The BIG Kahuna

Provincetown (P-Town)?in Cape Cod Massachusetts is known for its gay community. For over 30 years Gays have been celebrating their summers in Provincetown. Provincetown’s brand?identity is that it’s gay friendly, gay owned and run?and has been way?ahead of the curve for a very long time.

My wife and I love to spend a weekend in P-Town every summer. They have awesome restaurants, shows, eclectic art studios and shops and most of all the people are amazingly gay (and I mean happy). Happy people make for a happy, stress-free weekend. It’s kind of been a little secret that straight folks like to head to P-Town. And that was charming, but alas that’s been ruined.

Who ruined it? Of course The Provincetown Chamber of Commerce. Because focusing on a niche market wasn’t good enough for them. They want to be known for everything. And for everyone, like Disney World.

Here’s what they had to say:

“Provincetown needs every kind of visitor we can capture,” said Candy Collins-Boden, executive director of the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce. “The Internet has opened up the world wide, and we’re competing with everyone now.”

Every kind of visitor they can capture huh? What a great way to ruin a great brand! This is by far the biggest branding mistake any organization can make.

And this is what they’ve done:

In recent campaigns, Provincetown has depicted itself as anything but gay. Ads in regional media outlets tout Provincetown as being “one tank away” to draw New Englanders who feel strapped by the moribund economy and high gasoline prices. With the dollar weak, the town is marketing itself in Europe as a place where vacationers can get a great value. It has advertised itself in Audubon magazine as an ecotourism destination, and has promoted its galleries and art scene in arts magazines. It has solicited cruise ship lines to make Provincetown a port of call. A Boston-based public relations firm is steering travel writers to subjects such as the Pilgrims’ initial Provincetown landing (well before Plymouth), rare species of birds in the area, and the town’s green museum.

Read the full story here

Bummer, because in the long run this will eventually erode their core target audience and gay people will go somewhere else. Why? Because that’s their spot. That was part of the charm of P-Town. Many people didn’t go to P-Town because of that, which was cool with us because we got to share that little gem without haters.

Here’s a quote from one visitor:

“It’s changed drastically here and not for the good,” said Alan Robertson, a loyal Provincetown visitor since 1977. “It used to be that you could walk down the street holding hands with a man and you felt safe. Now you feel gawked at.”

We’re headed to P-Town for Carnival next week. Hopefully we won’t be over run by?sreaming kids in strollers!

If P-Town becomes the next Hyannis we’ll never go back (and we NEVER go to Hyannis). The last thing I want to do is hang out with 5 million kids looking to play mini golf.

Please P-Town, don’t ruin a good thing!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 11:49 am and is filed under Branding Blunders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.