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Gallup Council passes marketing recommendation

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‘Gallup. Real. True.’ Brand unique to Gallup, officials say

The Gallup City Council unanimously passed a lodgers tax marketing brand recommendation at the July 26 regular meeting. The approval gives the city a new logo: “Gallup. Real. True.”

The branding options were suggested by the Idea Group of Santa Fe and HK Advertising, also of Santa Fe.

“If you’re not managing your brand, other people do it for you,” James Glover of the Idea Group told council members during a short presentation. “We feel this is a good name brand for Gallup.”

Background-wise, the Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce submitted an application to the New Mexico Department of Tourism in April 2015. The application was for a cooperative marketing agreement that was to include research, a tourism website, social media, and an approved marketing plan, city Tourism and Marketing Manager Catherine Sebold said at the meeting.

“The chamber entered into a contract with HK Advertising and the Idea Group to fulfill the agreements,” she said.

Sebold, hired in February of this year, said $40,000 in state tourism department grant funds required a match of $40,000 in city of Gallup lodgers tax funds. She reminded council members that $40,000 was approved in lodgers tax funds in October 2015, specifically for the cooperative agreement. Things fell into place after that.

“The marketing plan was presented to the lodgers tax committee by the Idea Group in July, which included a Gallup brand promise and Gallup branding suggestions,” Sebold said.

In turn, the lodgers tax committee voted to adopt the brand promise and one of the recommended branding suggestions, Sebold said.

A next step is to devise a website and media blitz for Gallup, Glover noted. The consultants said that would be taken care of before the end of 2016.

Gallup City Councilor Yogash Kumar, a hotelier and member of the five-person lodgers tax committee, lauded the new brand and the work done by Sebold and Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bill Lee to bring things this far.

Lee and Sebold work together on city marketing and promotion efforts, as witnessed by a Gallup Council marketing allocation of $185,000 to the chamber a little more than a month ago.

Glover and David Hayduk of HK said one of the things that is a plus in marketing Gallup is its Southwest feel and charm — the Indian Capital is a polar opposite of a place like New York’s Manhattan borough.

“Gallup can’t be all things to all people,” the two said.

“Its Southwest feel is its core,” Glover said. “We want to target people who love your community the way you love your community.”

An image denoting what the brand would look like wasn’t immediately available from the city or either of the two advertising groups.

By Bernie Dotson
Sun Correspondent


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