Gracie Communications

Posted by Lisa Sirkin Vielee

Already the experts are saying the boost to Indianapolis from hosting the Super Bowl may be short- term and not as robust as the city may like. While city leaders tally the results and marketing and social media analysts, like Exact Target, crunch the numbers from the Super Bowl, I think any report about the impact of hosting the big game is premature.

Let’s face it folks. Indianapolis has only played half the game. Yes, Indianapolis hosted and executed a near flawless Super Bowl. Yes, it is important to assess what we’ve done so far. It’s okay to pat ourselves on the back for 5.7 million tweets, 1.1 million visits to Super Bowl Village, 8,000 volunteers and countless celebrity sightings.  But we still have a way to go to create a positive economic return on the Super Big investment and capitalize on the city’s national brand exposure.

Here’s what we, as marketers, social media experts; heck, as residents of Indianapolis, need to do next to help the ICVA, Indiana Sports Corp. and others make the big plays:

1. Don’t stop tweeting, writing and bragging about Indianapolis. Jolene Ketzenberger has a terrific story in The Indianapolis Star about celebrities shining a light on local, independent restaurants during the Super Bowl.  We have some great restaurants in this city. So the next time someone claims Indy is the chain-restaurant capital of the world, look them in the eye and invite them to meet you at Recess. Or R Bistro. Or Goose the Market. Or Ball & Biscuit. Fly them in if you have to. Just dispel this and the other many myths about our city.

2. Volunteer for IDI to help develop the plans for the Georgia Street corridor.  Don’t just wonder if Georgia Street will get the right mix of patio dining and cool events, be a part of making it happen.

3. Support local bands, events, museums and arts districts. The outlying areas had mixed reviews when it came to Super Bowl traffic. That’s too bad, because there are so many great places in central Indiana to experience. Use the Super Celebration Sites map as your guide and be a tourist in your back yard.

4. Enjoy the legacies of the Super Bowl. Visit the 46 for XLVI murals, go see the Chase Near Eastside Legacy Center (the Legacy Fitness Zone is free in February), and donate at the next Komen Tissue Bank SuperCure event on March 10.

5. Come up with the next the big idea. As the Super Bowl showed us, even scarves can become a big deal. We all have great ideas. But are we willing to do the hard work to make them happen?

6. Send convention leads to the ICVA. You may not work with the NFL but you might work with the top brass in your industry or field.  The next time you go out of town for a conference or training session, invite the event planners to consider Indianapolis for its next regional or national level event. There are plenty of hotel rooms and meeting space to go around – and they won’t fill themselves.

7. Stop the inferiority complex. When I was a teenager and would get in a mood, my father used to tell me to “pretend to be happy.” Sound dumb? Well it worked more often than not. So why not “pretend to be a big league city”? If we stop comparing ourselves to our larger counterparts and start taking pride in what we have to offer, we may just find others comparing themselves to us.

Twenty years from now, Hoosiers will talk about the Super Bowl the way we currently talk about the Pan Am Games – as a game changer. We are in the middle of changing the way our city is perceived and recognized.  But we aren’t even in the red zone yet. We can’t stop now, the momentum has just turned our way.

Image from flickr/indywriter

I am guilty of moving too fast, of planning the next big thing, of looking forward instead of being in the moment. That is why it is nice when I am reminded to stop…reflect…give thanks. The wonderful Nila Nealy (@nilanealy) reminds me of this often. Most recently with a reminder to participate in the Epic Thanks Tweetsgiving 2010. (more…)

I took a time out this morning and volunteered to lead a reading group in my daughter’s 3rd grade classroom. They were studying action verbs or, as Mrs. Pappas called them, Wow Verbs. They started with a story full of boring words like went, got and going. Within 20 minutes, the stories were full of dancing, swishing, galloping, skidding, racing action. I could even hear the difference in their voices as they read their action-packed versions. These new stories were fun, even exciting.

On the drive home, I started thinking about how we as adults tell our own stories. (more…)

My 17-year-old daughter just called me from her U.S. History class to ask for a ride home. Her teacher – who will remain nameless since I want him/her to keep a job – allowed her to call as long as she told me that she loved me in front of the whole class. Which she did. Twice.

I think letting her call from class was a wise communication move on the teacher’s part. (more…)

Last Tuesday, I dreamt of flashing yellow lights. When I woke up the next morning, I was sure the dream was a warning of ominous things to come. I must have really been in tune with the cosmos because the next 24 hours were plain lousy. Rather than cowering under my desk, I reminded myself of my three philosophies of small business ownership.  (more…)

My friend and colleague, Tina Noel (@tinanoelPR), sent me a great link today: The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014. This annual list was first published in 1998. It ”was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, and quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation.”  (My favorites are a tie between #58, #12 and #55.)

This be-careful-what-you-reference thing works both ways, you know. So for all you 18-year-olds out there – not to mention you 20-something professionals – here is my Middle-aged Mindset List from the Class of 1990. (more…)

I was on vacation last week, which meant I had plenty of time to catch up on all the books I’ve been meaning to read. One of them, “How the Irish Saved Civilization” by Thomas Cahill, has been on my To Read list for five years. Since the rest of the book deals with how the seemingly uncivilized Irish preserved great literature and history after the fall of the Roman Empire, I was surprised to read a passage that dealt with marketing and public relations. (more…)