depressing when the head of an Economic Development group fails Marketing 101 - keep your brand messaging clear. You've muddied "Pure Michigan" with the inclusion of polarizing rhetoric. Talk about counter-productive.
"Using the Pure Michigan brand for business marketing is not new. Over the past two years, we have expanded the Pure Michigan brand beyond tourism to market the entire state."
Oh really? Where?.
1) A Google Search for "Pure Michigan" has the link to the http://www.michigan.org/ site is abbreviated as:
"Pure Michigan: Michigan's official guide to attractions, events, and destinations."
2) when you go to the site itself, there are pictures of snow, scenery, museums, shows. The headings at the top are "Play", "Stay", "Plan", "Shop", "Blog", "Map"
3) The Twitter account again has snow/scenery imagery. Its posts are about ice fishing and New Year's events.
4) The Facebook account has more snow/scenery with this one tag line at the top: "Travel/Leisure
Welcome to Pure Michigan, where every day is a snow day. Your trip begins at www.michigan.org. See Michigan's winter Hot Spots at www.michigan.org/hot-spots."
Do you see ANYTHING about corporate/economic development in any of that? Travel/leisure is how Pure Michigan is not only defined in the mind of the public at large across the US, but how you define it YOURSELVES. Until this ad in America's largest paper, it did not also include so-called "Freedom-to-Work" or a "streamlined regulatory environment."
Marketing messages work best when they are clear. Or to put it another way - "pure". MEDC has hopelessly muddied the waters with this attempted free-riding on the successful (at least, formerly successful) "Pure Michigan" travel/leisure campaign. Get your own campaign.
With business leaders making decisions like this and failing Marketing 101, who knows why it would entice a company to come here.