The A-B-Cs and Ds of how to bring more tourists, residents and businesses to the town of Farragut were presented to the town’s Economic Development Advisory Committee at its May meeting at Town Hall. Carol and Kevin Reeve of Girl on the Roof agency unveiled their findings and recommendations to the group, resulting in a subdued response from the committee.
Kevin Reeve, director of operations for Girl on the Roof, talks about possible strategies for marketing the town of Farragut.
Carol Reeve, chief marketing strategist the agency, didn’t flinch when committee member Jim Holladay addressed the elephant in the room. “I am concerned about the tag lines,” said Holladay. “And the reason is that the town logo was the second most controversial thing we dealt with last year. Did you consider changing that or going in a different direction? Should we put this in front of some focus groups to see what the opinion is?” (Girl on the Roof was not the agency that designed the Farragut: Live Closer Go Further tagline and logo.)
“We were told we would move forward with what there is now in developing a marketing message for the town of Farragut,” said Reeve. “But we can use new tag lines to go with the current one to reach specific audiences.”
The plan outlined A-B-C-D proposals for basic strategies, with the recommendation
that the As and Bs be implemented as the highest priorities.
The majority of the priority recommendations fell in Marketing and Promotion, Tool Development, Website and Social Media. Infrastructure had “easily, recognizable, brand-complementing wayfinding signage” as an A priority, with the Land Development and Programs & Policies categories all ending up with C and D wish lists.
Carol Reeve, chief marketing strategist for Girl on the Roof agency, talks with Julie Barham and Wendy Smith, town of Farragut staff, at the Economic Development Advisory Committee meeting at Town Hall.
Most interesting of the recommendations was the suggestion to take ownership of the town’s reputation as
being hard to deal with for local businesses. “Farragut has a reputation – warranted or not – of being a little more difficult to work with when starting a business. We suggest addressing that and showing how the result is a positive for the culture and livability of the town,” said Carol Reeve.
The message, targeted for prospective and current business owners, included the tagline “a standard for success” and verbiage that says “we have high standards, which is why the Town looks, feels and operates differently.”