Posted for Nancy Yearout
RE/MAX Properties of the Summit, Breckenridge, Colorado
nyearout@colorado.net
http://www.realestate-breckenridge.net
#Breckenridge, Colorado
Last year, Breckenridge interviewed almost a thousand people, both past and
potential visitors, asking them what they loved about the town.
That
feedback was incorporated into a new brand for the town based on real
experiences.
This year, Gov. John Hickenlooper is launching a five-month
grassroots project to do the same thing at the state level.
But rather
than polling visitors, he's asking residents to help define Colorado.
The
Making Colorado initiative, what organizers are calling the most inclusive and
ambitious branding project ever attempted by a state, launched this week,
pulling together marketing experts, agencies, high school students and the
public to help create a brand that captures the spirit and culture of the state.
“Colorado has a heart and soul like no other state,” Hickenlooper stated
in a recent release on the project. “We launched the Making Colorado initiative
to create and market a stronger Colorado brand. Together, we will define what
Colorado stands for and how to convey that to the world to help ensure our
communities, culture and environment are strong and vibrant for decades to
come.”
The effort, headed up by Colorado's chief marketing officer Aaron
Kennedy, the founder of Noodles & Company, will bring together a who's who
of influential individuals and business representatives who rely on the Colorado
brand to provide recommendations as well as a Youth Ambassador Council made up
of high school seniors from all of Colorado's 64 counties to contribute content
from their hometowns.
Online and through social media all other
Coloradans will be able to submit thoughts and opinions to the project as well.
The Making Colorado project is a kind of expanded version of the
ground-up branding effort Breckenridge launched last year, and local marketing
experts are on board.
“Breckenridge is a brand people understand across
the country that we're trying to capture for our marketing and sales efforts,”
said Breckenridge Councilman Mike Dudick, who led the 2010 campaign to pass a
lodging tax increase to fund the town's marketing efforts. “I applaud the state
for doing the same thing.”
But it's not yet clear how active a role
Breckenridge or Summit County agencies will play in the Making Colorado process.
“Since the branding efforts are a new initiative, the scope of
Breckenridge's participation is not yet known,” John McMahon, president and CEO
of the Breckenridge Resort Chamber, the town's direct marketing organization
stated in an email. “I stay actively involved with the statewide marketing
committee.”
This isn't Hickenlooper's first stab at a ground-up approach
to major projects in his first term. In 2011, months after taking office, he
launched a similar project to establish the state's approach to economic
development, informed by the needs and priorities of the people.
The
several-month effort led to meetings and interactive work across the state and
ultimately produced a six-point blueprint prioritizing the construction of a
business friendly environment, increased access to capital and the education of
the future workforce.
Building and selling the “Colorado Brand” was also
a headline of the plan.
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.
