Editorial

Time for Springfield to Get Its Message Out

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno is right.
The city is, in many respects, like a company with products, he told BusinessWest. And like those companies, it has to sell itself if it wants to grow and prosper. And so, what is being touted as Springfield’s first major marketing program is getting underway.
‘Make it Happen’ is the new marketing slogan, or tagline, and while it remains to be seen whether that message resonates with people here and elsewhere, and if the $100,000 budgeted over the next two years is anywhere near enough to properly convey the message — there is no debating that Springfield simply must begin to market itself, and in a big way.
Why? Well, there are several reasons, all of them spelled out in the Urban Land Institute (ULI) report completed a few years ago. In short, marketing works — whether it’s for a car manufacturer, a cereal maker, a political candidate, or a city — if it’s done properly and consistently. And while the city is late getting into this game, late is better than never.
To elaborate, marketing is, in most all cases, a proactive and very necessary activity. And for far too long, Springfield has been much too reactive. In other words, the city has been far too content to let others control the message being sent about it, and that simply must change.
That’s because the message out there, by and large, is that Springfield is an old, tired manufactured city whose best days are years, decades, or perhaps a century or more behind it. The message being sent is that the City of Homes is a place where it’s not happening, and probably can’t happen.
So to achieve progress, Springfield needs to change the message, and more importantly, it has to back up what it says.
‘Make it Happen’ is a nod to Springfield’s past, when it was, as everyone knows by now, a city of firsts, from the motorcycle to the board game; from the ice skate to the parking meter. All those things and many others happened here. But it wasn’t just products, it was highly successful companies created to make those products.
It’s been some time since there’s been a real first in Springfield, and many things have changed since the city earned that reputation. Competition is truly global now, and Springfield is in many ways at a disadvantage in terms of climate, geography, and the cost of doing business. But people can still makes things happen here, as FloDesign Wind Turbine, Seahorse Bioscience, and those bringing the Scuderi engine to the marketplace can attest.
It’s time Springfield started to tell these stories, and join cities like Lowell, Providence, and countless others and get its message out.
And a big part of this process is creating awareness, and a positive attitude within this market. Indeed, it’s probably safe to say that people far outside this market have a better impression of Springfield than many people who live and work here. Putting the ‘Make it Happen’ image on a billboard or the side of a bus won’t change attitudes overnight, but they can perhaps get people thinking that maybe, just maybe, the glass is actually half-full.
For too long, city officials and civic and business leaders have taken the approach that, if they can just get the local media to stop focusing so much on crime, poverty, and high dropout rates, then things will be much better. It doesn’t work that way; cities have to do things about those problems, not wish them away. And they have to change attitudes.
Like it or not, the perception of Springfield is that this city, like many older manufacturing centers, is troubled and tired, a place where you must summon the past tense when using terms such as ‘vibrant,’ ‘energetic,’ and ‘relevant.’
Whether this perception is indeed reality is a matter of conjecture. But there is no debating that, unless the city takes steps to change and control the message — and marketing is a big part of this equation — then perception will become reality.