I have traveled for years on business to cities but rarely for a vacation. Usually these find me headed to smaller towns and the great outdoors. The trip I just made to Portland, Oregon over the past week, though, was an eye opener from a marketing standpoint. I had a bit more time to soak in the nuances of the local businesses, the people and economy than I might during a business trip. This extra time to soak in the surroundings really got me thinking about the Portland “brand” and how it’s competing with other destinations in a tough economy.
Portland Businesses
Portland reminds me of Austin, but in a woodsy sort of way. While Austin has an incomparable music scene, Portland has incomparable food. Both towns have larger rivals but none of the rivals have the local soul that Austin injects into its music and Portland folds into its food. From the farmers’ markets to restaurants and brew pubs (most of any city in the US) there is a passion for food. It probably helped that I was there during peak berry season and fresh berries and produce were everywhere I looked…oh, and that I love craft brews!
From a marketing point of view, my key takeaway was reinforcement of “being” one’s competitive advantage in every way. Portland plays up this passion for local food, local business and local stewardship everywhere, all the time. In short, it makes an art out of marketing it breweries, its food and its woodsy vibe.
Portland People
The folks in Portland were remarkably friendly – and I was raised a Southerner so I feel I’m at least somewhat qualified to make such a comparative statement. From the folks paid to be friendly like the saviors that helped us navigate the ticket machines at the rail stations, to the average person on the street, we found friendly folks all around. Maybe it was just the effect of the first really warm, sunny days of the year, or the Waterfront Blues Festival’s 100+ bands over four days, or the nation’s birthday weekend, but I suspect not.
Portland is going through tough times economically, tougher than most cities in the country according to the local media. Even so, the locals seem instinctive about being nice to visitors – a bit like the Aloha spirit of the people of Hawaii that help make it such a great place to visit. Grassroots tourism marketing by the people is a solid base for tourism marketing.
Portland Economy
As I just noted, times in Portland are a bit tough. The local economy is centered on the production of durables (timber, manufacturing, the port/shipping, etc.) and, outside of Detroit, has suffered as much or more than most cities in the US from the recession’s downturn. At the same time, the local people and businesses seem a very focused and creative lot so I’m betting the city will emerge even more clear about its competitive advantages. From what I could see, these include its ability to attract the creative class (like Austin) and spur its technology development base to provide longer-term diversification from its agriculture, materials and durables manufacturing heritage.
One great sign of the city’s focus on tourism service was on display as we were on the way out of town. It came from a service employee on the street that helped us navigate the light rail back to the airport – he was excited about the Elks convention that was in town (he estimated over 10,000 attendees), but just as excited to hear we’d be coming back in April.