Why is Jamestown wasting money on marketing and branding?

Last week, the Jamestown Local Development Corporation heard a report from Block Club Inc., a Buffalo-based branding agency and design firm whose officials presented their ideas for the marketing and branding campaign to city officials. The marketing campaign will focus on the National Comedy Center and will also highlight other local attractions.

Good grief.

Jamestown has had marketing plans and branding efforts in the past — all largely forgettable. Remember the Downtown Jamestown Development Corporation’s stick figures that branded Jamestown a wonderful place to work, live and play? How about the Up Close & Wonderful branding for downtown? Did rebranding Chautauqua County as the “World’s Learning Center” make a lick of difference in the grand scheme of things?

Good branding is nothing without money behind it. How is the JLDC planning to spend money to support this branding initiative. What cities does the Block Club suggest Jamestown target with the “Comedy’s Hometown” campaign –and how much will all that cost?

The Destination Development Association, which partners with noted tourism expert Roger Brooks to help downtowns become true destinations for visitors, has said brands are perceptions that are earned, built on a product. Brands aren’t just pithy catchphrases and hot buzzwords pulled out of thin air.

Comedy is at least something that makes Jamestown somewhat unique — but how is the National Comedy Center reflected throughout downtown? For a place to be Comedy’s Hometown, as the Block Club proposes, would lead one to believe there would be a comedic thread through downtown — restaurants focusing on comedy-themed items, shops selling comedy-themed wares, comedy-themed events regularly on the docket. Those things are all housed almost exclusively at the comedy center. Many cities have great restaurants and breweries, so it’s not really a point of difference for Jamestown.

Few cities have comedy.

But Jamestown isn’t capitalizing on comedy enough to build a brand around it. Jamestown’s comedy-themed downtown is really two buildings — the National Comedy Center and the Lucy-Desi Museum. If Jamestown is going to brand itself as comedy’s hometown, then the work needs to be done downtown to actually be comedy’s hometown.