Promoting Grand Island - with class!

by Karen Keefe
Grand Island Dispatch, December 16, 2005

Members of Roberta Frisoni’s marketing and yearbook classes discuss their “I Love Grand Island” campaigns with Chamber of Commerce officers on Monday at the high school. (photo by Karen Keefe)

The Town Board and the Chamber of Commerce are thinking of hiring a new public relations group to market Grand Island as a tourist attraction. And guess what? This marketing team rides the bus to the high school five days a week.

On Monday morning, teams of Grand Island High School students presented their version of an “I Love Grand Island” campaign. The audience was comprised of town and chamber officials, as well as school administrators and teachers. The crowd loved the presentations.

The students, members of the marketing and yearbook classes of Roberta Frisoni, showed off bumper stickers, pamphlets and package deals they had devised to entice tourists and Island residents to explore the town’s many attractions.

The project is the brainchild of student teacher Laura Grant, who is studying for her master’s degree in education at Niagara University. The kids didn’t hesitate for a minute in saying that Grant was very instrumental in their success. They also clearly worked hard, had a lot of fun and probably learned as much or more about publishing than most college marketing majors.

This is a generation, after all, for whom computers are an extension of their fingers and brains and who learn at lighting speed, especially when they are psyched up for it.

Corey Dudish, a member of the “Spicy Brady Bunch” admitted she had never worked so hard on a school project – so much so that it even consumed a few class periods that were supposed to be spent elsewhere.

There were seven teams altogether, and each were commissioned to complete a specific task.

Designing bumper stickers were:

•“The Freshmen”: Taylor LeFevre and Nicole Serra.

•“The M&Ms”: Alicia Camizzi, Ashley Fike and Krista Goff.

•“The Roncos”: Lauren Braun and Catherine Cline.

Putting together package deals were:

•“Dasani”: Haley Breier, Jeff Drew and Lisa Mager.

•“The Lovely Ladies”: Erin Conn, Kristin Duggan, Erin Hanel and Ashley Ray.

Devising an overall campaign were:

•“The Editors”: Steve Beatty, Kate Dlugosz, Ryan Gratton, Caitlin Hayes, Jessica Kuehne and Chad Moran.

•“The Spicy Brady Bunch”: Monica Dalfonso, Corey Dudish, Colleen George, Sam McCollum and Melinda Schultz.

The overall campaign of the team “The Editors” featured the theme, “The Spirit of Friendship.” The bumper sticker is designed with bold colors of black, turquoise and deep pink. The graphic elements include a handshake over the image of Grand Island, a lighthouse, and Niagara Falls. The pamphlet offers information on restaurants, amusements, tourist attractions, history and the geography of the Island.
The package deal “provides the opportunity for friends to spend quality time together.” The activities include a visit to Capellos Salon, a stay at the Holiday Inn Grand Island Resort and Conference Center, a breakfast at McMahon's Family Restaurant and a shopping trip to the Galleria Mall.

The campaign put together by “The Spicy Brady Bunch” features an azure blue and white wave and the words "Grand Island, New York, a grand place to play.” The pamphlet carries through the blue-and-white motif, and has beautiful color photos of landmarks and attractions, history and information about lodging and landscape.

Their package deal includes Grand Island activities, exclusively. Featured are a tour of favorite sites, such as the historic River Lea mansion, Beaver Island State Park, Kelly’s County Store and the Chocolate House; jet skiing on the Niagara River; a Grand Lady Cruise; brunch in the Bistro on the Niagara; and golfing at Beaver Island.

The audience cast ballots after the presentation, and one of the two teams’ campaigns will be selected for further development.

Councilwoman Mary Cooke, for one, was so impressed, she suggested that the project be an annual one, and that the town, the Chamber and the school work together to make the winning promotional campaign a reality.

In addition, the students will be contacting businesses mentioned in the proposed package deals to see if they want the class to develop a specific tourism brochure for them. “It would be a great partnership,” Frisoni said. Also, the Chamber wants to use the student-designed bumper stickers and has asked them to come up with a logo for the Youth Ambassador program.

Ryan Gratton said the project was a learning experience about his hometown. “There’s so much stuff on the Island we never knew was here.”

Corey Dudish said, “I learned that Grand Island has so much to offer. We wanted to highlight things people didn't know about.”

Melinda Schultz, who wants to pursue a career in music marketing, said, “I learned how hard it is to just go ahead and market something!”

See the back page of today’s Dispatch for a glimpse at some of the students’ work.