I’m glad I read the July 10 and 24 Island Eye News articles submitted by the Chamber of Commerce and Joshua Uys regarding IOP’s family-friendly “branding” initiative to learn that the local accommodations tax (ATAX) has a marketing mandate to spend money on attracting tourism. I could think of better ways to spend that money to make actual improvements to IOP, but I guess a mandate is just that.
“Branding” today has become such a cliché. I learned about it during my first advertising agency job on Madison Avenue in New York. My first account assignment was to place advertising for Preparation H (now owned by Pfizer). You know, the anti-itch hemorrhoid ointment in the blue and yellow box, which has kept the same basic branding since 1935.
My friends called me a butthole for working on that account. But my boss said, “Here’s $2 million for Preparation H advertising: Spend it.”
Back then, we developed ad slogans, jingles and brand messaging only after the product was able to demonstrate consumer benefits. We tried to make sure that a product delivered its promised attributes first, and the branding naturally followed.
However, too many marketers these days have got the order reversed. They start with an ad slogan and branding, then hope the product meets expectations. The results are sometimes disappointing or even misleading. Truthful, transparent branding should come from the inside out because truth in advertising matters.
Is the Isle of Palms actually “family-friendly” now, or is it just an aspirational slogan? In my opinion, some aspects of IOP need fixing before that branding can resonate with the public. E-bikes overrun our streets much of the year, along with e-scooters and golf carts driven by 13-year-olds whenever school is out (several of whom mooned my wife and flipped me the finger while tailgating us on Palmetto Boulevard).
The IOP Connector and Palm Boulevard are backed up in both directions by day-trippers due, in part, to the preponderance of free public parking. We have more than our fair share of six-bedroom, four-garage mansions that are essentially hotels in disguise. The noise level on some nights presents more of a “party central” image than “family-friendly,” and the new 55-decibel nighttime limit is hard to enforce. This past summer, I saw almost as many police cars, fire engines and EMS vehicles as I did on, well … New York’s Madison Avenue.
There are some days when the level of IOP’s tourist and commercial activity looks more like Myrtle Beach or Atlantic City than the idyllic island some of us remember. A place where 95% of its workforce must commute to because they can’t afford to live here.
A few days ago, I was greeted by a family of short-term renters on the porch adjacent to my condo. They smoked cigarettes and weed, drank heavily, played loud music and used foul language. I’m no goody-two-shoes myself, but it was honestly a bit much. As I walked up my porch steps, they shouted a big, warm “Hello” to me! My first thought was … “Gee, what a friendly family.” But my second thought was, “Oh well, there goes the neighborhood.”
Don’t get me wrong. I chose to vacation here in the past and ultimately live here full time because I enjoy local retail, restaurants and services. I also am pro-business. But our product needs some “tweaking.”
Focusing more attention on the needs of full-time residents as opposed to tourism will do more to create a family-friendly atmosphere than a marketing campaign. Because brand loyalty isn’t created. It’s earned. Fix the irritation and the itch for us residents, and the branding will take care of itself.
Jeff Lovins spent 40 years as an advertising executive and marketing professor. He vacationed on Isle of Palms and owned a rental unit before becoming a full-time resident in 2020.