In a textbook market-driven correction, Lackawanna County voters rebranded local government, canceling outdated underperformers with new products imported from larger markets and updated takes on classic labels.
Scranton will soon seat its first female mayor; an openly gay, married woman will join city council; the school board’s formula will be fundamentally freshened, and the proposed expansion of Keystone Sanitary Landfill will face two more populist boycotters on Dunmore Borough Council.
Finally, two new commissioners will move into the presidential suite of the Lackawanna County Government Center at Motel 6 and instantly start bombarding the front desk with complaints about the leaky plumbing and dead elevators.
We left a light on for ya. What more da ya want?
The consumer revolution began in the May primary when mobs of disgruntled customers stamped a Jan. 6 expiration date on Commissioners Pat O’Malley and Laureen Cummings. While we wait for the pair to be formally shelved, some housekeeping is in order.
Back in August, The Times-Tribune published a business profile of id8, a Clarks Summit-based design and marketing firm formerly known as idGroup Inc. Owner Steve Tolerico reinvented and rebranded the expanding enterprise he founded 30 years ago.
Several alert readers saw the story and wondered aloud about some apparently unfinished business idGroup had with the county. In 2015, then-Commissioners Jim Wansacz, Ed Staback and O’Malley contracted Steve’s firm to rebrand attractions like the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour, the Electric City Trolley Museum and county parks.
The $100,000 contract was to be paid out of the county’s hotel tax fund. I’ve known Steve more than 20 years and his firm has produced cutting-edge work for local clients and international brands such as American Express and Pepsi.
I was glad he got the gig, and promised readers I’d keep tabs on the project. Then I forgot about it, which is why an easily distracted columnist needs alert readers.
I reached out to Steve, who explained that the campaign showed promise until the county backed out of the contract. His firm produced brochures, ads and billboards, but the current commissioners balked at going forward with a website and other tools to boost tourism.
Steve’s company hosted several focus groups throughout the county to gather input and ideas from residents, including a well-attended May 2016 event at Posh in Scranton that was covered by the newspaper. The focus groups were done at no cost to the county, and mined consumer data that made the events more than worth idGroup’s investment, Steve said.
“We were happy to do it, because the information was essential to getting this right,” he said. Steve estimates that idGroup spent “a minimum of $25,000” of its own money on the focus groups and other research.
The sitting commissioners weren’t impressed. Only one — re-elected incumbent Jerry Notarianni — showed up to a focus group event in Old Forge. In November 2016, the commissioners pulled the plug on pitching the parks to tourists.
Steve was disappointed, but agreed to forgo the rest of the contract. County records show idGroup was paid $51,738 between July 7, 2015, and Nov. 4, 2016, all from the hotel tax fund. The brochures are in circulation across the region and can be viewed on the Parks and Recreation Department page at lackawannacounty.org.
The brochures are topped with the god-awful slogan, “Investing in Our Future,” a county slogan that predated idGroup’s involvement. Steve was hired to rebrand the parks system, not the county.
Bill Davis, former deputy director for parks and recreation, said the county’s plan to market the parks to tourists was solid, but like anything else, you get what you pay for.
“We were hoping to get a Mercedes but we only had enough money for a Toyota,” he said. Now chief of staff for state Rep. Kyle Mullins, Davis said he hoped the effort would evolve into a “five-year plan.” The parks are among the county’s most valuable assets, he said, and should be marketed as attractions.
Steve said that belief is echoed in the focus group data, which he is happy to share with the new commissioners. In fact, he offered to volunteer his services to improve the county’s consumer appeal.
Call it an investment in our future, but brand it anything else.
CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, votes with his wallet.
Contact the writer:
kellysworld@timesshamrock.com,
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Read his award-winning blog at timestribuneblogs.com/kelly.