Spamming hippies
Talk about a misguided marketing effort!
Looks like the tourism department has hired a local twitter to message anyone with the word “hippie” in their name about the Summer of Love Celebration.
Talk about a misguided marketing effort!
Looks like the tourism department has hired a local twitter to message anyone with the word “hippie” in their name about the Summer of Love Celebration.
March 25, 2009 at 1:35 pm
That is what has been wrong with this whole thing since the start. Do we really expect Texans to come spend money for some time in a hippie festival? It will be a bust, unfortunately. The marketing of this event has been off since the beginning.
March 25, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Not to mention the error in perception that hippies, somehow, have the resources to travel to Taos to spend money. Usually, when you target a campaign you need to look for a demographic with something to spend besides time.
March 25, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Exactly. The entire thing is just a waste of time, money, and effort. Sadly. It’s just the wrong type of thing to try to make money from. LOL
April 19, 2009 at 3:52 pm
The council would have been doing a better job by leaving the free parking for two hours on the plaza rather than this joke of a campaign. They’re taking away the free parking to pay the marketing company. Would not even listen to the businesses. Can’t wait to see how this turns out. Bet the native Taosenos really love the campaign of sex and drugs!
April 23, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I happen to be the tweeter who searched on Twitter for hippies and personally invited each person because I thought it was something they would want to know about. It was definitely not spam. I am excited about the events this summer. This is about people who were hippies in 1969 coming back for a visit. Most of them are not hippies now, and possibly have money to spend. Instead of slamming efforts to bring people to Taos, it would be nice if the local newspaper employees would support efforts being made, whether you think its great or not, once it’s on the agenda, why not help instead of just taking a negative point of view? (I do agree wit the free parking though.)
April 24, 2009 at 6:39 am
Butterfly,
I haven’t been an employee of the newspapers for nearly a year now. I may write a column or review for the paper, but I am not on the payroll. Even if I were still an employee, this is my personal web log.
Regardless, I actually am supporting the effort, despite my personal and professional opinion concerning the hi-concept or the details of the campaign.
I know you’re aware of http://streamtaos.com, so please don’t think I’m “just taking a negative point of view.”
As a Twitterer, I’m trying to avoid some of the pitfalls we all are prone to as we figure out how to use a new communication medium. There are dozens of articles floating around the Twitterverse on how to best to use Twitter to promote our campaigns — from selling goods and services to pitching ideas.
Thank you for participating in this conversation, though. We all have an opinion. Thanks for sharing yours.
April 24, 2009 at 7:10 am
taosbutterfly – Because the marketing of this event is way off. People with money do not normally like the idea of hippies, and do we really need to reinforce the outside belief that Taos is just full of hippies hanging out and doing nothing? As someone who recently moved here, I can tell you that that is the opinion of a lot of the “outside” world – so using hippies to sell an entire summer event is not exactly going to encourage anyone to come visit. As much as I would like to support this event, I think it is a waste of money (of which we don’t have in the first place) and it will actually discourage people from visiting Taos for much longer than just this summer.
The folks in charge need to re-evaluate their marketing efforts, as if they want money to come to Taos, you have to have events that would encourage those with money to actually show up. This is going to do the opposite, mark my words.
And yea, the parking situation is ridiculous. The businesses are all faltering on the plaza; let’s charge people to shop! In these times, I cannot think of anything more backwards. The idea is to keep them AWAY from Walmart and AppleBee’s – but last I checked those guys didn’t install meters in their lots.
April 24, 2009 at 10:42 am
A fellow Taos resident made this coment to me: Just as Fiesta serves as an annual homecoming event for local natives, who were once poor but left town to work and now come back to see family and friends, so Hippie Homecoming and the summer of love capitalize on folks who live here and once lived here. Times have changed in 40 years. Similarly, ex-hippies in Taos, who now teach, nurse, plumb, develop, or are realtors, have friends who will visit to relive their youth. It’s about the historic and human need to relive the past as memories. Isn’t that why high schools and colleges hold homecomings and reunions?
Hippies are often credited with the green movement, spirituality, political activism, peace rallies and great music events. These are the types of events that will be held and promoted. The summer of 1969, we landed on the moon, created the legendary Woodstock music festival, filmed some amazing socially conscious movies and broke the bonds of some very tight restrictions on women. These are some of the themse this summer.