The other day, I was looking over some economic development brochures, DVDs, videos, and marketing propaganda to increase tourism in the area. Now then, I am pretty well-versed about what is going on in the region, I've been to all the sites, and I have seen all the sounds. I know what's good, what isn't, what is awesome, and what is rather underwhelming. You see, as an entrepreneur in business I've learned a lot over the years, one thing I've learned is that you need to over deliver on your promise, that's how you turn regular customers into evangelical referral clients. Okay so let's talk shall we?
What I found was that the economic development association in conjunction with some of the local city chambers of commerce had absolutely over embellished the quality of many of the tourist locations in the area. Why did they do that I wondered? The area is plenty good enough without trying to capture the perfect picture, or use big additives and marketing words to promote the region. It was akin to the challenges with questionable real estate professional photo-shopping pictures of properties, only to have the buyer later look at the actual building and location and see that they were duped, that things weren't as rosy as the picture.
Tricking tourists into thinking something is nicer than it is, is not only unprofessional, I'd say it is ethical. Nevertheless, it seems as if economic development associations and chambers of commerce, even the tourist bureaus are always trying to hire the best and brightest marketing professionals and public relations firms. They want to hire the best filmmaking crews to produce these incredible DVDs, videos, and pictures. They then place these pictures and propaganda in various media forms and mediums.
When they finally lure the terrorists in, they hit them with the standard tourist trap strategies, keeping them confined in a little area where the prices are too high, the food isn't that great, and the sights and sounds are exactly what they'd been promised. There's no better way to ruin what would have been a positive experience. When doing this, you will not get referrals, people won't tell their friends, and you can only burn everyone once. That my friends is the wrong way to play it, it's unethical, immoral, and it hardly wins friends, influences people, or causes "liked" votes on Facebook.
If you are a filmmaker and you are asked to do this, you need to hold short. Sure, you should use the best lighting and get the most interesting shots, but you shouldn't spend hours in the editing room dressing it up to something that it isn't. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.