“In the 1960′s little Leavenworth, Washington’s population had dwindled significantly since its boom days as a railroad and logging town east of Seattle. Town officials dreamed up a last ditch effort to save the town from total demise and converted it to a Bavarian-themed destination. Businesses caught on and now the town is as alpine as can be in the Cascade Range. Surprisingly without being too kitschy, Leavenworth is a must-stop town for tourists and Washington locals alike. Now with their nutty mascot, Woody Goomsba and this hilarious video, Leavenworth is making the most of its reinvented location.”

This is brilliant. I’m still amazed that small town leadership would take such a huge risk, but it has paid off big time. They did something fun, the campaign got noticed and they are reaping the benefits. (A nice outcome given the dire straits the town was in before they conceived of this.)

Here are the takeaways for economic development and tourism professionals – it works because:

• It takes a stand and takes a risk
• It embraces a niche market and sells the hell out of it
• It’s a complete campaign that engaged the local community
• It’s funny, memorable and completely unexpected from LEAVENWORTH (!) – how can you not take notice?

Sure beats “Live. Work. Play.” now doesn’t it?  

The campaign asks residents to submit their “with love” idea in the hopes of  having them selected to appear on one of the billboards along I-95 purchased for the campaign. They are also encouraged to share their billboard ideas via social networks, thus increasing the reach of the campaign further.

Although crowdsourced campaigns often have the potential to go terribly wrong (see Gap logo fiasco October 2010), this one falls less on the side of exploiting the crowd being sourced, and more on the side of rallying that crowd to create pride in the city they love. It is admittedly a very fine line.

This campaign is smart and they are already getting great material for the billboards. The sharing, bragging and smiles that will come from this campaign will have a positive effect on the city and its visitors. A nice initiative all around.

You can learn more here.

Found via Place Marketing Group.

This post represents the best of what I thought was tweet-worthy in 2010. I challenge you to do the same and post your best of in the comments section or @ me on Twitter.

You can follow me here. I’d love to connect.

- HC

Best Tweets of Q4

One of the best posts I’ve read on writing for the web and email: http://ow.ly/3vMX3

RT @mashable 5 Ways Cities Are Using Social Media to Reverse Economic Downturn – http://on.mash.to/hm2l2n #econdev #placebranding

Very cool. RT @fastcompany San Francisco Aims for 100% Green Power by 2020 http://bit.ly/fKJpO0 #econdev

Hip does not equal sustainable. RT @mellormurray Great post – Cool or uncool cities? What really matters is prosperity http://ow.ly/3p20G

Need a social media policy for your EDO? Good database of corporate, gov’t and non-profit examples here: http://ow.ly/3hq2k #econdev #sm

RT @mellormurray How do you measure economic development success? http://ow.ly/39xqD

Approaching tourism from a regional perspective. Applies to #econdev too. http://ow.ly/35v4G (via @sandyratliff)

RT @jupia Low corporate taxes not a major draw of foreign investment; Conference Board http://bit.ly/c7TRa7

Business incubators as an #econdev tool – more likely to succeed AND stay local when they do – http://bit.ly/b4H7KK (via @EcDevComDev)

Best Tweets of Q3

Data as a municipal asset. http://bit.ly/b2A36R (via @MartinProsperiT) We were pretty impressed when Vancouver did this: http://ow.ly/2K8OH

Interesting ideas in here for cities/ #econdev too RT @mashable How Universities Can Win Big With Location-Based Apps – http://mash.to/2Io3I

Good news for small cities! RT @urbanophile Michigan State Study: Networks, not size, give cities competitive edge – http://is.gd/eTB9H

Don’t rely on clean tech industries for job creation: http://ow.ly/2qoIT via McKinsey Quarterly

How cities are using mobile apps for tourism and economic development http://ow.ly/2qoFL #econdev #tourism #placebranding

Why low taxes alone won’t get the job done for economic development. http://bit.ly/apHlhT via @edmarketingpro #econdev

“I‘ve seen thousands of ads that were too complicated or too generic. I’ve never seen one that was too simple or too specific”-@adcontrarian

Is marketing really the job of economic developers? Damn right it is. Our thoughts on why: http://ow.ly/2keu5 #econdev

Best Tweets of Q2

Make lemonade out of a tourism lemon: Wales sells the hell out of its shortcomings http://ow.ly/21aSs #placebranding #tourism

Real-life example of the diff’ce a copywriting tweak can make: Adding the word “not” increases organ donors like crazy! http://ow.ly/23leJ

For economic developers, tourists in your city are like fish in a barrel. They are here, loving the place – take aim and market like crazy!

Marketing in lean economic times is a competitive advantage. Here’s why: http://ow.ly/1Tvn1

One of the most pragmatic and intelligent articles I’ve read about social media measurement. http://bit.ly/c5qI4B @AmberCadabra

A great tourism campaign rises from the ash cloud: http://ow.ly/1VENs Iceland’s new commercial is sooooo good. #econdev #tourism

Australia seeks to attract business investment with new logo. http://ow.ly/1PKhx Australia Unlimited? I give it a 4 out of 10.

@PureMichigan deserves their own “Ads We Love” blog post I think. Amazing job guys. http://bit.ly/9O8ldx

on3 is THRILLED to announce that we’ll be opening an Atlantic Canada office! http://bit.ly/de5OXk

Best Tweets of Q1

Colorado tries to woo California companies away with campaign professing their love: http://bit.ly/baITtc

Email marketing you can measure: http://bit.ly/bKy5WU

Love how this CEO thinks about digital vs. traditional – i.e. there is no “vs.” http://bit.ly/cyY1kD Found via @danaditomaso (via @acriley)

Why companies are choosing to locate in smaller cities. http://bit.ly/7KGiaM

Survey of 1,000+ EDOs (US): Median marketing budget for effective marketers? $99,000. Ineffective ones? $40,000 from http://bit.ly/aIJ1BE

The avg company that blogs: 55% more visitors, 97% more inbound links, 434% more indexed pages. via @hubspot. Only 11% of Cdn EDOs blog.

Test your email campaigns to improve results! Lots of studies that show why it’s so worth it can be found here: http://bit.ly/9CUsIV

Eleven myths of economic development. http://bit.ly/5v9Og

Neat tourism/ec dev idea: private company sponsoring free parking. In this case, very colourful! http://bit.ly/c6fbgv via @ibelieveinadv

Place Branding: 5 ways to get it right http://bit.ly/ak7esO

If you are a city/region on Twitter, you WILL get negative feedback. The opportunity lies in how you respond.

Why you shouldn’t hire a local marketing agency: http://bit.ly/8Ah0oo

We are pleased to present the results of the 2nd Annual Economic Development Marketing in Canada survey. In June and July of 2010, we asked members of the Economic Developers Association of Canada about their marketing practices, budgets, challenges and ambitions. The results are now available, and will serve as a valuable resource for the profession when it comes to benchmarking, planning and budgeting.

Some of this year’s key findings include:

• Business attraction is the top-ranked marketing objective. Business retention is a distant second.
• 37% of respondents say their website is the single most effective marketing technique they are using, and 70% have a dedicated, frequently updated web presence.
• With the exception of radio, advertising has decreased overall. Those that indicated they aren’t doing any advertising at all has increased by 8% over the 2009 survey.
• The adoption of social media is increasing, and continues to be the top planned activity identified for 2011.

A big thanks to all the respondents who took the time to participate. We will continue to conduct the survey annually and welcome your feedback, questions and suggestions. We hope you find it useful.

You can view and download the 2010 and 2009 surveys here.

• Be Specific in Your Messaging: Why “Live, Work, Play” and other clichés will harm your marketing efforts.
• Does Your Economic Development Website Speak Effectively to Site Selectors?:  Highlights from a US-based study of site selectors regarding their frustrations and preferences when it comes to ec dev web properties.
• 8 Tips for Getting Started with Social Media and Email: As more economic developers embrace new social tools, it is important to realize that when it comes to these new marketing channels, the old rules simply don’t apply. Here are 8 tips that cover ideas, etiquette and advice for getting started.
• Has Branding Become a Dirty Word? Our most popular EDAC White Paper, where we explore myths and misconceptions about place branding.
• Branding a City: One of our very first blog posts, this one covers off why place branding is different, and more complex, than other types of branding.
• Place Branding Inspiration Gallery: Over the years, we’ve reviewed quite a few logos and re-branding efforts from cities and regions around the world. Here are 7 posts to get you thinking about your own visual identity and branding program.

Have you subscribed to our RSS feed yet? Grab the feed here.

My reaction when I saw this was “Neat!” And it is. It’s a really different and interesting concept, and a surprisingly hip little move on the part of the Canadian government (for which they should be applauded). That said, I’m skeptical about how effective it will be. Surely the American passerbys will also think it is neat, but will some random tweets and photos be enough to lure their tourist dollars to Canada? Or will they simply say “neat” and carry on with their lives? The displays ran until the end of July, so time will tell if they had any measurable impact.

You can learn more here.