THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 24, 1995 TAG: 9507220180
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 153 lines
Five-year-old Kate Yeagle wanted to see where Pocahontas lived.
Her father was only too happy to accommodate her.
``I love Virginia because of the Civil War,'' said Don Yeagle, who took his family to Jamestown during a trip to Richmond and Williamsburg from Pennsylvania. ``This kills two birds with one stone. I get my history and the kids can have their time. It's easier to relate to Pocahontas than General Lee.''
Since the release of Disney's film, Pocahontas, the Indian princess of the Powhatan tribe, has captivated American families and children.
The people running Jamestown, the site of Pocahontas' legendary meeting with Capt. John Smith, leader of the English colonists, know it too.
``We're trying to position Jamestown Settlement as a stimulating place to visit and learn about Pocahontas and the Powhatans,'' said Deborah Padgett, media relations manager for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, ``We're well aware of the enormous interest the marketing and film are making.''
Jamestown's marketing efforts have received a huge boost from Disney's movie.
The film has generated attention nationwide in time for the summer travel and vacation season. Jamestown, a state-run institution on a tight budget, is taking advantage of the national exposure in all the right ways, say marketing experts. But it could be doing more to diversify its audience, they say.
Jamestown Settlement is a 25-acre living history museum honoring the first permanent English settlement in the North America.
Located a few miles from the original location of the 1607 site, Jamestown Settlement operates both indoor and outdoor exhibits, including recreations of an Indian village and a colonial fortress. Staff members wear native costumes and answer visitors questions about life in the early 1600s.
The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, a state educational agency that operates both the Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center, receives $6.4 million from the state to operate the two museums.
Its marketing budget is limited to $640,000 - half is used for paid advertising, mostly to attract visitors to Colonial Williamsburg. It participates in cooperative ventures like the ``five-for-one'' program, which promotes a five-day ticket to Jamestown, Yorktown, Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens and Water Country USA for one price.
``We work aggressively to be an active partner with Williamsburg and other institutions because we realize people won't come just to see us,'' the foundation's executive director Philip G. Emerson said. Because its paid advertising budget is limited to $306,000, Jamestown relies heavily on cultivating media relations - through articles written by travel and features writers - to get the word out about its attraction.
Enter ``Pocahontas.''
The animated film has bolstered Jamestown's marketing efforts. The female lead meets Capt. John Smith, her love interest in the film, at the site of Jamestown. According to legend, she saves his life.
As a result of the interest in the movie, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation has spent about $5,000 to produce brochures about Pocahontas and the Powhatans.
But foundation officials admit that their efforts do not constitute a full-blown campaign to spin off publicity from the movie. ``Our advertising dollars are very limited,'' Emerson said. ``It's crucial we prioritize where we invest those dollars and where we feel we can generate the best return on investment.''
Marketing experts say that Jamestown is doing exactly what it must to capitalize on the national exposure of a movie like ``Pocahontas'': build on the curiosity.
``I wouldn't see Jamestown doing a significant campaign at this juncture because the Disney film has already generated interest,'' said A. Palmer Farley, a partner with Barker Campbell & Farley, an advertising agency in Virginia Beach. ``In that sense, it's probably a judicious use of funds.''
Visits to Jamestown from mid-June to mid-July rose 30 percent from the same period last year, Padgett said. Some of the higher attendance can be attributed to the movie, but there's no way to gauge exactly how much because attendance at other attractions has also increased, she said. For example, attendance at Yorktown has risen 22.3 percent.
Others attribute a great deal of the Jamestown attendance jump to the movie.
``We noticed attendance went up the day after the movie was released,'' said Henry Bond, a 32-year-old museum interpreter who answers visitors' questions in the Indian village.
Some have criticized Jamestown for not taking advantage of the movie's notoriety before its release.
Jamestown did nothing before the release of the movie because it wanted to capitalize on all the corporate tie-ins that came out with the movie, Emerson said.
Marketing experts credit Jamestown's timing. In fact, they applaud the foundation's decision to wait.
``There are movies despite a lot of pre-release publicity that haven't done that well,'' said Myron Glassman, an Old Dominion University marketing professor. ``Although it's a Disney film, it's not always guaranteed a success. You're just not sure how things are going to play out. You want to see if there's some life to it.''
Video release of the movie offers Jamestown more opportunity to follow up with potential visitors.
But by not jumping aboard all the movie hype, Jamestown retains an identity apart from the movie.
``This is not an arrogance of our grand tradition,'' said Donald J. Messmer, a marketing professor at the College of William and Mary who also runs his own consulting firm. ``These are good solid business people making good solid business decisions. You don't want to play the other guy's game. You don't want to disappoint people and be a theme park.
``We have a different product and the marketing term is positioning. We're primarily an educational institution, but it doesn't mean we have to be boring. We're not Disneyland and we don't want to try to be Disneyland.''
Jamestown is implementing another smart strategy: retaining its visitor audience longer.
``What you'd want to do is obviously attract people who are already here. Basically doing tie-ins makes sense,'' said ODU's Glassman.
Jamestown could improve its marketing strategy in light of the Pocahontas fervor by trying to expand its audience.
``It seems to me what `Pocahontas' does for them, it changes the potential market for them somewhat. It is a real opportunity to get folks who are not only history buffs but folks with young families,'' said James M. Olver, a marketing professor at William & Mary.
``You just need to capitalize on the Busch Gardens crowd. That's who the film appeals to. That's where the interest lies. That's the market you need to tap into.'' Farley said. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
MARKETING A LEGEND
[Color Photo]
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
Five-year-old Sydney Collins of Apopka, Fla., watches Jamestown
Settlement interpreter Karen Aneiro weave a basket and talk about
Pocahontas' life.
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff photos
Kelsy Kacerek, 6, of phoenix, Ariz. wore her Pocahontas sandals to
the Jamestown Settlement. Disney' merchandising has helped draw
attention to the legend of Pocahontas, Settlement officials hope to
capitalize on the corporate tie-ins that come with the feature
film.
This bust of Pocahontas is part of the 25-acre living history museum
in Jamestown. Officials want to make the most of all the movie hype
without losing the park's identity.
ABOVE: Jamestown interpreter Anastasia Bergh and youth volunteer
Jennie Mumert, right, show tourists how Indians made pots and bowls
at the recreated Indian village portion of the Settlement tour.
LEFT: Gina Peeples, 7, of Brick, N.J., left, talks with Jamestown
Settlement interpreter Karen Aneiro about Pocahontas and the
Powhatan tribe.
KEYWORDS: TOURISM JAMESTOWN POCAHONTAS by CNB