Under further construction
here's a plan on promoting the state
I worked on for many years.
not ready
gotta wait
all I know is that I lived there for 20
years and have an awful lot to say!
here's a plan on promoting the state
I worked on for many years.
not ready
gotta wait
all I know is that I lived there for 20
years and have an awful lot to say!
| Jim Hlavac in |
Louisiana Expo
An Economic Development Plan for Louisiana.
April 22, 1998
Introduction
Louisiana is a name that can be “branded” like California Raisins and Florida Oranges. Except we can
apply it to a whole cuisine and culture. The country is fascinated with Louisiana, but on the other hand
we are perennially in the bottom in many rankings of livability.
The market value of Chinese and Mexican foods are approximately $12,000,000,000 per year each.
If Louisiana foods were just half this value we would earn a $6,000,000,000 a year revenue stream to
Louisiana businesses and governments.
Louisiana Expo is a plan to develop this potential using existing resources, monies and people. It is a
plan that will strengthen our culture, our environment, our economy and our quality of life.
17,000,0000 tourists visit Louisiana each year – and go home with a new found love of our foods and
culture.
Several chefs, including John Folse and Emeril Lagasse, have top-rated cooking shows on television
Louisiana music is world-renowned.
Mardi Gras is becoming a national holiday with hundreds of celebrations added each year.
Between Chinese crawfish, fake Louisiana products and our own lack of serious promotion we are
missing out on a huge market.
$25,000,000 was spent last year on all advertising and promoting of Louisiana culture-based items by
hundreds of separate entities across the state, or less than for a Hollywood movie.
Louisiana Expo is a plan to coordinate this spending and develop this potential.
Louisiana Expo has two main parts:
Promoting Louisiana to the rest of the nation
Developing businesses in Louisiana.
Promoting to the Nation
Saturate a single metropolitan market area with Louisiana for one month with:
Trade shows
Mardi Gras parades
Music festivals
Radio shows
Art festivals
TV shows
Food tastings
Coupons
Sponsorships
Celebrity appearances
Restaurant specials
Movie festivals
Travel promotions
All coordinated through radio, TV, outdoor and print advertising that is a cross-promoted, synchronized
marketing blitz.
Following up with a continuing sales effort.
The next year do it all over again in a different metropolitan area.
Developing businesses in Louisiana
Louisiana food processors are small and lack the resources to grow their companies. Many Louisiana
tourist properties need to be upgraded. Louisiana cultural artists from musicians to painters need help
in promoting their arts.
This plan will require:
Investing in new manufacturing facilities
Upgrading distribution systems
Creating combo travel packages
Creating new advertising
Selecting one statewide logo
Upgrading company brochures
Upgrading packaging
Determining nutritional information
Coordinating different industries
Training new employees
Creating new directories and guides
A concerted effort to coordinate all of these elements is needed.
Louisiana has the people and resources in place right now to perform this task
Organization
There is a Governor’s Conference on Tourism held yearly.
There are many industry wide associations with yearly conferences.
There are already many people working to build these businesses in Louisiana
What is needed is a “Governor’s Conference on Promoting Louisiana” that would incorporate all of the
separate elements into one effort.
Participants would be
At the state level:
The departments of Agriculture and Forestry, Culture Recreation & Tourism, Economic Development,
Revenue and Environmental Protection
The private sector:
Owners of tourism properties, restaurants, entertainment, food processing, food growing, seafood
producers, lodging and ad agencies
At the parish and local level:
Economic development agencies, convention & visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce and arts
organizations
Bringing them together is the only way to organize the separate elements of Louisiana Expo into one
coherent whole.
Everyone will be doing exactly what he or she has been doing – except they would coordinate their
efforts in one direction. Every one would benefit individually to the degree of their involvement.
Each private company would make their own money, each government agency would perform their own
tasks and each parish will promote their own area. By doing it all together everyone will benefit
individually – and the state will benefit as a whole.
A central vision and direction with a written plan would guide all this.
Will it Work?
If the $25,000,000 Louisiana spends on promotion were targeted into one metropolitan area, say
Atlanta, we could do the following:
Hold a Louisiana Expo at the Omni Center to introduce business owners to Louisiana products, goods
and services. Tell them we will create the customers for them if they carry the products.
Hold food tastings at hundreds of food stores and restaurants to introduce these foods to the public.
Hold a Mardi Gras parade, food and music festivals so that people will get excited and have fun with
Louisiana things.
Hand out travel information to everyone at any of these events.
Introduce Louisiana artists to galleries and museums
Have Louisiana music on the radio, Louisiana-themed TV shows broadcast Louisiana-connected
movies at theaters.
Publish special sections in dozens of magazines and weeklies
Tie it all together with an advertising campaign of radio, TV, outdoor, direct mail and print that would
promote all of the events and generate excitement, which will transfer into customers.
And maintain the follow –up program to keep the customers generated.
There are 4,000,000 people in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. If only one million of them participate in
some way by spending an average of $25 each that one-month’s revenue of $25,000,000 would justify
the $25,000,000 spent.
In each month to come, with proper follow-up efforts, about half this level of sales can be approached –
or $12,500,000 per month in revenues from Atlanta customers.
If Disney can spend $50,000,000 promoting the Lion King and make $2,000,0000,000 on a one time
project it is obvious that we can take the same methods and spend $25,000,000 in coordinated
promotion of Louisiana and make $6,000,000,000 annually from a on-going endeavor.
An Economic Development Plan for Louisiana.
April 22, 1998
Introduction
Louisiana is a name that can be “branded” like California Raisins and Florida Oranges. Except we can
apply it to a whole cuisine and culture. The country is fascinated with Louisiana, but on the other hand
we are perennially in the bottom in many rankings of livability.
The market value of Chinese and Mexican foods are approximately $12,000,000,000 per year each.
If Louisiana foods were just half this value we would earn a $6,000,000,000 a year revenue stream to
Louisiana businesses and governments.
Louisiana Expo is a plan to develop this potential using existing resources, monies and people. It is a
plan that will strengthen our culture, our environment, our economy and our quality of life.
17,000,0000 tourists visit Louisiana each year – and go home with a new found love of our foods and
culture.
Several chefs, including John Folse and Emeril Lagasse, have top-rated cooking shows on television
Louisiana music is world-renowned.
Mardi Gras is becoming a national holiday with hundreds of celebrations added each year.
Between Chinese crawfish, fake Louisiana products and our own lack of serious promotion we are
missing out on a huge market.
$25,000,000 was spent last year on all advertising and promoting of Louisiana culture-based items by
hundreds of separate entities across the state, or less than for a Hollywood movie.
Louisiana Expo is a plan to coordinate this spending and develop this potential.
Louisiana Expo has two main parts:
Promoting Louisiana to the rest of the nation
Developing businesses in Louisiana.
Promoting to the Nation
Saturate a single metropolitan market area with Louisiana for one month with:
Trade shows
Mardi Gras parades
Music festivals
Radio shows
Art festivals
TV shows
Food tastings
Coupons
Sponsorships
Celebrity appearances
Restaurant specials
Movie festivals
Travel promotions
All coordinated through radio, TV, outdoor and print advertising that is a cross-promoted, synchronized
marketing blitz.
Following up with a continuing sales effort.
The next year do it all over again in a different metropolitan area.
Developing businesses in Louisiana
Louisiana food processors are small and lack the resources to grow their companies. Many Louisiana
tourist properties need to be upgraded. Louisiana cultural artists from musicians to painters need help
in promoting their arts.
This plan will require:
Investing in new manufacturing facilities
Upgrading distribution systems
Creating combo travel packages
Creating new advertising
Selecting one statewide logo
Upgrading company brochures
Upgrading packaging
Determining nutritional information
Coordinating different industries
Training new employees
Creating new directories and guides
A concerted effort to coordinate all of these elements is needed.
Louisiana has the people and resources in place right now to perform this task
Organization
There is a Governor’s Conference on Tourism held yearly.
There are many industry wide associations with yearly conferences.
There are already many people working to build these businesses in Louisiana
What is needed is a “Governor’s Conference on Promoting Louisiana” that would incorporate all of the
separate elements into one effort.
Participants would be
At the state level:
The departments of Agriculture and Forestry, Culture Recreation & Tourism, Economic Development,
Revenue and Environmental Protection
The private sector:
Owners of tourism properties, restaurants, entertainment, food processing, food growing, seafood
producers, lodging and ad agencies
At the parish and local level:
Economic development agencies, convention & visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce and arts
organizations
Bringing them together is the only way to organize the separate elements of Louisiana Expo into one
coherent whole.
Everyone will be doing exactly what he or she has been doing – except they would coordinate their
efforts in one direction. Every one would benefit individually to the degree of their involvement.
Each private company would make their own money, each government agency would perform their own
tasks and each parish will promote their own area. By doing it all together everyone will benefit
individually – and the state will benefit as a whole.
A central vision and direction with a written plan would guide all this.
Will it Work?
If the $25,000,000 Louisiana spends on promotion were targeted into one metropolitan area, say
Atlanta, we could do the following:
Hold a Louisiana Expo at the Omni Center to introduce business owners to Louisiana products, goods
and services. Tell them we will create the customers for them if they carry the products.
Hold food tastings at hundreds of food stores and restaurants to introduce these foods to the public.
Hold a Mardi Gras parade, food and music festivals so that people will get excited and have fun with
Louisiana things.
Hand out travel information to everyone at any of these events.
Introduce Louisiana artists to galleries and museums
Have Louisiana music on the radio, Louisiana-themed TV shows broadcast Louisiana-connected
movies at theaters.
Publish special sections in dozens of magazines and weeklies
Tie it all together with an advertising campaign of radio, TV, outdoor, direct mail and print that would
promote all of the events and generate excitement, which will transfer into customers.
And maintain the follow –up program to keep the customers generated.
There are 4,000,000 people in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. If only one million of them participate in
some way by spending an average of $25 each that one-month’s revenue of $25,000,000 would justify
the $25,000,000 spent.
In each month to come, with proper follow-up efforts, about half this level of sales can be approached –
or $12,500,000 per month in revenues from Atlanta customers.
If Disney can spend $50,000,000 promoting the Lion King and make $2,000,0000,000 on a one time
project it is obvious that we can take the same methods and spend $25,000,000 in coordinated
promotion of Louisiana and make $6,000,000,000 annually from a on-going endeavor.