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Page One

Branding Jamestown

Group Taking Part In Study To Help Promote City

By Kristen Johnson kajohnson@post-journal.com
POSTED: December 12, 2008

Article Photos


City on the River? Nah.

Comedy Capital? Maybe.

See the world, start with Jamestown? Too long.

The Jamestown Attractors Group hopes that next summer, after the completion of a branding study and marketing action plan, Jamestown will have its own brand name, a slogan and a logo to use in places such as information kiosks, signs and Web sites.

''The Attractors Group has been working together for about a year on this,'' said Joni Blackman, Fenton History Center director. ''We see a need to promote Jamestown as a tourist destination. The best way we can see to start doing that is to come up with a brand for Jamestown and build off of that.''

The group includes the Fenton History Center, the Jamestown Audubon Nature Center, the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena, The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center, the Reg Lenna Civic Center, the Robert H. Jackson Center and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute.

Blackman said the group's first step would be to merge the visitor marketing activities of each organization in the Attractors Group into one comprehensive plan.

''Marketing together has the potential to increase tourism dollars coming into our city,'' she said. ''That can benefit everyone - local retailers, restaurants, hotels, and our county's sales tax income. The varied cultural and recreational activities in Jamestown can provide robust economic development for our city.''

The Attractors Group has $164,000 to spend on a branding study, Blackman said - $82,000 in state grant money, $50,000 from the Gebbie Foundation and the remainder collectively donated by each member of the Attractors Group. About $50,000 will be spent on a consultant, the branding study and a marketing action plan. The remainder will cover initial implementation costs - signage, the creation of a Web site, information kiosks, and the like.

By early January, the group hopes to have a contractor in place, Blackman said. The study is expected to be complete by mid-July.

Throughout the process to put together the branding study, Blackman said there will be at least two opportunities for public input.

The group is being careful to ensure its plan ''dovetails'' with existing plans, Blackman said, such as the city's Urban Design Plan and a branding study that's in the final stages and being done through the Chautauqua County Visitor's Bureau.

''It's all grassroots,'' she said. ''Existing plans are the foundation for what we're doing. We want to make sure what we're doing fits with existing plans but still gives us something unique. The efforts of the Jamestown Renaissance Corp. and the goals of the Urban Design Plan are the foundation for the study the Attractors Group is doing. If anything, our efforts were spurred on by those existing plans and will hopefully enhance them.''

Maclain Berhaupt, the Jamestown Renaissance Corp. executive director, said one outcome of the branding study would be a wayfinding system, or a consistent system of helping visitors navigate the downtown area.

Mike Ferguson, the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena general manager, said what the Attractors Group is doing is ''very unique.''

''Here, you've got organizations coming together from all sorts of different sectors and we're working with the city of Jamestown, the Downtown Jamestown Development Corp. and Jamestown Renaissance Corp.,'' he said. ''It's a rare thing when so many different organizations come together for the good of their community.''

 
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View Comments: | 1-7 | Post a comment
FreeAmerica
12-12-08 9:59 PM
I can Brand it, Lets see; 1. Broken streets NY 2.One Year Street repair 3. Ugly gray school town 4. Faded Glass City Hall 5. Unsolved Murder Capital NY 5. Smelly River NY 6. You freaking idiots, you want tourist to come to this hole, you can't fix the streets right, you fill them and hope for the best. You build ugly gray concrete schools, ugly gray concrete bridges, that already after two years have cracks in them, you build parking ramps that fail after ten years, again ugly and gray. You build housing projects that only poor can afford, you put the BPU utilities on the only river area that should have been turned twenty years ago into a river walk system. You have NO PARKING downtown, have to circle the block ten times to park. And you remove its history. Tear down our heritage for these ugly buildings you allow. Washington street and North Main are ugly. NO architecture, NONE. What the*****do you expect the tourist to do? Okay, skate, and go buy Lucy crap. Now What?

Macthulhu
12-12-08 6:17 PM
Fortunately, Tim will not be writing any of the new marketing materials. At least somebody (the attractors group) is making an effort to improve this community, instead of just complaining that it's over. Cultural tourism isn't the only answer. If you think industry is the answer, get involved in that. The point is, contribute, or quit whining. Do-nothing bellyachers are the reason Jamestown slipped this low. This far, no farther.

timjungquist
12-12-08 4:10 PM
its hard to work for a check when there is no jobsand these businesses are working with the city but i think the city forgot about them i thinking the raise of the parking metersand you want tourists what about the lake i remember when it was busy now you cannot even take a ferry ride because it is never open what about the chautauqua bell might as well burn both of them as to to helping tourism hang it up people

beerndrums
12-12-08 10:36 AM
I am so happy that I got out of Jamestown.

Macthulhu
12-12-08 10:19 AM
You're right. We should all just give up.

Hawke7123
12-12-08 10:15 AM
Or "Tax Town - USA" is almost as good.

writerone
12-12-08 4:29 AM
No one has mentioned being branded "Welfare City - USA". As I understand it, Jamestown ranks near first in the country for number of deadbeats who would rather sit at home drinking their beer and watching TV while they wait for their "monthly check."

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