What does “Adirondacks” mean to to potential tourists? Not much.
So let me start this discussion with a bit of a backhanded compliment to our neighbors in Vermont.
When I drive through many of their gorgeous valleys and quaint communities, I see many of the same problems that we have here in the North Country.
There are eyesore junkyards, old trailers, dilapidated homes, sagging barns. But here’s the thing: I don’t notice it as much.
Vermont has marketed and “branded” itself so effectively, that I’m conditioned to focus on the cool stuff: the fall color or the maple buckets on the trees or the white picket fences and old stone store fronts.
As I report this morning, the Adirondacks has never quite managed this feat. Unlike other national-caliber tourist destinations, we haven’t packaged ourselves very effectively.
Even though Lake Placid is a globally known village, the rest of the Park doesn’t register in people’s imaginations.
Before I moved to the North Country, I thought “Adirondack” was a kind of chair.
By contrast, Vermont is a brand and a lifestyle option almost as much as a real place. So is Hawaii. So is New Orleans.
Visitors are enticed to go there not by a laundry list of possible things to do, but by an overall impression, a concept.
It’s the same reason that a lot of people choose the Gap over other clothing stores. They’re not just buying blue jeans or a tee-shirt. They’re buying into a pre-packaged narrative about the experience.
In a way, it’s kind of cool that the Adirondacks has avoided this kind of Madison Avenue messaging. This may be one of the few A-list places in America that people really can discover for themselves.
But unfortunately, a lot of potential visitors don’t even know enough about us to begin that journey. They don’t know that there’s something here worth exploring.
So it’s kind of a Catch-22. We’re authentic in part because we’re undefined. But because we’re undefined, we’re also undiscovered.
Which means that a lot of our tourism businesses struggle, especially in the interminable “off” seasons.
Is it possible to market the Adirondacks differently, so that this place becomes as concrete a brand as, say, the Colorado Rockies or Maine? If so, what would that brand look like?
Or should we stick with the grassroots, muddled, down-home approach? As always, your comments welcome.
Tags: economy
This is interesting to consider. I suspect that folks that live in the Adirondacks see it as less wild than those that live outside the park. To me, having grown up on a lake there I just see it as home, a place where less “wildness” is maybe alright. The character comes more from the people than the place. But both are important. I can’t come up with a good slogan for Brian. But if I could it would not be one of these ‘Wilderness this’ or ‘Wild that’ ones. It would be more abut the people. This is a typical Adirondack response. The secret here may be that I prefer to see the development happen in the areas that we have had it traditionally places like Lake Placid and Lake George. The high peaks is just an extension on Lake Placid in some respects. That will keep the development and the crowds out of these other places that have been purchased by the state recently. These are the places where Adirondacker’s get away from the Lake Placid crowds and enjoy the peace and quiet of the “other Adirondacks”. It may not seem as wild but it is in some respects. The current Forest Preserve policy seeks to meld all the Adirondacks into one homogeneous “wilderness” that isn’t very appealing to some.
We cannot necessarily promote people or places because the sad reality is that many businesses close. Spending large amounts of money to create effective marketing tools that are rendered obsolete after a year or two is wasteful. Fashion, vehicles, design trends…these things all change while the soaring mountains and majestic views endure.
Messaging can be created to communicate the friendliness of the communities, bu tI’d argue that there are still a lot of people who have no desire to be the attraction for tourists.
Knuckleheaded,
I’d like to throw my name into the hat for a role on your series. Preferably as the young, now retired, Hedge Fund Billionaire who won his large year round camp on Upper Saranac Lake in a poker game from another Wall Street tycoon. And I’d even be willing to help write the scripts for the series. Have your people call my people and perhaps we can work something out.
Yes Will, heaven forbid that the Adirondacks be different than everywhere else, that it be unique, that people have the option to experience quiet. We really need everywhere in the country to be more like Westchester County or Clifton Park. Heaven forbid there be an option for people who don’t want to live in plastic suburbia.
After reading many of these comments it seems like we all want things to be better, but at the same time nobody wants anything to change.
How about an episode of “Survivor Adirondacks” or “Adirondack Apprentice” Where is Mark Burnett when you need him?
Married as I am to one of the two women who created the VT branding program starting in the mid 90s, and who is now working to create an Adirondack brand working with the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA), it is important to understand that what we all think about the VT identity has taken time to achieve.
The ADK North Country Region is more than the Blue Line region, even though the Park Area is the same size as the entire state of Vermont!!
Visitors to the area were polled in face to face interviews a couple of years ago and described the reasons they come here and where else they have experienced what we have — Vermont is not mentioned BTW. You can read this by going to http://adirondackscenicbyways.org/info-for-partners.html and clicking on the market trend assessment.
ANCA is using this information, as well as a deep body of work with communities all across the North Country over the past 50+ years, to promote the communities, experiences, traditions, and foods that make our region such a special place to live and visit.
In response to Brian Mann’s one sentence, Adirondack desirability:
You will find the wild heart of all that is good in the world in the Adirondacks.
I picked up my family ten years ago and moved to the periphary of the Adirondacks to be closer to wilderness and it worked.
In today’s world, how many people want to come face to face with wilderness. 1 in 100 maybe? That’s why people like Vermont better; they can relate to it better in our current culture.
Moving here was the best thing I’ve ever done. I did it to get closer to the natural world. The people and towns are the icing on the cake, but I did it to live in a place where you can still find wildness. Thank goodness.
jim you are correct. it is a fact if you want to improve a blighted area, rent cheap space to artists, and the neighborhood will blossom. artist attract the cool factor, the money, and of course the chicks, all the rest will follow.
you mentioned the village, but the same tactic was applied accross the river in brooklyn, and dont forget the resurgence of south beach.