Greater Hartford is brimming with talk of revitalization plans, but it takes more than enthusiastic urban planners to take ideas from the drawing board – or artists’ rendering, in this case – to reality.
Someone has to sell the idea to developers, businesses and residents. The MetroHartford Alliance has decided 310 Limited, a marketing firm out of Richmond, Va., is the group to do it.
Direction Needed
“We’re looking for someone to help us understand how we can more effectively use our resources to market our region,” said John Shemo, vice president and executive director of the alliance. The alliance hired 310 to market the Greater Hartford area to industries and individuals both outside and inside the region.
Specifics on the plan aren’t available now, Shemo said, because 310 Limited has only recently begun the four-year project.
“We’re working on a marking plan that right now is in its early inception,” said 310 president Debbie Kurtz during a recent visit to the Hartford area. This is the fact-gathering stage, where Kurtz and 310 marketers get information on what the area has to offer and what locals want the campaign to accomplish. Kurtz said she plans to have an early draft of 310’s campaign for the region ready by mid-summer.
Marketing geographic areas, such as counties or cities, is the company’s specialty. It’s done work for clients out of Mississippi, New York State and Kansas, to name a few examples.
“The marketing of a place is similar to the marketing of a product. Everything has its attributes and distinct characteristics,” Kurtz said.
It’s not uncommon for a far-off firm to tackle marketing a specific area, Shemo said. The Richmond company and two other possible firms came under MetroHartford’s radar through positive word-of-mouth buzz from other chamber alliances around the country, and 310’s proposal was selected from the three.
“It wasn’t complicated,” Shemo said.
Local Player
The alliance has also contracted a local firm, Clarion Group out of West Hartford, to conduct focus groups on local public policy, entrepreneurial opportunities in the area, the situation for young professionals and other issues.
Shemo said 310 is “one piece of a larger mission” to attract interest to the area, including projects such as Hartford 2010, a revitalization plan that includes attracting developers for shops, offices and housing in six areas of Hartford.
Kurtz said more geographical entities are interested in marketing themselves to developers and residents, but that the Hartford area, like their other clients, requires a specialized plan.
“It is an interesting process and certainly one that regions and states and communities do all the time,” she said, adding, “It’s a great product to market.”
