Metro Pulse/Insights/Does Knoxville Need a Brand?

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by Joe Sullivan

Heinz may not have as many brands as Knoxville boosters have concocted over the years to appeal to visitors or somehow make the city seem more appealing. Yet none of them have had long shelf lives.

"Where nature and technology meet" and "Knoxville naturally!" are just the two most recent labels to fade into obscurity. Thus, some skepticism is unavoidable when one views the efforts now underway to come up with a new slogan that will resonate throughout the city and to far-flung points beyond. All the more so when one realizes that multiple branding efforts are proceeding in an uncoordinated way.

Both the recently formed Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corp. and the Central Business Improvement District have retained consultants who are supposed to figure out what the city's tangible and intangible assets are and then put a catchy handle on them. Granted, the Tourism and Sports Corp. has a broader purview than the CBID, which is just concerned with promoting downtown. Then again, downtown is the locus of the city's new convention center whose paucity of bookings precipitated the formation of the TSC, with Gloria Ray at its helm. In addition to attracting conventions, Ray's organization is also stressing cultural heritage tourism in which downtown's historic buildings, museums and overall character loom large.

Branding is by no means the sole focus of the consultant, Ackermann PR, that the TSC has retained. Ackermann's primary role will be market research, according to TSC's executive vice president, Mike Wild. "Out of that we will develop strategies on which we will base a lot of our marketing," Wild says.

But even as Ackermann's work is just beginning, TSC is already trumpeting a "Uniquely Knoxville" campaign. The slogan is the brainchild of TSC's vice president of business development, Robin Hamilton. As he explains it, the campaign will have several facets. For one, he's collaborating with local artists, artisans and manufacturers to assemble a package of distinctive works and products that will be showcased at TSC's headquarters and prospectively at stores like Proffitt's. Then, there will be Uniquely Knoxville tours featuring "experiences that you can only get here." And when convention site selectors come to town, they will be treated to more of the same. At the same time, the campaign aims at reaching Knoxvillians with a view to "instilling pride about who we are and what we're about."

So is the city on its way to getting a "Uniquely Knoxville" brand? "I don't think we ever meant this [campaign] to brand a city as other campaigns have done, but if it happens, wouldn't that be great," Hamilton says.

The CBID, meanwhile, has retained Shelton Communication Group to come up with a brand identity for downtown. To help with its formulation, Shelton is asking downtown residents, workers and merchants to respond to a questionnaire that includes such teasers as: "IF DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE were a car what kind of car would it be?" and "What movie would DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE be?"

The underlying question is, of course, how are the responses supposed to contribute to the CBID's stated objective, which is "to create a brand identity—to help communicate Downtown Knoxville's appeal and selling points." Suzanne Shelton says, "The hope is that if we ask more creative questions, we'll get more creative answers that will also help us understand how downtown is viewed by the people who know it best." She posits, for example, that a 1957 Chevy Impala response to the car question would connote "a classic, well designed, may need some repairs, but cool." She acknowledges, however, that translating such imagery into a brand name will be "a tough assignment." And she's very cautionary about avoiding one that "seems too rah-rah." The goal, she says, is to "capture the spirit of what we have to offer, but we can't come up with something that isn't what we are."

Reflecting back on the demise of brandings that have come and gone, the sense of some of the key people involved is that they have been crafted too hurriedly without enough community involvement. Laurens Tullock, who spearheaded the formulation of "Where nature and technology meet" when he was the city's director of development in the 1990s still believes the moniker served a purpose. "We were looking for a theme for the Gateway Regional Visitor's Center, and if you're talking about the region, those are two of our strongest and most unique assets." The slogan continues to be featured at the visitor's center, Tullock notes.

But he goes on to say that "the problem with any phrase is that we use a different one every other week. We need one that has staying power, but we're not going to get it until everybody has bought into it."

Tullock isn't clear how to achieve buy-in, and others involved in identity building exercises in other cities aren't clear that phrase-making is what it's all about. A past president of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, Jim Kennedy, recalls that during the 1980s, when Chattanooga boosters were struggling to project an image, they sought the advice of renowned planner and developer James Rouse. Rouse's admonition, as Kennedy recalls it, was: "Stop worrying about your image. Start doing something, and your image will take care of itself."