Branding effort goes back to basics: Western Mass it is

NORTHAMPTON — Western Mass is the new brand being unveiled in a joint marketing campaign by the Greater Springfield Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts to promote the region to tourists and draw people into the local workforce.

The use of the term Western Mass means that the former West Mass branding — announced with fanfare in February but immediately met with negative feedback from the public — is being abandoned in favor of a term already familiar to those who live, work and study in the Pioneer Valley.

“We opted to course correct,” said Bureau president Mary Kay Wydra.

“Our hope is that we all start talking Western Mass. and use the same language,” Wydra added.

EDC president Rick Sullivan said the decision to put West Mass on pause in April was made as evidence mounted that it wouldn’t work.

“We were asking people to call ourselves something we’re not,” Sullivan said Tuesday.

But Sullivan and Wydra say the partnership between the two Springfield organizations and the campaign, which will primarily be used to promote the region in Boston, New York City and Connecticut, are important for the companies and institutions throughout the Pioneer Valley that are finding it difficult to fill positions.

“We were really looking for a brand that resonates outside the region to attract people in,” Sullivan said. “Why not tie the message for economic development to travel and tourism?”

There have been constant challenges in recruiting, training and retaining talent in the region, something Sullivan learned when he began in his position 2½ years ago.

“The biggest issue, in fact pretty much the only issue, was workforce,” Sullivan said, referring to the region’s employers.

Sullivan said members wanted to deploy a term in the marketing that would allow the region to be talked about in a positive way. “That hasn’t been done before,” he said.

The marketing work is tying in with one of the primary strengths of the region, specifically the community colleges and vocational schools.

EDC is working to match up skill sets and ensure this translates into what is needed by employers. Sullivan pointed to Chinese rail car maker CRRC MA USA working with students at the Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy, the close connections between Holyoke Community College and MGM, which will operate the casino in Springfield, and Greenfield Community College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst teaming up on environmental sustainability education.

Sullivan said his organization is working to create career pathways and better training to supplement existing workforce development programs that have proven insufficient to meet the demand for current and projected job openings.

“It’s a different place with different opportunities than it was 10 years ago,” Sullivan said.

Both Sullivan and Wydra are confident that the marketing campaign can be successful in getting people to learn more about what is offered in the region, in addition to the well-known attractions such as the Basketball Hall of Fame, Yankee Candle, Six Flags New England and the Eric Carle Museum.

“It’s all about a geo-locator for us,” Wydra said.

Wydra said she remains pleased with the work done by Cubic Creative, a company in Oklahoma, observing that it was an internal decision to push for West Mass. The company was hired at a cost of $80,000 to help with the branding effort, according to Wydra.

“The work of Cubic got us to Western, we went one step further,” Wydra said.

After reaching out to detractors, the Isenberg school at UMass did a survey of millennials that found 97 percent preferred Western Mass to be the term used for promoting the Pioneer Valley region of Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties.

Cubic’s work has created a style guide and a campaign that uses the phrase “find your firsts.” Local designers are being hired to translate elements of this into print and video.

Meanwhile, next year’s opening of MGM can only benefit the region, Sullivan and Wydra said. Sullivan said MGM has made efforts to tie itself into local businesses and pledged to spend $50 million locally, while conventions and other visitors could fill hotel rooms.

“From a tourism perspective, we see it as bringing tourists here,” Wydra said.

While there may only be so many dollars people can spend, Sullivan said the economic pie can get bigger, and that cities and towns worried about losing out to the casino should welcome people who otherwise might not come to western Massachusetts.

“When you knit it all together, it’s a compelling story why people should come here to visit, but also why people should come here to live and work,” Sullivan said.