Public Relations

Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce

Challenge

After the Waldo Canyon Fire in 2012, when Manitou Springs was evacuated, two years of severe flooding during tourist season undermined the town’s retail sales, forcing some businesses to close. The Manitou Chamber hired us in 2013 to develop a strategic marketing program that would increase customers for local businesses and boost attendance at major community events by putting Manitou front and center as a destination for events and shopping.

Strategy

In the autumn of 2013, our marketing campaign, “We’ve got Manitude,” and two weekends of We’ve Got Manitude Block Parties let people know the streets were clean and dry, and the restaurants, shops, galleries and attractions were open for business!

To build on the success of that campaign, we followed with a strategic event in the spring of 2014, before tourist season and the summer heavy rains began. We staged and hosted a Media Roundtable, with the police chief, fire department, mayor, city administrator and public works director presenting evidence to the media of extensive flood-mitigation work that had been done in and above Manitou that would eliminate the hazard of debris careening downstream during thunderstorms.

Results

The We’ve got Manitude kick-off received extensive local media coverage, attracted thousands of visitors, and simultaneously reinvigorated and showcased the can-do spirit of Manitou Springs, a resilient, funky, historic tourist town.

We followed the Manitude effort with seasonal campaigns and special events that kept the town front and center in people’s minds and helped stabilize and improve economic activity in the town.

In addition, at the Media Roundtable, all of the local print media outlets and TV stations sent reporters or editors, who wrote or broadcast details of the numerous improvements, garnering widespread positive media coverage for Manitou.