Much of our consulting work consists of advising clients on their decisions about strategic planning or implementation, or about marketing—and as such it is usually not memorialized in reports. The links below will give you some examples of work which did result in full reports, as well as some white papers. They will also connect you to some examples of the way we approach some of the intellectual and practical issues around creating better places.
The Route 6 Report
Our task was to look at the area along a 440 mile long historic highway that crosses northern Pennsylvania from New Jersey to Ohio, to describe the character of the places there, and to recommend how the route might be promoted for tourism. In the course of the work we collected stories that reflect deep attitudes toward place, did substantial formal research, synthesized our work into a set of key themes, and made concrete recommendations for promotion.
A Strategic Plan for Place-Based Tourism in Warren County, PA
The Pennsylvania Wilds is a new tourism region in the state’s Northern Tier, and its tourism metrics (visitor counts and economic impact) show it to be struggling. Warren County, within the Pennsylvania Wilds, is one of the lowest performing counties. In this report we uncovered the deep structural problems that stand in the way of successful tourism growth, and made a range of recommendations for how to overcome them.
PA Regional Marketing
Regionalism has long been considered the holy grail of tourism marketing, but it has been defeated over and over by narrow loyalties to small destinations that alone do not have the assets to attract significant visiting nor the resources to carry out efficient marketing. Pennsylvania was the first state to succeed in restructuring its state support for tourism marketing along regional lines--and this report, on which we were lead consultants and the principal author, made it possible.
White Paper: The Cultural Traveler - Myths and Realities
This white paper prepared for a conference of the PA State Association of Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus looks at some widespread misconceptions about the cultural traveler and discusses what is real and what destination marketers can actually use.
White Paper: Staying Connected in the Micropolis
This paper discusses the general need to provide reliable electronic connectivity in certain communities in northern Pennsylvania.
Article: Rebuilding New Orleans, 20 Big Ideas and a Postscript
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1619 or you may choose to go to
http://www.metropolismag.com and in their search engine type 20 big ideas and a postscript
Shortly after New Orleans was flooded when the federally constructed levees failed in 2005, we wrote this piece for the website of Metropolis magazine, suggesting some directions for rebuilding.
Television ads from New Orleans Tourism
These television advertisements were created under our supervision, and we contributed most of the scripts. They are an example of how tourism promotion can reflect the true character of a place.
Paul Prudhomme
Jazz Music Spot
Gospel Music Spot
Rhythm & Blues Music Spot
Podcast about the Finger Lakes in Upstate NY
Podcasts developed by PLACES demonstrate the power of stories in conveying a sense of place.
Character of Place in Philadelphia
An HD shoot in Philadelphia to capture visually Character of Place in the region.
PA Governor’s Conference “Heritage and Character of Place”
Video of PA Governor’s Conference Speech
This talk was given at a Governor’s Conference, Destination Pennsylvania, themed to transforming communities through place-based tourism. The conference was based on several years of our work in the state.
The Pennsylvania Culinary Society
http://www.paculinarysociety.org/
We conceived and organized the Pennsylvania Culinary Society, and created this website to promote a new Pennsylvania regional cuisine
The Emergence of Local Foodstyles
A report on the forces in the food marketplace that are converging to create distinctive regional food styles in the United States and particularly in Pennsylvania.
Research reports for Philadelphia tourism
GPTMC tourism 2001 report
This report interprets research done by Longwoods International, a Canadian company we have worked with in several destinations. We created most of the report.
GPTMC tourism 2002 report
The sources of this report are broader; again the report is largely our work.
GPTMC Full Case Statement for Investing in Tourism Marketing
We worked with several other firms to produce this comprehensive case for investing in tourism marketing in Philadelphia.
Email survey of gophia.com
Our client, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation had created at our recommendation an online affinity group of travelers and tested marketing to that group. This report describes the results of that very successful campaign.