My Personal Campaign for Fenton

Instead of subjecting readers to another glimpse in my world, I thought to look into your world from my perspective. The article "" grabbed my attention.

It is best to begin with the statement that I do not have a dog in this fight. Obviously the city does not receive my money in taxes. Also I do not know any of those mentioned in the article. My only excuse for giving my two cents worth is that the first 20 years of my life were spent in Fenton and I consider it home.

As with most things, when I started reading the article the question that popped to the forefront of my mind was what is the objective of the campaign. Reinforced by a comment in another article, I took the objective as the one presented by DDA Director Michael Burns, "promotes Fenton to an outside market and gets people from other areas to visit."

While I was growing up, my father owned or started several businesses in Fenton. I remember clearly that each time he spent time and agonized over what the business would give to the community. "Support the community and they will support you," he would tell me.

From the article the impression I am left with is the opposite. By Burns' comment and the direction that the marketing campaign is taking it seems to me that the business owners are requesting that the taxpayers of Fenton pay for the business owners to get more money from those who don't pay taxes in Fenton.

But then again, I have been out of the country for awhile and things seem to have changed. Taxpayers have been asked to bail out Wall Street so that the people who caused the problem can continue to receive bonuses. The management of one major chain store eliminated over 1,000 employees, then the managers took the savings from doing such and gave themselves bonuses with it. It is as if that business management are the kings, dukes, earls, princes and lords of America and it is the job of the working man and woman to keep them comfortable in a certain style.

Natalie Burg of New Moon Visions seemed to concentrate on increases in online presence and social networking while Craig Schmidt said that numbers are rising. Councilwoman, Patricia Lockwood believes in benchmarks. Burg and Schmidt may believe that those number increases are benchmarks, I have to disagree. I can find just as many research reports showing that online presence and social networking do not increase business as can be found stating that they do.  Not to mention that one of the main reasons reports give for success with social networking sites for business is that it is inexpensive if the owner does it himself. However by paying another company to do that for you kind of defeats the advantage.  I would like to see more substantial benchmarks, like for instance how many additional employees these businesses have hired.

In my experience when a campaign is working people are excited. There is no doubt that things are going well. I got the feeling of just supporting a cause or trying to justify the money spent when I read comments from the DDA members and others that they BELIEVE the campaign is working. That, to me, is equivalent to the saying of kind of a little pregnant.

There seems to be process thought to what is being done instead of objective thought. If we consider the business vacancies, then the difference to me is their thought that if they increase their online presence, do radio spots and put up billboards then the vacancies will all be filled. But objective is to look at what is needed. Do a survey of what the taxpayers want and need in terms of stores in the community. Perhaps these are things that they frequently have to run to Holly, Linden or Flint to purchase. Now have potential business owners submit business plans of a business they might like to offer in Fenton. Those plans that are solid and fill the needs of the residents can be eligible for financial assistance for rent in order to help them get started for the first year. And if Fenton has one-stop shopping for the residents there is a good possibility that people from Linden, Holly and Grand Blanc will come to Fenton.

As I read the comments from supporters of the current campaign I got the sense of the old saying, "If you can dazzle them with brilliance then baffle them with BS." The term of branding is used like something magic. If you read enough about what it is you can get many different opinions. Some like to say that branding makes a person choose one product over another regardless of price. Others state that it is immediate recognition. I like the definition as presented by branding guru William Arruda. "Branding is a unique promise of value." As the marketing effort is scrutinized it should be asked if every advertisement, logo, etc. offers a unique promise of value. This does not mean that it tells you such is being offered, it shows you that it is being offered. Don't tell them that you have great shopping, prove it.

Now let me go more specific. Some have complained about the logo not being the best. I agree. Branding takes time and Fenton has already put in much the with gazebo logo. The logo proposed by New Moon Visions has no emotion to it. My cousin was married in the gazebo and I am sure others have also. Plus a gazebo shows heritage. For me that edifice evokes more than one emotion. The stylized "F" does nothing for me.

The campaign slogan, "Be Closer." Again I go with those against it. My reasoning is two fold. The word itself can mean to be near to something, or it can be someone or something that closes something. Fenton is not closed. Fenton is open. My next objection is that "be closer" is passive voice. If you want something to move people then you need active voice.

I can understand why New Moon Visions was chosen to design the campaign for Fenton. They have over 20 years experience in doing it for other cities in Michigan including Milford, Brighton and Petoskey. Unfortunately in marketing their experience can also be a bad thing. An author of many marketing books stated in one of them that things must change internally much faster than they change externally if you want your company to be ahead. Marketing is often about creating new and different. What I am seeing with the Fenton marketing campaign is a rehash of the aforementioned cities.

From my perspective, I have to disagree with councilman Bradley Jacob when he states that the problems are minor and can be easily fixed. To me it is time to go back to the drawing board, establish short term and long term viable benchmarks immediately and make sure that the money spent contributes to helping those who pay Fenton taxes.

Mentioned in my bio here on Fenton Patch is that as I travel to other countries I do not tell that I am from The United States. I tell people that I am from Fenton, Michigan. When they ask me about my home town, I tell them that with its friendly people, old town flavor, modern living and wide variety of entertainment that it is a gateway to everything good in life and they should experience the Fenton feeling. 

That is my personal campaign for Fenton.