Complaints about an old restaurant ad surfaced again last week in a meeting between legislative leadership and Summit County Council members.
A little over four years ago the restaurant association launched an ad campaign with Salt Lake City-based marketing company Riester. The ads called Park City an independent republic. According to long-time member Eileen Dunn, the goal was to entice people to “get to someplace different.” It was tongue-in-cheek she said, and poked fun at some of the quirkiness of Park City.
“We were making fun of ourselves, not anyone else,” she said.
But Utah State Senate President Michael Waddoups told the council members that they needed to get rid of it. That caused some confusion since some believed it had already been discontinued.
Dunn said the ads had been successful and got Park City-area restaurants a lot of attention. Still, the association heard some negative feedback, but had trouble nailing down what the complaint was.
“Our reaction was, ‘Please tell us.’ Once we hard something specific, we said, ‘Absolutely, let’s change it,'” she said.
No one with the association is clear on when it ended, but Dunn recalls it being phased out.
New association president Kevin Valaika said members began hearing that other businesses and entities in the state found the ads inappropriate because all of Utah should be working together to promote the state. There were even worries that negative feelings might impact grant awards.
“We just wanted to differentiate ourselves from Salt Lake City to create our own brand,” he said.
But no one is clear what Waddoups saw. Riester said the new ad campaign featuring Mayor Dana Williams as spokesman is over a year old.
Nicole Madrid, an employee of the association said she thinks the “Republic of Park City” lingered as a sort of signature for the association as late as this summer.
Valaika said the name Park City Area Restaurant Association and its new ad campaigns have been around a while and the Republic of Park City stuff is old news.
“It’s out there. You can’t wipe the Coca Cola brand off the face of the Earth in a day. You can’t turn off a switch when branding something,” he said.
Valaika acknowledged it was a bit risky to base marketing on a politician seeking re-election this fall, but said Williams has been a great face for the community. The campaign isn’t an endorsement for Williams, and the association is currently seeking a new marketing company anyway.
Dunn said the choice was a good decision.
“Either way, a mayor is a great representative. Either way, it can’t hurt us,” she explained.