BrandingFire Blog

In the July/August 2008 issue of Fast Company is a good article on the new visitor’s center at the Gettysburg National Military Park. Setting aside personal feelings you may have about the new center (some I know don’t like it), the article does a great job of explaining why designers of the center went with the choices they did.

• Basically, the goals were to:
• Increase tourism revenue for the town
• Increase average trouist stay in town
• Engage younger visitors
• Better inform visitors about the battle and the soldiers who fought it
• Increase revenues

The article correctly states that historic sites are having an increasingly difficult time vying for the attention of our increasingly attention-deficit citizens. Americans are used to microwave cooking, fast food, 30 minute entertainment shows and 5 minute thrill rides. Taking day-long tours of sites where something happened decades or even centuries before they were born is almost too much to bear.

“While a movie studio can roll out Indiana Jones sequels, there will never be a Gettysburg 2: Robert E. Lee’s Revenge. The best they (historic sites) can do is to modernize their presentations.” (from the article)

“Most people aren’t visiting to learn. They want to have an experience, to be immersed in something.” Elliott Gruber, vice president, Gettysburg Foundation

You can read the full article here.

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I ran across a nice site called Cultural Heritage Tourism run by (again) The National Trust for Historic Preservation. On their site, they list the Five Principles for Successful and Sustainable Cultural Heritage Tourism. It’s worth a read. The third principle - Make Sites and Programs Come Alive - really hit a cord for me.

Are you confused by the meaning of Web 2.0? Don’t feel bad. I think lots of people out there are. They might have a vague idea that it means something new on the Internet, but they’re not quite sure what. Truth be told, there’s not an “official” definition, but there is a generally accepted one. If you want to read the long definition, go to this Wikipedia entry.

Here’s a quick overview of what we mean when we use the term: Web 2.0 is simply the Internet taken to a collaborative/conversational level. The original World Wide Web allowed you to put up a website and communicate with the world. However, it didn’t really allow the world to communicate back easily or directly. Forums helped some, but they just weren’t enough.

Enter Web 2.0! Around 2003-2004, new web applications started to emerge that would help users of the Internet connect and communicate in a more immediate and fulfilling manner. The conversion of large numbers of users to broadband connection helped to fan the flames. Users could suddenly start adding information to websites instead of simply reading them. Good examples are Wikipedia, eBay, blogs, Twitter, YouTube and mySpace and Facebook.

What does this mean for the history-based organization? It means there’s a whole new world of possibilities to tell your stories. And at the moment, almost no one in this space is using them. What do you want to tell the world? Maybe we can offer some new ideas on how to do it. Add a comment to this post or give us a holler.

I was very fortunate to have been involved with the Internet very early. I have a natural enthusiasm for technology. As my parents used to say, “He likes anything that makes noise, lights up and has buttons.” So I was pretty well at home on the web by the time most people started investigating it. One of the questions I was asked frequently from business people was, “Do you think I should have a website?” My answer was always, “Yes. Yes! YES!” I foresaw the trend of people using the Internet rather than the phone book or catalog when they needed to find a business or product.

Now, it feels like that period all over again as people are asking, “Should I have a blog/podcast/Twitter account, Jaiku account, mySpace page, Facebook account/etc.?” My answer is a resounding, “Maybe….”

If your do it for the right reasons and go in with a clear understanding of what’s required, go for it! If you think you need one because everyone seems to be doing it, or you don’t know that this will take time and effort – and lots of it – forget it. Unlike the old websites that could be thrown up on the Internet and left alone, today’s web applications (including websites) require you to invest work, time and money…continually.

Before you put those branding irons in the fire, answer these questions:

• What are my goals for this blog/podcast/Twitter account, Jaiku account, mySpace page, Facebook account/etc.?
• Do I have enough time to invest in blog posts, Twittering, recording and editing podcasts? (If you answer, “Sure, I’m going to have the PR or Marketing Person do it for me, we have a whole new set of issues to discuss.)
• Do I have enough to say? (It’s easy to post to your blog the first day or record your first podcast. What about a year or two down the road?)
• Do I have anything interesting to say?
• Am I willing to expose my product/company/service to the criticism that might come from this added exposure? How “out there” do I want to be?
• Should I have restrictions on what I talk about (business only, personal issues, funny stories, links to other interesting stuff, links to goofy stuff)?
• How long and I willing to give this before I expect a measurable “payoff”?

Engaging people with these new tools can be very rewarding. You just need to be prepared and educated before you get those irons glowing red hot and realize you’re not prepared to brand the cattle.