Houston

[RedScare]

Tory Gattis over at Houston Strategies linked to Rice University's website and it's attempt to let prospective students know about Houston. Here's the link:

http://www.explore.rice.edu/explore/Housto...SnID=1934431316

The Top Ten list, accompanied by music is one of the best promos of Houston that I've ever seen. The Convention and Visitors Bureau needs to beg, borrow or bogart this promo for their ad campaigns.

Go watch it. It's cooler than you think!

[ProHouston]

Tory Gattis over at Houston Strategies linked to Rice University's website and it's attempt to let prospective students know about Houston. Here's the link:

http://www.explore.rice.edu/explore/Housto...SnID=1934431316

The Top Ten list, accompanied by music is one of the best promos of Houston that I've ever seen. The Convention and Visitors Bureau needs to beg, borrow or bogart this promo for their ad campaigns.

Go watch it. It's cooler than you think!

That is pretty slick, I love it!

[musicman]

Tory Gattis over at Houston Strategies linked to Rice University's website and it's attempt to let prospective students know about Houston. Here's the link:

http://www.explore.rice.edu/explore/Housto...SnID=1934431316

The Top Ten list, accompanied by music is one of the best promos of Houston that I've ever seen. The Convention and Visitors Bureau needs to beg, borrow or bogart this promo for their ad campaigns.

Go watch it. It's cooler than you think!

Concur great website and slogan. Now if we can only get Mayor White to do an accompanying TV commercial so he can say "U-ston, it's cooler than you think!" I don't know why he doesn't pronounce the letter H!

[KimberlySayWhat]

Fly! I like.

[MidtownCoog]

Nice.

I read Rice plans to build new dorms and expand the student body.

[Sunstar]

I don't know, maybe I'm missing something here, but isn't this the same old tired, overblown statistics about having the second largest number of theater seats and the third largest number of consulates all tied together with Flash in a cheesy countdown motif? And it's kind of hard to tout the average winter temperature when it's 98 and 90% humidity for 5 months straight.

[MidtownCoog]

90% humidity for 5 months straight.

Myth buster. Only 90% in the morning, when it's in the 70s.

May 74.5 91% 64% 0 6 5.2 6 11 14

June 80.4 92% 63% 0 20 5.0 7 13 9

July 82.6 92% 61% 0 27 3.6 7 16 8

August 82.3 93% 61% 0 26 3.5 6 17 8

September 78.2 92% 63%

http://www.cityrating.com/cityweather.asp?city=Houston

Edited April 26, 2006 by MidtownCoog

[RedScare]

And it's kind of hard to tout the average winter temperature when it's 98 and 90% humidity for 5 months straight.

Show me the day that it was 98 degrees AND 90% humidity...just one. Hell, show me one where it was 90 degrees AND 90% humidity.

Here's a link to get you started.

www.weatherunderground.com

[Highway6]

Do y'all think we have it better off weather-wise then say Dallas ?

If you had to choose between mid 90s and high humidity... or... 110 and lower humidity...

Yeah.. our summers aren't the best.. but they're not unbearable either..

One of the worst summers I can remember from my childhood was august at Inks Lake in the Hill Country. Not so much humidity.. but trying to camp outdoors while its 120 at night.. That was miserable.

If enduring Houston summer means a slim to no chance of having to deal with snow and ice.... thats a good trade off in my mind.

[TJones]

SWEET !

[Sunstar]

Show me the day that it was 98 degrees AND 90% humidity...just one. Hell, show me one where it was 90 degrees AND 90% humidity.

Here's a link to get you started.

www.weatherunderground.com

Thanks for the link, but my point is simply that I don't think this is an effective marketing piece, or at least unique from what we've seen in the past.

[Houston19514]

That is hands down the best marketing piece I've ever seen for Houston. It's about time!

Sunstar, I don't understand your attitude. Why in the world do hot summers make it hard to tout comfortable winters???? That makes no sense at all. (And you'd have more credibility if you tried to be a little more accurate about the summer climate.)

[ProHouston]

Do y'all think we have it better off weather-wise then say Dallas ?

If you had to choose between mid 90s and high humidity... or... 110 and lower humidity...

Yeah.. our summers aren't the best.. but they're not unbearable either..

One of the worst summers I can remember from my childhood was august at Inks Lake in the Hill Country. Not so much humidity.. but trying to camp outdoors while its 120 at night.. That was miserable.

If enduring Houston summer means a slim to no chance of having to deal with snow and ice.... thats a good trade off in my mind.

I say this all the time, it's a trade off. 100 and lower humidity or 92 and higher humidity, is there really a difference? Just knowing that it hits 100+ 20-30 times a year in Dallas vs. once or twice in Houston is enough to make me thankful I'm a Houstonian.

[The Great Hizzy!]

don't know, maybe I'm missing something here, but isn't this the same old tired, overblown statistics about having the second largest number of theater seats and the third largest number of consulates all tied together with Flash in a cheesy countdown motif?

Yeah, the "we suck like hell" campaign is an award winner. The problem is that you have a bunch of yahoos in two or three "cool" areas of the country dictating to the rest of the country how "cool" and "hip" they can be.

It's pretty telling when people get nervous about stating something as seemingly harmless as having a certain number of F500 companies or a large theater district in their city. Both are true. What's the big deal? Are you telling me "really cool" people are easily offended when cities not named NY, Chicago, San Francisco or Boston point out a significant part of its cultural, social or economic landscape? If so, why is that? Insecurity? Seems kind of pathetic to me.

New Yorkers often call NYC "the greatest city in the world." Somehow, talking about the size of a theater district seems to be less obnoxious than calling yourself "the greatest city in the world." Yet, no one seems to have a stroke when they read this type of marketing campaign concerning New York.

Maybe it IS as simply as 'Coog's been saying: "Houston: be yourself."

Maybe we should be a little less self-conscious of how we're perceived and a little more comfortable with how we see ourselves.

The simple, painful truth, is that most Americans don't know jack **** about the rest of the country outside of a few traditional travel destinations. They need to know what's available and its scale so that they can determine if it fits their interest or not. Knowing that the Galleria is a diverse place (even if it's not "urban"--oooh, the horror!) with a wide array of shops and restaurants might be useful to someone who wants to experience the city as opposed to just typing, "Hey, we've got the Galleria Mall."

Edited April 26, 2006 by The Great Hizzy!

[MidtownCoog]

as 'Coog's been saying: "Houston: be yourself."

Thank you. I think think it is.

Houston needs to continue to blaze it's own trail and be proud of it. We are a Texas original!

[west20th]

Just knowing that it hits 100+ 20-30 times a year in Dallas vs. once or twice in Houston is enough to make me thankful I'm a Houstonian.

Yes. But in Dallas it is a more "upscale" heat. Also, Dallas has more below freezing days. In Houston, one almost never has a chance to break out the fur coats.

[JasonDFW]

I say this all the time, it's a trade off. 100 and lower humidity or 92 and higher humidity, is there really a difference? Just knowing that it hits 100+ 20-30 times a year in Dallas vs. once or twice in Houston is enough to make me thankful I'm a Houstonian.

In the interest of factual climate reporting, I'll mention that Dallas officially has 16 days per year at 100+. Fort Worth proper has around 18 days per year but its weather is no more oppressive because those higher temperatures are allowed by lower humidity. In the same fashion, Dallas proper has only 13-14 days per year but that lower number is caused by higher humidity so it doesn't offer any relief. The climate of Dallas proper isn't too far from say Conroe. The same differences occur due to the higher dewpoint in Conroe (higher temps in winter, lower temps in summer) but the differences are not huge.

Also, just as an FYI officially the average high during the meteorological summer in Dallas and Houston goes like this:

Dallas: average summer high = 93.8

Edited April 26, 2006 by JasonDFW

[Sunstar]

All claims about my credibility aside, I stand by my original sentiment, which is that I don't find this particularly original or effective. Sorry to be the Simon Cowell of this thread, but it's how I feel. Houston is my home and I love it, and I've been visiting and posting on this site since early 2003 for this very reason. But frankly, a lot of the things that make Houston great don't translate well into marketing campaigns. I can't fault Rice or Jordy Tollet or anyone else for trying, but in the end great cities are their own best advertising and that's been the secret to Houston's success.

[MarthaG]

The Top Ten list, accompanied by music is one of the best promos of Houston that I've ever seen. The Convention and Visitors Bureau needs to beg, borrow or bogart this promo for their ad campaigns.

I agree! This would make a great commercial for the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Run the commerical in Chicago and Minneapolis in December, January, and February and our hotels could fill up with visitors.

They did a great job of putting this together. I really like the music too.

[JasonDFW]

I couldn't watch the ad on my other computer, but it worked on this one and I think the ad works about as well as any could on the Internet. It would need to be spruced up for TV, but is a great Internet ad as is.

Jason

P.S. They pulled the Atlanta Olympics trick to inflate the winter temperature by ~12

[Orikal]

The simple, painful truth, is that most Americans don't know jack **** about the rest of the country outside of a few traditional travel destinations. They need to know what's available and its scale so that they can determine if it fits their interest or not.

Fantastic.

[Houstonian in Iraq]

Best ad I've seen for the city.

Has anyone seen any Houston ads on TV in other cities(seen a couple in Houston about Houston usaully really cheesey). If so how were they? How was the response(if any) from the local viewers?

[KimberlySayWhat]

Speaking of Jordy Tollett, how long has he been head of the GHCVB.

I've e-mailed him a couple of times in recent weeks and he never responded with more than 2-4 words.

[The Great Hizzy!]

...frankly, a lot of the things that make Houston great don't translate well into marketing campaigns. I can't fault Rice or Jordy Tollet or anyone else for trying, but in the end great cities are their own best advertising and that's been the secret to Houston's success.

I actually agree with this a lot. Houston doesn't have hundreds of nationally distributed magazines or several TV and radio networks based within it to help dictate people's thougths on "what's cool" and where the capitol of cool is, so it has to work within the limitations of a (hate to say it) brainwashed society while keeping with its own sense of self. Mass marketing of any kind is probably not going to work the way it works in Las Vegas or California (where every day is your lucky day! ). Houston's best marketing tool is to be the best organized, best supported city it can be, where experiencing Houston is 100 times more revealing (and rewarding) than what can be gleened from a slogan or a website.

OTOH, there's nothing wrong with just flat out stating what is. If Houston is home to a high number of "well-respected" restaurants, then there's nothing wrong with saying so if you're sharing with outsiders general information about the city.

Edited April 26, 2006 by The Great Hizzy!

[MidtownCoog]

Speaking of Jordy Tollett, how long has he been head of the GHCVB.

Too long. Or at least it feels that way.

[KimberlySayWhat]

MidtownCoog:

Too long. Or at least it feels that way.

Thank ya, neighbor.

[editor]

Do y'all think we have it better off weather-wise then say Dallas ?

Yes. Dallas seems to get the worst of all weather.

In the Summer it's routinely hotter than Houston, though it may be less humid, I don't know.

In the Spring the area seems to get way worse tornadoes and wildfires.

In the Winter it gets hail, ice storms, and the occasional snow.

Of course, those are observations from watching national weather maps. I've never lived in Dallas.

[Sunstar]

I actually agree with this a lot. Houston doesn't have hundreds of nationally distributed magazines or several TV and radio networks based within it to help dictate people's thougths on "what's cool" and where the capitol of cool is, so it has to work within the limitations of a (hate to say it) brainwashed society while keeping with its own sense of self. Mass marketing of any kind is probably not going to work the way it works in Las Vegas or California (where every day is your lucky day! ). Houston's best marketing tool is to be the best organized, best supported city it can be, where experiencing Houston is 100 times more revealing (and rewarding) than what can be gleened from a slogan or a website.

OTOH, there's nothing wrong with just flat out stating what is. If Houston is home to a high number of "well-respected" restaurants, then there's nothing wrong with saying so if you're sharing with outsiders general information about the city.

If they took this tack and applied it to things that really resonate with people, I think this approach would be very successful. For example, "2nd fastest growing economy" (I'm making these up), "3rd most affordable city", "4th highest graduation rate". If I were mulling over a move to Houston, I would read this and think "Houston is a great place to find a job and send my kids to school." Effective city government, a strong police force, good schools, solid infrastructure - as boring as these may seem, this is what brings people to your city.

10,000 theater seats means nothing to most people and doesn't speak to the quality of Houston's performing arts (which we all know to be quite good). In fact, it almost seems to trivialize it. It's like describing a beautiful painting by quantifying the number of brush strokes the artist used. I probably wouldn't mind the whole theater seat statistic so much if it wasn't constantly shoved down our throats like it was all anyone cared about.

[KimberlySayWhat]

You all have some points. It does sound a little desperate.

[RedScare]

If they took this tack and applied it to things that really resonate with people, I think this approach would be very successful. For example, "2nd fastest growing economy" (I'm making these up), "3rd most affordable city", "4th highest graduation rate". If I were mulling over a move to Houston, I would read this and think "Houston is a great place to find a job and send my kids to school." Effective city government, a strong police force, good schools, solid infrastructure - as boring as these may seem, this is what brings people to your city.

10,000 theater seats means nothing to most people and doesn't speak to the quality of Houston's performing arts (which we all know to be quite good). In fact, it almost seems to trivialize it. It's like describing a beautiful painting by quantifying the number of brush strokes the artist used. I probably wouldn't mind the whole theater seat statistic so much if it wasn't constantly shoved down our throats like it was all anyone cared about.

I understand the shoving down our throats bit, but that's because we live here. Outside of Houston, no one knows these things. All of those top ten listings are probably things most non-Texans never think of.

Now, if you want shoved down your throat, how about Las Vegas' ads. Everybody here is a fraud?