<p> VISIT Milwaukee Marketing Committee Meeting October 29, 2010 10-2 PM Present: Jack Allison, Hyatt Regency Hotel; Jennifer Bartolotta, Bartolotta Restaurant Group; Dave Fantle, VISIT Milwaukee; Brent Foerster, VISIT Milwaukee; Trace Goudreau, WCD; Sarah Guettel, Noise; Heidi Lofy, Marcus Center for the Performing Arts; Rachel Oliver, VISIT Milwaukee; Mary Parodo, Noise; Vicki Scharfberg, Milwaukee Art Museum; Jeannine Sherman, VISIT Milwaukee, Ann Smiley, Potawatomi Bingo Casino; Paul Upchurch, VISIT Milwaukee; Stacey Watson, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Nancy Ziolkowski, Potawatomi Bingo Casino.</p><p>Introductions were made.</p><p>Brent presented the agenda and introduced Bil Geist, ZeitGeist Consulting, Inc. who lead the discussion on brand messaging. </p><p>Brent stated the goal of the meeting is to collectively determine the key words describing the emotional connection to Milwaukee. VISIT Milwaukee staff will then proceed with using these key words for the development of the brand message.</p><p>Branding research was recapped. VISIT Milwaukee surveyed three groups; leisure market, convention market and the group tour market. The Watkins Report and several intercept surveys that were conducted during the summer months were also tabulated. In the future there will be research done on visitors who have never visited Milwaukee. The findings of the research are as follows: Leisure Market:  Top responses: Beer, waterfront, festivals, big city/small town feel.  Perception has remained unchanged over the last 5-10 years.  Key messages they respond to include: great food, new and unique attractions, value/affordability, packages and tourist friendly.  Must keep locals invested in what Milwaukee has to offer since so many visitors are here to see family and friends. Convention Market:  Top Responses: Unique entertainment, location, value and Lake Michigan.  Perception has remained unchanged over the last 5-10 years.  Key messages they respond to include: Attractions, accessibility/walk Group Tour Market:  Top Responses: Attractions/Entertainment, Brewers, Beer, Lake Michigan, Restaurants.  Perception has remained unchanged over the last 5-10 years.  Key messages they respond to include: Unique attractions, value, pre-arranged itineraries, group and senior friendly. Implications:  Perception of Milwaukee is overall positive.  A key message should be value which is a motivator.  Consumer travels to the area more than 4 times per year so the message needs to be updated to the repeat visitors.  Locals need to be ambassadors for Milwaukee because a high percentage of leisure travelers visit family and friends.  Perceptions of Milwaukee improve when decision makers utilize FAM trips and we use testimonial advertising.</p><p>Branding Archetypes:  Humans have a collective unconscious in which “live” the archetypal characters. The characters symbolize our core human beliefs and desires and are patterns that are universally recognized and evoke strong emotions in us.  Product branding is most successful when the identity chosen reflects both the company brand and the brand preferences of the product’s customers. Archetypal branding is a fast-growing approach that has produced successful product launches.</p><p>Milwaukee’s Archetypes:  Primary: Explorer o Self-directed, innovative, individualized, adventurous and exciting. o Core desire: Find out who you are through exploring the world. o Goal: To experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life. o Strategy: Journey, seeking out and experiencing new things, escape from boredom. o Talent: Autonomy, ambition, being true to one’s soul. o Good identity for brands that help people feel free and nonconformist, are rugged and sturdy, help people express their individuality and have a culture that creates new and exciting products or experiences.</p><p> Secondary: The Regular Guy/Gal o Not pretentious, reliable, practical, sense of belonging o Core desire: Connecting with others. o Goal: To belong. o Strategy: Develop ordinary solid virtues, be down to earth and the common touch. o Talent: Realism, empathy and lack of pretense. o Good identity for brands that give people a sense of belonging, have an everyday functionality, low- moderate prices, produced by a solid company with a down-home organizational culture and needs to be differentiated in a positive way from more elitist or higher-priced brands.</p><p> These two archetypes had the most overall appeal to the sub-committee. Branding Exercise: Where We’ve Been:  Great Place on a Great Lake  Genuine American  At the Intersection…</p><p>But…Those Aren’t Brands A Brand is an executive summary. A Brand is how we feel. It is far from logical. To be effective it must resonate with consumers and residents.</p><p>The exercise continued with a series of questions to arrive at “Mining the Next Milwaukee Brand Iteration.” Below are the results.</p><p>What Do You See? Fresh Water Assets-Lakefront, rivers New/Old Architecture Neighborhoods – Close together Church Steeples Local independent businesses Great Entertainment Arts & Culture Varied Architecture Unique, authentic See the fun Hometown Feel Regular guy feeling City of “Mini Cities” Green Space, Parks Diversity Lack of congestion Music Lovers Destination Authentic Spirit History Affordable Endless Options Motorcycles Casual Attire Clean What Do You Do? Restaurants – non-chain Sporting Events Cultural Activity Urban Outdoor enthusiasts Festivals Lake-accessible Marinas Gamble Tailgating Socialize Connecting/Socializing Friendly Enjoy Parks Golf Walk Shop Culture-Museums, art Ride Film Venues Drink Fly Kites Eat Party Performing Arts</p><p>How Do You Feel? Safe Comfortable Free-ties into State WI research Welcoming Joyful Loyal Connected Unintimidated Proud Endless Possibilities Passion Casual Ridiculously Nice Uncovering Unlimited Options Unexpected Carefree Unemcumbered Spirit On Vacation Small Personal Moments Surprised Less Stress How Do You Look? Formal Dressed Up Casual Jeans Sweats Trendy Vanilla White Eye Contact Approachable Relaxed Old Meets New Shockingly Attractive Beautiful Quirky Midwestern City Blue Collar Texture Old Meets New Comfortable Grey Hippie Lack of Style</p><p>Are There Icons & Symbols? Calatrava City Hall Light House Lake Harley-Davidson Beer Cheese German Heritage Sausage Fonz Lavern & Shirley Smiley Face (Summerfest) Festivals Miller Brewing Marquette University Green Space Brewers Bucks Admirals Parks (Gold Award) Manufacturing MSOE Unions UWM Allen Bradley Clock Tower Urban Farming/Organic Northwestern Mutual</p><p>Are There Words & Phrases? Beer Brats Cheese Brewers Fun Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous Music Festivals Summerfest Custard Fish Fry Cheese Head Water Cream Puffs Schlitz Unique Bubbler Interesting Visuals Ethnic Cheese Curds Harley</p><p>Why Do You Live Here? Quality of Life Family Best of all Worlds Options/ Variety Comfortable Easy Value Location Rich, Authentic Heritage Favorite Pair of Jeans Beautiful Friendly Neighborhoods Change of Seasons Multi-dimensional Choices</p><p>A meeting will be scheduled with Noise to develop core values getting to the emotional drivers, not the literal words. Once this has been done, the results will be presented to the committee at the next meeting. </p>