What Lenox can learn from Rockwell

Those looking for how to better market Lenox should look no further than The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge.

One thing the Rockwell and Lenox have in common is much of their identities are firmly rooted in the past.

In the case of Lenox, this past can be found in the gilded age mansions and estates that define the town’s landscape, while in the case of the Norman Rockwell Museum, it can be found in the work of 20th century master painter Norman Rockwell, whose work the museum was established to display and highlight.

Yet, with the Rockwell’s current exhibit, “Heroes and Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross,” the museum has managed to masterfully highlight the work of a popular contemporary artist, while still honoring the work of Mr. Rockwell. The result is a highly successful exhibit, on display until Feb. 24, that’s also attracted a significant number of young people to the museum.

Unfortunately, the idea of bringing in young people appears to be an alien concept to many of those interested in marketing Lenox.

When I was covering the ill-fated Lenoxology campaign, I attended a forum between Lenox government leaders, Lenox community members and the company charged with running the campaign, Bodden Partners and Hamilton Public Relations.

At this meeting, whose purpose was to help determine how to better market Lenox, a woman, using the anecdotal example of a young female relative, effectively stated Lenox didn’t need to do anything special to attract young people. Her reasoning was the kind of young people who would return to Lenox when they were older were already attracted to what the town had to offer.

Despite the tenuous foundations of such an assertion, no one offered a counterpoint to this view. Indeed, the general sentiment present was Lenox had a messaging – not a content – problem, and more people would come to Lenox if they knew what it offered.

Unfortunately, when it comes to young people, Lenox has both a messaging and a content problem.

For better or worse, Lenox has developed a reputation for being an old, rich and uptight community. Unfortunately, those who’ve tried their hand at marketing Lenox appear to have made no effort to combat this stereotype. Even more telling, despite the apparent demise of the Lenoxology campaign: none of its successor efforts have made any more of an attempt to bring more young people to Lenox.

Now, when it comes to Lenox’s cultural and business community, there are plenty of examples of organizations and businesses in Lenox who are trying to attract young people to their establishments. And a number of these efforts have met with some success. Still, there are very few places in downtown Lenox consistently able to attract a younger crowd.

Some people will note young people are not the target demographic of much of Lenox’s marketing, which is generally described as being geared towards affluent professionals. Yet, I would argue devoting even a small portion of Lenox’s marketing strategy towards bringing more 18-29-year-olds into town will pay big dividends.

Many older people, especially those in early middle age, don’t like being surrounded by a sea of gray hair and enjoy the energy of being around younger people. My parents for one, really enjoy going to events with mixed age crowds.

A perfect example of such a mixed crowd event was the opening of the “Heroes and Villains” exhibit at the Norman Rockwell Museum.

An estimated 450 people showed up for the Nov. 10 opening, in what veteran staff called the Rockwell’s biggest in memory. Also notable to staff was the large number of young people the event attracted.

Yet, the exhibit also made perfect sense for the museum to put on.

Alex Ross isn’t just any comic book artist, he’s one of the most prominent practitioners of Rockwell’s photorealistic style of painting still working today. Ross was directly inspired by Rockwell’s work and uses many of the techniques that Rockwell employed, so being able to draw parallels between Ross and Rockwell’s art is an easy thing and something the exhibit takes full advantage of.

Being at an event in The Berkshires where the young and elderly, middle-aged people and children, locals and visitors were all in attendance was, quite frankly, an exhilarating experience, and I think Lenox would do well to try to replicate it within its borders.

Of course, Lenox doesn’t need to do this. The dirty secret of all Lenox marketing is that, for all the hand-wringing, Lenox business is doing quite well compared to the surrounding area.

It should also be noted, though, if Lenox ever wants to reverse its population loss, it needs to become more attractive to young people. These are precisely the people who will be settling down and having kids in around a decade’s time, and right now I don’t think Lenox is doing enough to make itself appealing to them, and that’s not even bringing in the affordability factor.

Still, if Lenox really does want to increase business and reverse its population decline, it should seriously look into attracting more young people, not by reinventing itself but by finding something that appeals to young people but still connects with Lenox’s rich cultural offerings. The Norman Rockwell Museum managed to do it, now it’s Lenox’s turn to step up to the plate.

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on January 3, 2013. Filed under Editorials,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry