Gulf Shores - Postal Branding Effort Pitched

Veteran marketing man wants to sell investment potential of Alabama's coast
Published By Mobile Press Register
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
By RYAN DEZEMBERStaff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH -- Gary Gilpin, a Gulf Shores resident with a long career in resort marketing, has proposed a plan to brand Alabama's Gulf Coast in order to lure capital, permanent residents and government money.
"We're at a very important time in our history, a crossroads of sorts," Gilpin told the Orange Beach City Council on Monday. "We have the chance to take more control of our destiny than we already have by creating a strong single voice, a brand if you will, to market and create an awareness that this is a highly desirable live-work-play location in America."
While the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau focuses on attracting tourism and the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance works to draw businesses, Gilpin said the group he wants to create, Baldwin Coastal Marketing Alliance, would center itself on getting the word out about Alabama's beaches to those around the nation that can best help the area grow.
When he talks about the Alabama Gulf Coast, Gilpin said he is referring to not just Orange Beach and Gulf Shores but also Foley, Magnolia Springs and Elberta. And he wants a wide range of participants in the effort, from car dealers and developers to Realtors, bankers and elected leaders.
Advertising would not be general, "but rifle shots at the places that are going to influence our growth the most," he said. And it would be targeted to areas outside the six-hour driving distance that the Convention and Visitors Bureau has developed as the zone in which much of the area's tourism is drawn from. Gilpin said he wants to entice developers, investors and residents from Detroit, New York, Cleveland and Chicago.
"It's a great concept, because we need to get beyond these borders and talk about what's positive," said City Councilwoman Tracy Holiday, who also works in marketing. "But we definitely need to find out who the audience is, because it's not Birmingham, it's not Montgomery, it's not Atlanta anymore, it's way outside of that."
The organization's goal, Gilpin said following his Orange Beach presentation, would be to broadcast the story of Alabama's beaches so thoroughly that local developers and Realtors won't have to waste the first part of their pitch explaining what the state's Gulf Coast offers potential buyers, investors or lenders.
"It's an easier sell if people already know about the Alabama Gulf Coast," he said.
Besides having a combined voice in halls of government, Gilpin said he hoped the message would resonate in the financial world as well.
"We can go to the banking communities and be known and people will be a lot more ready to lend money down here than they are today," he said. "I don't know how many times I've heard, 'you want me to lend what to where?'"
Gilpin, who also worked locally with a group of developers and landowners with projects along the Intracoastal Waterway to market the budding resort district along the canal, said he wasn't sure yet how his proposed efforts would be funded. He didn't ask city leaders for money, though he indicated that he might in the future. He envisioned a blend of public and private funding.
"I'm just trying to build up a groundswell of support for this, trying to figure out if everyone else thinks it's as important as I do," he told Orange Beach officials. "And then I'll start thinking of a funding mechanism for it. I'm not going to say I have all those pieces and parts, because I don't."
Late last month Gilpin made his presentation to the Gulf Shores City Council, and he said Monday that he plans to takes his proposal to developers, private business interests and economic development leaders.
Reception at both city halls has been generally warm, but the mayors of both beach cities said they'd need to hear more before signing up for anything.
"I think we have to find out a lot more information," Orange Beach Mayor Pete Blalock said Monday. "One thing I don't want to do is duplicate what someone else is already doing."
Gulf Shores Mayor G.W. "Billy" Duke III, though, said he isn't worried much about doubling efforts because Gilpin has already run his plans by Convention and Visitors Bureau leadership.
"He's talking more about getting permanent people here, not just tourists," Duke said late Monday. "He's really talking about a market that nobody's looking at."