Out With Ye Olde
Readers of Yankee Magazine may have noticed a new full-page advertisement in the current issue for someplace called “The Sturbridge Townships.”
Folks here in Worcester may have noticed a billboard for the same.
The Sturbridge Townships is the new marketing identity for Sturbridge and the surrounding towns, and it is accompanied by the tag line “everything but ordinary.” The new campaign was commissioned by the Sturbridge Heritage and Preservation Partnership, and the Sturbridge Area Tourist Association and was designed and carried out by the RDW Group, a marketing firm with offices in Worcester and Providence.
New Perspective
That team should be congratulated for doing anything but the ordinary at a time when many other towns and cities are content to do the same old thing. It seems that every city or town with a desire to revitalize itself wants to do so as an “arts and entertainment” district or destination. And although that was never Sturbridge’s plan, it would’ve been easy for the preservation partnership and the tourist association to fall into the same trap and spend the $125,000 in state money it received to develop the new marketing strategy on ye olde same thing.
Luckily, a market study by RDW and Providence-based Ninigret Partners laid out in blunt terms how big a mistake that would have been. For years, Sturbridge and the surrounding towns relied on Old Sturbridge Village as their economic driver. However, the study found that the living museum, while an important asset, has relatively little economic impact on the surrounding towns. Visitors, the study found, were disappointed that despite expectations cultivated by its marketing, Sturbridge was not Lancaster, Pa. The study also found that many visitors to the area come from within two hours and are surrounded by 19th Century history every day. Ye Olde Gift Shoppe is ye olde hat.
It took courage for the preservation partnership and the tourist association to break with the old way of doing things and to adopt a mature outlook that takes pride in what the area really has to offer. Now, the Sturbridge area is being marketed with what actual visitors have been most impressed by: its natural beauty, the wide array of outdoor activities available in the area, and Old Sturbridge Village as one more thing to do while you’re there — and not as the thematic centerpiece of the region.
Now, the “Sturbridge Townships” has a great chance of attracting the young, active folks so many other areas so eagerly pur-sue.
WBJ Web Partners
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