Buffalo Rising Online

As someone who keeps close tabs on Buffalo's economic development organizations, I can say that the CVB and BNE have both produced some tremendous media hits for our region over the last year or two: (NY Times, "Good Morning America," Wall Street Journal, NBC's "Today Show", CNN stories, Associated Press, LA Times, USA Today and much more)...so the last post's views are slightly skewed.

Buffalo Old Home Week did collect a lot of media attention in its first year because it was so unique (and sad because our city needed an organization to beg for it's ex-pats to return), but will the national media come a calling on their story again??????

And you have to remember the non-profit saying about volunteers (free resources)..."when you get free resources, you are only as good as those free resources." Think about it! Would you trust this region's marketing efforts to a group of volunteers??? What accountability would they have?

Just some thoughts!

As an advertising person who has previous experience working with the CVB, I can say the funding they have, even at its most robust, can barely create a murmur in the paid-media world. I think PR is their best tool, or perhaps some online messaging targeted at key audiences (which obviously vary based on your goal - i.e. tourism, econ. dev., etc.). I recall a piece in the Times a while back that was worth more than $100k in paid media in the same paper.

However, I encourage all of you to visit the CVB website http://www.buffalocvb.org/ and ask yourself - "Is this someplace I'd want to spend a weekend?" I'm guessing the answer would be "no" and that's why I encourage the CVB to fix that mess before they ever spend a Buffalo nickel in paid media or with a PR firm.

John: Apparently, your memory doesn't serve you very well or you simply don't know the facts. Here they are: In the last two years stories about Buffalo have appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the Globe and Mail, the New York Times, Architect's Newspaper, Architecture, the Capital Times, Boston Globe, Spirit Magazine, and the Orlando Sentinel as a direct result of the Buffalo Niagara CVB's media relations efforts. A host of smaller regional publications ranging from the Welland Tribune to the Barrie Advance to Niagara Life have also published positive stories about our city. The Weather Channel was in town last summer at our invitation and profiled Shakespeare in Delaware Park, Seven Seas Sailing, the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum and the Cave of the Winds. CBC Radio has done several stories about Buffalo's cultural renaissance and Fashion Television, a Canadian cable channel devoted to fashion, art and architecture, was in town last fall for the Martin House Dedication Ceremony -- again, all a result of CVB efforts.

As to BOHW and Revitalize Buffalo: We already work very closely with both Marti Gorman and Amy Maxwell, consider them friends and colleagues and are doing everything we can to leverage the great work they are doing.

Mark Donnelley has produced a fine web site and we admire his passion for the area. His work will undoubtedly accrue to our region's benefit. The point, however, is that we need to maximize the audience for the sites we already own and operate. The CVB launched a new web site, wrightnowinbuffalo.com, last summer that has had more than 150,000 unique visitors since its launch in July. That number could be much larger if we had the resources to properly cross market the site and optimize it using state of the art search engine marketing tools.

Free resources and community web sites will only take us so far. To compete for tourism dollars our community needs professional tools and tactics deployed in a consistent and disciplined manner. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Rochester and every other city we are competing with in the tourism marketplace have sophisticated, well funded marketing plans being implemented (with budgets ranging from $3.2 million to nearly $10 million -- compared to the Buffalo Niagara CVB's $1.5 million budget). For these cities, grassroots tactics add value to already well funded tourism marketing campaigns. Just as they should in our community. To think otherwise is simply naive.

The bed tax is charged each time someone pays their bill at an Erie County hotel. These funds are intended for tourism sales and promotion -- to bring more visitors to Erie County hotels, restaurants, stores and attractions and to retain the 20,000 jobs these businesses support. It's not "griping" to demand that these funds be used as they were intended. It's simply asking our elected officials to do the right thing for the community they represent. As a concerned citizen you should demand nothing less.

Ed Healy Director of Communications Buffalo Niagara CVB

Bill: I couldn't agree with you more. Bufffalocvb.org desperately needs a complete re-design. The CVB was just about to engage a local web design firm to do just that in February 2005 when the Erie County budget crisis occured and our bed tax funding was reduced by 50 percent -- the largest cut to any CVB in the United States that year. The contract was never signed and the site remains in need of an overhaul. Pending the receipt of bed tax dollars for 2007 from Erie County, the site will receive the attention it deserves. This is a priority for our organization in the year to come. In the meantime, we are directing potential visitors to wrightnowinbuffalo.com, our special events site devoted to cultural tourism.

Ed Healy

Buffalo should look at its identities as both a canal town, a lake city, a college town, and industrial town, etc.

Dont just look at the other Erie Canal towns...but look nationally and internationally at how other cities have used their canals to their advantage...some cities have even unearthed and rewatered their canals.

Dont just look at Buffalo but other Lake Erie cities such as Detroit, Toledo, Sandusky, Clevelend, Erie, Buffalo, Fort Erie, etc.

It just seems that we have a monodimensional image of Buffalo that is ver old and ver ingrained...as a stereotype, but we are much much more than that...

There are lots of good ideas out there and this may not be the best fit for Buffalo, but if you fly US Airlines this month, check out the 12-15 page promotional section on Erie, PA in the US Air magazine. It talked about the history, notable people from Erie, the local colleges, the attractions, and more. All I could think about was how Buffalo is a notch above in every aspect, but you'll only hear about it if you seek it out.

One more thought... I recently attended a wedding for a friend of mine from growing up in Western New York who now lives in Washington DC. It was a gathering of friends and family that have roots in Buffalo but have since moved away. I struck up a conversation with some of the 60+ folks gathered at the bar and we were talking about how they habitually log on to the Buffalo News website to read the obituaries. Is that morbid or what??? I suggested they look into Buffalo Rising to check in on the living once in a while. There is a huge network of people out there who have affinity with Buffalo that would love to see it's return to glory.

Why hide from perceived negatives? Ok, so let's celebrate snow, wings, and Super Bowl losses. In photo, travel, and arts print ads & websites, place montage of: - Snow: The Martin house in winter time with snow on the windows and decorative finishes. - Wings: Lake Erie sailboats, hang-gliders...with gulls in a bright blue sky. - "Super" Bowl: The Falls and Gorge in autumn.

We've got it....let's flaunt it.

I agree, turn the positives into negatives. Losing 4 Super Bowls? Thats more appearances than most cities. Snow? Thousands travel to ski resports every year, we have to be able to embrace some of that. Wings? Yes, the birthplace, however there have to be some award winning restaurants around here to promote, not to mention a wine region. It's all about spin control, and with all of the extra politicians floating around here, thats their speciality, engage some of them to help.

EpicureanDlite

Erie Pa, doesn't get two words written about their city or region without them spending money$$$ on advertising in the US Airways magazine. Typically the CVB will co-op with local hotels and attractions to make a media buy. Without a budget the CVB doesn't have a chance to participate. This is how "little" cities like Erie (who considers itself a "little" Buffalo or Cleveland) will continue to kick our butts in the convention and tourism market. By the way, Erie is building a state of the art convention center with an adjoining hotel on their waterfront. Can't wait to go head to head with them with a convention bid.

Continue to alienate the suburbanites and complain about the bed tax and we will still be talking about our big plans in the next decade. Continue to replicate what has worked for other cities as our saving grace and we will always be three steps behind them. Keep dwelling on what we were and ignore what we could be and we will always play catch-up to the other cities that compete for the same businesses that we are competing for. The C.V.B has yet to realize this, we are still selling the same dreams and dwelling on the same excuses from 20 years ago. It is time to change the approach because the crumbs and table scraps aren't enough to feed the fine people of Buffalo. We need to find someone who knows how to cook more than the quick-order menu that we have accepted as fine cuisine. I am sick of watching the people of this fine city settle for less than they deserve.

I can't tell the CVB how to do their job. I simply don't know what it is that they do on a day to day basis, nor do I have the desire to research it. However, as a recent transplant to NYC, I notice more and more how little upstate NY is regarded by the rest of the country. The country as a whole doesn't care about Buffalo, nor should they. What does Buffalo truly have that other cities do not? Insomuch as Buffalo still carries a heavy stigma, I'm not sure how much growth the 'architectual tourism' industry really has. As a 30-something male of common quality, I know zero people that would spend the money to travel eight hours for the purpose of looking at some interesting interesting buildings of minor historical significance, some in need of desparate repair, especially when they are surrounded by vacant storefronts and crack-dens. People that have never been here don't know where to go, and to tour a city by bus is not appealing. It seems to me that you have to spend the money to remind us uneducated and uncultured folk why upstate is not a black hole to avoid. Right now, although I'm more excited than ever about its future, I'd say the city of Buffalo is having delusions of grandure.

I look at our city and counties priorities and it seems like they have no ability to set priorities and our marketers like the BNE have to narrow of a vision of the industries they are trying to bring to Buffalo, Erie County and WNY.

The BNE makes no mention of telecommunications, networking, ecommerce even though Buffalo is a major international hub for the US & Canada

The BNE makes no mention of Material Science, Chemistry and Physics even though Buffalo has a long history in steel and other metals, chemicals, ceramics, gases, even nanotechnology, etc

The BNE makes no mention of Alternative Energy and Power Generation even though we have coal, oil, gas and wood in our southern tier, wind in Lackawanna, Coal Gasification at Huntley, Hydo in Niagara Falls, Fuel Cells at Nanotechnology and more...!

I can think of more industries...can you?

As for the city and county? How much brains does it take to make a new Convention and Conference Center a priority.

How could Rochester be smart enought to create 3 centers for excellence while Buffalo rests on its laurels with one?

I dont think Buffalo is suffering from delusions of grandeur! I think Buffalo is destined to once again be a city 2-3 times its present size.....what Buffalo suffers from is the ignorance of how to get there. Is it the lazy teenager that doesnt want to do its homework or the retired senior that doesnt have the energy...for it seems both have big dreams but neither has the energy or the path to get where they want to go!

Buffalo has the potential to be the Paris of the Great Lakes Buffalo has the potential to be the Charleston or Savannah of the Great Lakes Buffalo has the potential to be the Boston or San Franciso or Seattle of the Great Lakes

I applaud the energy and effort Bufalonians are putting into local architecture and livable neighborhoods....one has to wonder why politicians and political leaders are so ignorant and unwilling to be partners in saving neighborhoods and city buildings.