Don Walsh would know, he was an oceanograpoher who explored the depths of the Challenger Deep.
Having sunk from a seasonal publication to the depths of an annual I was curious to see what exactly was put into action for the Aurora Chamber’s latest marketing zombie the 2024 Explore aurora guide.
Flipping through the thin 26 page guide brings one face to face with something that can only be described as a hastily cobbled together Grade 6 project. It is just all kinds of cringe.
Such a staggering low effort is made that imagery is rotated into template for the cover. Notice the same photo top left corner which is a design rendering of town square, the over promised and under delivered $60 Million boondoggle.
Even lower of an effort is made to update the website which is still not updated, contains several issues as I pointed out in the previously mentioned post and features the spring/summer edition from 2023:
This level of disappointment comes as no surprise as the Aurora Chamber of Commerce has recently participated in spec work for their amateur logo, failed to lead by example during the pandemic, and have witnessed board members obtaining and using copyrighted imagery from Aurora based business without seeking consent.
The Aurora Chamber has gone through the exercise of producing a walking dead guide for more than a decade. Previously it was referred to as a buyers guide which I outlined year after year how it was a piss poor reflection of Aurora based businesses.
Now that it has shed most of the bulk of “local” but not Aurora based businesses it is still a lifeless publication bereft of any sense of curiousity.
As per my previous post there appears to be no shortage of $ collected for this guide. I tallied up the ad spend as such:
5 inside pages @ $1250 – $6,250
21 half page ads @ $650 – $$13,650
8 quarter page ads @ $400 – $3,200
insiide front cover @ $1,700
inside back cover @ $1700
back cover @ $2,500
The total is $29K to produce 20,000 copies
Which means there is 70 cents in revenue to produce each issue, of which I suspect the print costs taking up less than 20 cents.
The question is if any of this ad spend by any of these businesses, and the town is well spent.
So I tallied up the listings in directory and there is a paltry 82 Aurora based businesses.
82 businesses total.
Curiosity returns when you read on the first page that claims that there are over 500 on the website:
So what is the purpose of only printing 15% of them in this direct to blue-bin print edition?
And what is the purpose of giving preference to East side Marios, McDonalds and Canadian Tire over 400 other Aurora based businesses:
Are these larger companies with huge ad spend that are not exactly hard to find really what the Chamber considers to be the town’s hidden gems?
It kind of defeats the purpose of an outfit claiming to promote small local businesses when this “comprehensive guide” displaces hundreds by these larger brands.
But the questions don’t end there.
Where is there any evidence in this guide of the Chamber investing in themselves?
I see no mention of the Chamber itself, its initiatives and news of what is going on in Aurora.
Where is the downtown BIA?
Missing in Action, just as they are within their boundaries while businesses are leaving.
But my bigger question is why does this guide still feature businesses that are not in Aurora to explore?
I count 5 half page ads from businesses located outside of Aurora. That is a quarter of all of the half page ads.
I also count 4 quarter page ads featuring businesses outside Aurora. This represents half of all the quarter page ads.
Add to this the inside front cover and back cover also feature ads for businesses that aren’t in Aurora to explore.
Given there are more that 500 Aurora based business, the question isn’t why are so few featured here but why is there so little buy-in from Aurora based businesses to advertise in this direct to blue-bin hot-mess?
NASA astronaut Frank Borman defined exploration as the essence of the human spirit.
There is such an abscense of human spirit in this guide that any scientist would register it as dead.
Which brings us to the Town of Aurora’s involvement.
Unlike the previous guide this one does not feature any message from Aurora’s “strong” mayor. Just as well, given that the previous one was factually incorrect.
The town did however foot the bill for 4 full page ads on pages 3,4,11 & 24.
At the rate listed this would be a $5,000 spend.
Page 11 is just a full page of a stock image saying exciting details coming soon:
Who on staff approved a $1,240 spend on this?
How would anyone ever figure out they could explore our trail system or eat at a restaurant or even socialize without patronizing messaging like this on page 4:
This is just pissing money away and given that the town is the largest ad spender on this at 17% ($5k of $29K) They need to be held accountable for propping up something that would otherwise fail.
I’m sure the Chamber of Commerce wishes to promote this as though this it is some kind of invaluable way-finding map for explorers
It’s not.
It is a low effort, rinse repeat exercise for a shrinking Chamber to appear relevant.
Money is siphoned away from much greater marketing platforms to have it quickly leave out the door to a printer that then produces 20,000 copies that will flood the Region’s recycling system.
Where T.S. Eliot stated that the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. Here in Aurora anyone reading this guide from the Aurora Chamber is arriving at the same place year after year after year.
The town needs to stop beating this dead horse and reserve its ad spend for more effective opportunities.
And if the accompanying ExploreAurora website is not being maintained in a professional and secure manner then it should be walked away from as well.
#NothingToSeeHere
#ShopBigBoxLocal
#MarketingFail
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