The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Let’s just move on”
Hopes are riding high with the USA Pro Cycling Challenge coming to the upper valley August 21, but frustration in other elements of the valley’s marketing have been building among the members of the Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte town councils.
At the joint meeting of the two councils held on Thursday, June 7, time was set aside to discuss the governance of the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association (TA). However, governance took a backseat to a broader discussion of the frayed relationship between the TA and the communities it represents.
Crested Butte Mayor Aaron Huckstep mentioned a meeting he’d attended with local mayors and managers during which the discussion focused on the three biggest priorities related to economic development. “I think everybody there at the table mentioned at one point or another a vision for the valley and marketing that vision.”
Crested Butte Councilman Shaun Matusewicz, who is a town representative to the TA board of directors, said he had some concerns about the marketing being employed by the organization charged with promoting the entire valley.
“The marketing still seems to be a bit of an issue. The stick figures are still out there, although I think they’re coming offline. Is that correct?” Matusewicz asked.
TA public relations director Beth Buehler said, “They’re not necessarily coming offline, but the campaign is designed to run for three to five years and then it will be reviewed.”
“Okay,” Matusewicz said. “So there’s potential that the stick figures may continue on into the future … Another piece of the marketing is that it’s a little loose from my perspective.” Matusewicz referenced an email blast that had gone out recently from the TA with a plug for the area’s mountain biking alongside a picture of road bikers.
“My last remaining concern with the TA is that so much time and energy goes into justifying the TA,” Matusewicz said. “Unfortunately that’s an ongoing position. The job of the TA is to market. But so much time and energy goes into justifying the organization that it detracts from the main mission of the TA.”
The stick figures Matusewicz referred to, however, have been on the minds of a lot of valley locals as the search continues for some explanation of what seems like persistently slow tourist seasons. But TA executive director Jane Chaney defended the stick figures, saying they were one of three options presented by a reputable marketing firm.
Mt. Crested Butte Mayor William Buck said the published agenda included a discussion of the TA governance. “I do think governance is an issue. I’ve expressed my concern that non-electeds are basically managing the way public funds are handled … I don’t know if the representation is completely reasonable for what the board structure is like.”
As a solution, Buck’s hope is the elected officials who already sit on the TA board of directors might gain a vote, as they’re currently non-voting members.
Matusewicz added that the town of Crested Butte has had that discussion and “That’s our feeling as well.”
But Buck admitted most of the discussions that have taken place among the members of the Mt. Crested Butte Town Council have also focused on concerns with the TA’s marketing.
“Our concern in Mt. Crested Butte is that there are other more effective marketing tools out there that need to be explored,” Buck said.
Huckstep returned to the discussion about the importance of a cohesive vision for the valley. “That resonates with me as being an important issue, in terms of it being an important issue to all of us.”
From his viewpoint, Huckstep said, there are a lot of messages about the Gunnison Valley being pushed out to potential visitors—from the TA, two chambers of commerce, the ski area, Western State, the towns and a host of others.
“These are all the messages that are being sent out, which doesn’t necessarily help us compete on a scale with other destination areas,” he said.
TA executive director Jane Chaney defended the image that has been created in the market for the Gunnison Valley, reminding the councils of a $200,000 allocation the Board of County Commissioners made in 2003 to have a branding study done by a Georgia firm with a list of well-known corporate clients.
“What this branding study did for the valley was to create the brand for us using a lot of data,” Chaney said. “That’s the information we use to draw out our marketing messages. So when we create the ads or whatever we’re doing, we use that data as a basis for how to market Gunnison and Crested Butte with ‘Colorado, Pure and Simple.’”
Huckstep said, “What I’ve been hearing from constituents and fellow members of the council is that there is some serious concern about the imagery that’s being used, and not necessarily the pictures. I’m just curious if you feel confident that that 2003 information still is relevant today and is it being deployed in the marketplace in an appropriate way.”
“Brands really don’t change that much,” Chaney said, adding the information could be “refreshed” for close to $30,000 or $40,000. “Brands are what build equity in that product or service.”
Matusewicz said, “Going back to branding, I think Jane hit it right on the head. Local support, local buy-in is key for any campaign. I think what we’re hearing is that there isn’t a lot of local buy-in for the current campaign.”
Buehler, who isn’t responsible for any of the advertising, responded, “It only seems to have been indicated that there had been no thought or strategy behind this campaign. Maybe it’s time for a different approach, and we should look at that. But it wasn’t like throwing at a dart board blindly … Let’s get on the same page and work together and come up with some images … Let’s just move on, instead of criticizing, and figure out what is the next step for this campaign.”
With an understanding that the current marketing campaign would be reviewed in the future, the councils agreed to move on.
Oh, and governance, which was why the councils brought the TA to the meeting. The councils will each get a report on the TA’s governance at a meeting in July.
