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2012

Community Brand and Website Development Report, Marketing Plan, and Funding Recommendations

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Table of Contents Brand Development Report (Part 1)

Overview ....................................................................................................................................................................... 3-4

Sense of Place Brand Report ................................................................................................................................. 5-8

Sense of Place Website Development Report .............................................................................................. 9-10

Marketing Plan (Part 2) ................................................................................................................................................. 11

Media Mix ................................................................................................................................................................. 12-16

Budget .............................................................................................................................................................................. 16

Funding Source Recommendations (Part 3) .............................................................................................. 17

Great Up North Place making Alliance ................................................................................................................ 18

Budget .............................................................................................................................................................................. 20

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PART 1 - OVERVIEW

Since mid-October of 2011, Northern Lights Creative Marketing of has been working at the

direction of the Cheboygan County Economic Development Corporation to fulfill the mission of

the Sense of Place Marketing Project of the county.

That mission is to introduce our area and its recreational assets to (1) a new generation of

tourists, (2) those looking to retire in a northern paradise and, (3) entrepreneurs seeking a

perfect location for their businesses. And it’s important to remember that a principal goal of the

project has been to get our message into the market for this coming tourism season, the

summer of 2012, by implementing the marketing strategy beginning this spring.

The tourism branding project has been a three-fold effort.

One – Create the Marketing Brands.

Northern Lights Work with the communities of Aloha, Cheboygan, Indian River, Mackinaw City,

Topinabee, and Wolverine to enhance or create their marketing brand (logos and taglines). The

goal of this place making-branding exercise was to develop logos and taglines both compelling

and reflective of the most important destination marketing assets of each community.

Equally important, the Sense of Place Project calls for the creation of a county-wide marketing

brand which serves as a marketing engine for getting the word out there that this a recreational

and lifestyle destination like no other, made up of communities with unique and enticing

characteristics for the potential visitor audience.

The marketing branding part of the project also calls for the creation of websites and social

media marketing pages for the communities with little internet marketing presence and also for

assisting those that do have websites and social media underway with integrating their efforts

into the broader tourism marketing strategies of Cheboygan County.

The brand development phase of the project is complete and the websites are under

development

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Two – Develop a Marketing Plan.

This is the single most critical element of the Sense of Place Project. Does a tree make sound

when it crashes to the forest floor if there are no ears there to hear it? That old expression says

everything about the importance of both creating a Marketing Plan that reaches our target

audience effectively and funding the Marketing Plan.

Naturally, the plan focuses on driving our audience to our marketing websites and our social

media instruments at the same time.

It also contains a plan to create a County-wide Marketing and Placemaking Alliance made up of

people from all the communities of Cheboygan County and leadership from the Economic

Development Corporation. This Alliance will help ensure the sustainability of the marketing plan,

especially in terms of tasks relative to keeping the websites up to date with fresh and current

content as well as contributing to other aspects of community strategic place-making efforts and

fundraising.

This Marketing Plan is included in this final report and, in short, recommends some traditional

media with a heavy dose of internet marketing and agency management. After all, over 90% of

American, Canadian and European destination seeking visitors use the internet to help them

make their decision.

Three –Assist the EDC in Identifying Funding Sources.

At this point of the project, Northern Lights Marketing has identified a number of possibilities to

generate the funding support for the Marketing Plan. We can create wonderful brands and

develop a great marketing campaign but without an adequate budget to implement the

marketing plan, success in delivering the message to our targeted audience will, of course, be

impossible.

Elements of the Funding Source Plan are outlined in this report.

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SENSE OF PLACE BRAND REPORT

Through the branding workshop process, follow up online surveys, and additional meetings and

phone conferences with stakeholders in the communities, key tagline ideas were identified and

refined. Images immerged for graphic design applications for logos. Marketing messages

highlighting both place-making themes and marketing assets of the communities were

developed and honed along the way.

The participants in the project on both the community and the EDC Study Committee level

understood and contributed to the understanding that the marketing messages to the tourism

and future employer audiences had to mesh and create a true and compelling reason to

consider Cheboygan County as both a vacation destination and a place to do business.

Our County-wide Brand

Michigan’s Great Up North – The county-wide brand identifies and presents to audiences what

Cheboygan County and its residents believe to be real and true about the place they live. The

word Great intones pride in our four season outdoor recreational paradise, its natural beauty

and natural resources. It also speaks to pride in our communities and our way of life. It promises

a memorable experience to the potential tourist and/or the potential entrepreneur.

Of course, we live in the heart of the northern Great Lakes. The word Great is part of our

heritage.

As for Up North, the words are a constant in the vernacular of downstate Michigan residents

and people throughout Indiana and Ohio, our principle geographic markets, and it almost always

means northern Michigan.

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The Great Up North tagline, Land of Endless Discovery, like the logo itself, is a promise to the

potential visitor audience. It’s a promise that is easy to deliver on when people come here. We

have limitless natural wonders for people to experience when they arrive in Cheboygan County:

endless trails, never-ending shorelines, inspiring natural beauty, timeless history, and

welcoming communities with unique and fascinating cultures. To those of us who know this

place intimately, these images and ideas come naturally to us.

It’s in the scope of this project to tell the rest of the world about this place.

Community Brands

Aloha – The name speaks for itself in many ways. In Hawaii, the word means both hello and

goodbye. Paradise to a camping family is being at Aloha State Park. Arriving at Aloha in the

summer means bliss imagined all winter long in down state Michigan and at least to the Ohio

River. The design speaks to that emotion. The tagline says it, too. It’s one of the premier

lakeside camping destinations in the upper Great Lakes.

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Cheboygan – The Cheboygan Area Chamber of Commerce (representing the businesses of the community as well as the area tourism bureau) branded the Inland Waterway in their logo and tagline with associated logo art reinventing the traditional lighthouse image of the city into a more modern design. The font however, calls out the past, the days when lumber was king and resort launches plied the rivers and lakes of the Waterway. The brand points to pride in the past and a vision of a bright future.

Indian River – In Indian River, a community that was not envisioned in the original scope of

work for this project, embraced a new theme, logo, and tagline that represents what the people

of Indian River believe to be their greatest assets: a location at intersections of wonderful

northern Michigan recreational trails and a place at the very heart of northern Michigan’s

greatest rivers and amazing inland lakes. Both the Chamber and Tourist Bureau of Indian River

are adopting it for their websites and other marketing efforts.

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Mackinaw City – Mackinaw City’s marketing tagline is Living History. Making History. It speaks

to the remarkable assets of the Michigan State Historic Parks and Mackinaw City being the

gateway to Mackinac Island which is so important to the tourism business in the entire region. It

also says that history is still being made there. The tagline has been in place for some time and

the Chamber, Tourist Bureau, and Village of Mackinaw City have incorporated it into their

marketing messages.

Topinabee – The Topinabee Development Association and many residents of Topinabee

participated in the development of the Topinabee marketing brand. The focus from the start was

getting Mullett Lake into the marketing message and expressing confidence and pride in the

village’s four season recreational lifestyle. The “sunflake” represents that as does the tagline.

The main logo typeface was chosen for its 19th century train station look as recognition of their

historical culture and the train station library in the heart of town.

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Wolverine – The citizens of Wolverine agreed through the branding workshop process that the

village and area needed to embrace and brand as their own the Sturgeon River. Images in the

logo had to capture the imagination of what the Sturgeon River could mean to potential visitors,

touching on fly fishing, and to suggest magnificent wildlife in the area, centered on the greatest

elk herd east of the Mississippi. The tagline needed to brand the river most of all.

Trademarking of the above logos, with the exception of Indian River and Cheboygan, will use

the “collective mark” registration method. This will ensure that there will be control of how the

marks are used.

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT REPORT

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The building of the Great Up North website and its social media instruments are nearly finished.

The same is true for Topinabee, Wolverine, and Aloha. The Cheboygan Area Chamber of

Commerce funded its own website with its new brand funded by the project. Mackinaw City has

well established and operating chamber and tourism bureau marketing websites and social

media platforms.

Indian River’s chamber and tourism sites are both going through self-funded overhauls to reflect

their new brand.

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PART 2 - MARKETING PLAN

The Marketing Plan of the Sense of Place Project is driven by three questions:

Who are we trying to reach?

Where are they?

How do we get our message to them?

Target Demographics

Lifestyle – The people we seek to reach share a zeal for outdoor activity in a place that is rich

in natural beauty. This audience looks for vacation destinations with pristine water resources for

all types of boating adventure. They want endless trails and beautiful forests for hiking and

biking with destination opportunities along the way. Their eyes seek dramatic landscapes and

elbow room.

Our audience includes those concerned with getting in shape and staying healthy, people who

like to be active and exercise while enjoying breathtaking scenery. By themselves, with their

families, or with friends, they choose a destination because it is a perfect place to enjoy their

favorite, active outdoor recreation.

They kayak, they hike, they bike, they swim, they go scuba diving, they go boating on lakes and

rivers, and they take day trips to nearby attractions. They explore.

They often belong to clubs and enjoy traveling in groups to share their passion for their favorite

recreational pursuit with good friends.

Of course, this audience craves rest and relaxation, too. They appreciate discovering a favorite

restaurant while exploring their destination. They’ll seek out museums. They’ll make new

friends. They like to travel a fair distance from home to do it. And when they fall in love with a

place they come back again and again.

Our audience has disposable income but cares about affordability, too.

Ages and Gender – Our target audience crosses two generations. It includes all baby boomers

and most of their children.

In this age group, 21 to 66, the plan targets the college educated audience primarily, from

current students to recent graduates and to those retired or about to retire. It also focuses on

family household incomes of over $75,000 and for singles, $40,000 and higher.

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The plan calls for reaching men and women almost equally in our marketing efforts, with the

exception of specific sport recreation marketing. For instance, pleasure boating would be more

targeted to men and kayaking would tilt to women who now equal the number of men enjoying

the sport and are by far the fasted growing segment.

Passion Interests – The plan calls for reaching those empirically identified for having a passion

for a specific recreational sport or other interests. Those sports and interests include but are

limited to boating, sailing, kayaking, cycling, golfing, off-roading, hiking, fishing, hunting, and

history.

Geography – Our target market in terms of where our audience comes from is pretty

straightforward. This plan focuses its message on the suburban middle and upper middle class

audiences in key downstate Michigan markets with the same said for select statistical areas in

Ohio, Indiana, and beyond.

For example, among others we’re targeting the suburbs of Grand Rapids for cable and social

media advertising, the same for Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Lansing, and select other markets,

including some areas of north and northwest suburban Detroit if the budget allows it.

Great Up North Marketing and Placemaking Alliance

We recommend the establishment of a community-wide marketing and placemaking alliance. It

would be an organization of volunteers for each community who are keenly interested in leading

the year-round marketing (especially maintenance of website content and social media),

fundraising, and place-making efforts in their respective communities. Cheboygan County

should be an active member of the team and provide coordination of this alliance. Our

suggestions for members of this alliance are included as an appendix to this report.

We recommend the county investigate how to make this alliance a legal entity under the laws

and acts of the state of Michigan.

Media Mix

Cable Television Advertising – The Marketing Plan proposes an initial cable buy for the period

May 1, 2012 to August 31, 2012 to launch the campaign.

With cable television, we can reach a vast number of people in our target market by matching

programming and time slots to the demographics we are trying to reach. This plan recommends

both 60 and 30 second commercials, produced by a creative agency.

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Programming and Times:

Costs are approximately $4 per 30 second commercial for the 6 AM to midnight period and $8

per 30 second commercial for the 6 PM to midnight period.

We will place the commercials strategically in zip codes of the target geographic markets

mentioned above and run both 30 second spots and 60 second ones.

The plan calls for investing approximately $50,000 in cable advertising in the campaign in the

first year and evaluating that amount in year two.

Special Interest Internet Advertising – The plan calls for specific recreational interest website

banner and sidebar advertising on online magazines.

Most banner or sidebar ads run at $100 to $300 per month with yearlong packages available

which include outbound newsletter advertising which we recommend.

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Total annual cost would be approximately $20,000.

Social Media Advertising – The plan outlines an advertising campaign on

Facebook. Facebook advertising also delivers a special interest audience. The

plan calls for reaching boating, kayaking, and biking fans in our demographic

range. The plan calls for spending approximately $3,500 per year targeting that

audience through several different advertising programs with Facebook.

Social Media Marketing – The plan also calls for the implementation of an aggressive social

media marketing plan for the Great Up North and the community websites.

The Great Up North Magazine – Published twice a year (spring-summer and fall-winter) by a

private for profit printing enterprise and will be supported exclusively by advertising. The

magazine will be distributed at all MDOT Welcome Centers and offered free at special interest

retailers and other important locations throughout the state.

The Great Up North Magazine is published at no cost to the marketing project of the Great Up

North and provides modest income to help sustain the marketing effort.

Merchandising – The project calls for licensing the brands of the Sense of Place Project to a

premiums and promotions supplier. There is no cost to the county and the shirts, sweatshirts,

caps, coffee mugs, etc. will be sold at outlets throughout the county area and will provide

modest income for sustaining the marketing effort.

Items will also be sold through the online store on the Great Up North website.

Pure Michigan Advertising – The plan calls for

coordination of our marketing efforts with Travel

Michigan’s Pure Michigan social media campaign.

Pure Michigan has over 1.4 million fans on Facebook,

for instance, and through a daily posting of pertinent information about the Great Up North, its

tourism assets, and special events taking place in our area, we can garner a great deal of

attention with a very qualified audience about why they should visit Cheboygan County.

Sister Community Relationship Development – The plan calls for the development of a

“Sister City” relationship with a comparable European region.

A “Sister City” program can greatly increase awareness of the visitor assets we have in the

Great Up North and over time increase tourism to Cheboygan County from not only the sister

city but also the entire region or country of that city.

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Public Relations Campaign – Third party endorsements of our recreational assets are

essential. The plan calls for press releases and article development support activities with both

print publications and internet special interest magazines.

Billboard Advertising – A billboard campaign is proposed. Three (3) locations have been

identified one just north of Saginaw and one just north of Clare, and ending with the last one as

you enter Cheboygan County which says welcome to the Great Up North.

The campaign is centered on building curiosity in our target audience about the Great Up North

for those who have not been reached by other media and providing message reinforcement for

those that have.

We also capture with this location strategy those already in northern Michigan (those in our

target market already traveling in our direction) and invite them to discover a wonderful new

destination… the Great Up North. The billboards will prominently advertise the website

addresses of the Great Up North to help drive traffic to the sites. Billboards are offered by

Lamar, CBS, and another smaller billboard company.

The billboards average approximately $700 per month on mostly yearly contracts. The budget

for this aspect of the campaign is $25,500.

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Marketing Agency

We believe this plan needs the coordination and professionalism of a marketing agency and

highly recommend that the county or the marketing alliance seek a Request for Proposal from

companies qualified to do the following:

Creative Development and Copywriting

Collateral Materials Development and Management

Advertising Management

Media Negotiations, Contracting, and Placement

Website Marketing Content Management

Video Production and Editing

Social Media Marketing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Websites

Public Relations

Sister City Marketing and Communications

Cable Television Advertising Production

Merchandising Program Management

Results Tracking and Reports

To ensure the successful and professional implementation of the Marketing Plan for the Great

Up North and the communities’ tourism brands, this plan recommends a budget for this activity

of $4,000 per month in a contract with an agency for a minimum period of two (2) years. All the

above activities, to be clearly identified in terms of percentage of time, should be included in the

monthly fee.

This agency work could be contracted by either the county (which provides for more control of

message and accountability) or by the new Great Up North Marketing Alliance if it becomes a

legal, non-profit entity.

SUGGESTED ANNUAL MARKETING BUDGET

Cable Television Advertising $50,000

Special Interest Website

Advertising

$12,000

Social Media Advertising $3,500

Marketing Agency $48,000

Billboard Advertising $25,200

Total Annual $138,700

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PART 3 - FUNDING SOURCES RECOMMENDATIONS

Over the past few months, Northern Lights Marketing has discussed possible funding for the

project’s marketing plan with many individuals and groups. Below is a synopsis of those

explorations.

Area Tourist Bureaus – This is perhaps the single most important element of the funding plan.

All over the state of Michigan, local city, village, and Tourist Bureaus are considering or have

already raised their room taxes from 2% to 3, 4 or 5%. These state mandated “head and bed”

fees are designed to promote their local areas in order to bring in new and more visitors. The

minimum is 2% of the room rate before sales tax.

One of the reasons is the need to be competitive for the tourism dollar as the economy recovers

and to also take advantage of and connect to Pure Michigan marketing. It’s all about economic

development in the long run.

In Cheboygan County, there are three (3) Tourist Bureaus. They are Cheboygan, Indian River,

and Mackinaw City. All of them currently charge the 2%. There has long been the feeling in this

region that the communities of the area were in competition with each other, room rate to room

rate, location to location. Instead, this initiative is the opposite. It calls for a marketing alliance

where the additional funds raised by an increase in the head and bed tax goes to promoting the

recreational and lifestyle advantages of the Great Up North.

The core thesis here is that we to tell a lot more people about what is unique and makes this

area a terrific destination of choice. That’s more important than a couple of dollars per room

advantage or disadvantage.

Northern Lights Marketing recommends discussions with our local tourist bureaus to accomplish

the goal of getting their financial support for the marketing alliance.

Target Funding: $60,000

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Corporate Sponsorships – There are corporate sponsorship (advertising) opportunities on the

Great Up North website and within the community’s websites. Businesses, if marketing

programs can drive significant traffic to the websites, would find excellent media advantages to

sponsoring or advertising on the sites. It would be a brand worth associating themselves with

and every business owner or manager in Cheboygan County knows how critical it is to bring

more visitors and companies here and how that positively affects business growth overall.

Northern Lights Marketing recommends a marketing campaign be developed to find sponsors

for the Great Up North website and the community websites. It would need to be completed and

produced with quality graphics and with sponsorship/advertising rates established.

Target Funding: $20,000

Public Sponsorship – County, townships, villages, cities… this is a marketing alliance. With

economic recovery throughout Cheboygan County being so connected to the successful

marketing of our tourism assets, each level of government interested in economic development

will need to contribute to the campaign.

It is understood that many levels of government are struggling economically all over Cheboygan

County. To support this initiative, budgets should be analyzed and opportunities explored to

support the Great Up North marketing campaign with funding. This is critical to creating

sustainability for the campaign and its results.

We believe if every community entity of government is approached for a fairly apportioned

contribution, the following funding opportunity exists:

As stated earlier in this report, we recommend the establishment of a community-wide

organization known as the Great Up North Placemaking Alliance. It should be an organization

of volunteers from each community who are keenly interested in leading the year-round

marketing and fundraising efforts in their respective communities. Cheboygan County itself

should be an active member in this organization.

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The Great Up North Place making Alliance (Suggested Team Members)

Aloha:

Steve Crusoe

Barb Hall

Richard Kowalcyk

Cheboygan:

Matt Friday

Marshall Beck

Kirsten Guenther

Mike VanFleet

Emillie Kwiatkowski

Indian River:

Dawn Bodnar

Patie Anderson

Guy Wadsworth

Kevin Tucker

Sheryl Marsh

Jane McGinnis

Mackinaw City:

Dawn Edwards

Deb Spence

Jack Keck

Topinabee:

Tom O'Hare

Mary O'Hare

Brian Callahan

Derek Schittekat

Jeff Comps

Wolverine:

Ralph Ochs

Tal Babcock

Beth Carusi

Bob Unthank

Carol Unthank

Target Funding: $50,000

Service Organization Sponsorship – Service organizations in our community are concerned

about economic growth as part of their missions. They know as well as other groups in

Cheboygan County that this area needs tourism marketing and the benefits of bringing potential

new visitors and residents to their communities.

Northern Lights recommends a fundraising campaign to the service organizations of Cheboygan

county for their assistance creating a sustainable and successful marketing campaign for the

Great Up North brand.

Target Funding: $20,000

The Annual Magazine – With private sector management of this resource, a percentage of

advertising revenue from this glossy high quality publication would be designated as set aside

for helping support the Great Up North overall marketing efforts.

Northern Lights suggests the Cheboygan County Economic Development Corporation call for

presentations and proposals for licensing the Great Up North brand to a publisher-printer,

preferably local.

Target Funding: $5,000

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Merchandising – Licensing the Great UP North Brand to a supplier of t-shirts, sweatshirts,

hats, and other merchandise who would sell them at a profit, a portion of which is set aside to

help sustain the marketing campaign year to year. Merchandise could be offered in retail outlets

in the county and online at the Great Up North website.

Northern Lights recommends exploring potential suppliers of merchandise and terms of the

program.

Target Funding: $15,000

Great Up North “Made in Cheboygan County” Online Store (TBD)

We believe there are opportunities for selling non-perishable goods “made in Cheboygan

County” on the online store of the Great Up North website. Participation by vendors would be

free with a portion of proceeds going towards sustaining the marketing plan.

FUNDING SOURCES BUDGET

Area Tourism Bureaus $60,000

Corporate Sponsorships $20,000

Public Sponsorships $50,000

Service Organizations $20,000

Annual Magazine $5,000

Merchandising $15,000

Total Annual $170,000

If the above amount can be raised, additional media buys could be made, such as cable

advertising, special interest websites, social media advertisements, or billboards,

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