Mike Clark's Business Bites: Palmy is boring campaign should be scrapped

This billboard is "tongue in cheek" but the thing that sticks is the phrase.

Opinion:

A few years back, on a hot summer day, my wife and I with two of our kids, boogie boarded down the Manawatū Gorge.

It was exhilarating, fun and memorable. As I lay on the sand at the end of our trip, looking up at the majestic trees and cliffs, I could again affirm that living in Palmy is awesome.

As a city we are a well-kept secret. The marketing of Palmy awesomeness has improved over the years. The Palmy Proud campaign is still referred to and used as a hashtag. As a city we are connected, safe, fun, friendly and an incredible place to raise a family.

Marketing can be defined as everything you do to get attention, stimulate interest and create desire that gets people to take action. People build a picture of your business the way a bird builds a nest - from the scraps and twigs it finds lying around. What message are you giving about your business?

What do you feel your business is known for? What would you like it to be known for? Is there a gap? Marketing is one of the key strategies we can use to close this gap.

When helping customers with their business strategies one of my favourite activities is to do a brand word correlation. We start by mentioning a wide range of everyday products and getting people to list the first brand that comes to mind. Often people are surprised at the brands they write down. Brands own brain space.

We then look at category ownership - who "owns" happiness, vacuum cleaners, photocopying, overnight delivery? Words are powerful and they can be very sticky which, if it is done well, is great for brand recognition and awareness.

What words do you want associated with your business? Choose them carefully and well. Integrate these into your culture, service and product offerings. Once done then market this message widely. Be careful not to try and be clever with your marketing - keep it honest, clear and simple.

Marketing that damages your brand is stupid. Trying to be too clever with marketing runs this risk. Remember that while a "clever" ad might create controversy, conversations and get exposure, this does not make it effective or engender loyalty and support.

I often think marketing people should be unchained from their desks and made to go and experience what they are marketing, as should the people that sign off the campaigns.

A case in point would be whoever signed off the latest Palmerston North City Council advertising campaign. I have rarely seen such a destructive campaign. Being an immigrant, I arrived in New Zealand landing in Wellington. Walking up and down Wellington streets and driving the wrong way down countless one-way streets, I prayed for a flat city that was well laid out, with no one-way streets, friendly people and a great place to bring up family.

I'm incredibly proud to call Palmy home, and tell everybody I live in the best city in the world. With such a passion for my home city I confess to being indignant at seeing a massive sign in Ōtaki saying Palmy was famous for being boring. A few days later I saw a series of Snapchats from various people with pictures with the same slogan and comments of "how rude" and "Palmy proud".

Then I got the Palmy Proud magazine and there it is again. I encourage the marketing department, and all connected, to leave the office, get into a car and drive down around and look at the billboards. It is "tongue in cheek" but the thing that sticks is the phrase. As much as I love Palmy life being a well-kept secret, I cannot stand by and have my rates pay for such a damaging campaign.

Learn a lesson from this. Work with your marketing department and ensure you are not running the same risk in your business. Unlike the city council, you don't have ratepayers paying for it. Make sure any messaging you put out there builds loyalty and underpins your brand with words you want associated with you.

As for myself, I will join the growing number of people calling for the scrapping of this negative campaign - maybe even invite them to experience a trip through the gorge on a boogie board.

• Mike Clark is director and lead trainer and facilitator at Think Right business training company.