THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994 TAG: 9406290072
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940630 LENGTH: Long
So say the out-of-town headlines.
{REST} Tourism. Redevelopment. Historic sites. Economic development. Even crime and sex.
In recent years, newspapers and magazines in other cities have been telling an upbeat Norfolk story.
Some samples from near and far:
``Norfolk: old Navy town with brand-new image. City now the business hub of a booming area.'' The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution, May 8, 1988.
``Smooth sailing in Norfolk. Virginia town revels in naval heritage.'' The Sunday Record of Bergen County, N.J., July 25, 1993.
``Walking tour of Norfolk.'' New York Post travel section, June 8, 1993.
``Recruiting Tourists.'' Travel section of The Daily News of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sept. 26, 1993.
``Culture has replaced sailors in Norfolk.'' Lakeland Ledger in Florida, April 11, 1993.
``Set Sail for Norfolk,'' Southern Living, August 1993.
The opening of the renovated Harrison Opera House in November 1993 merited a review in The New York Times of Nov. 22, 1993.
The city's anti-crime Police Assisted Community Enforcement, or PACE program, was featured in The Buffalo News in upstate New York on March 13 of this year. The headline: ``Norfolk program turns corner on crime.''
And, how's this? Last year, Ebony and Cosmopolitan magazines each hyped Norfolk as being among the best cities for young women to find eligible single men.
Whatever the story angle, Norfolk will take it, as long as it parades the city's name before thousands of readers.
``What is the advantage? It's awareness. It's like how Coca-Cola gets sold. Awareness advertising,'' said Robert B. Smithwick, Norfolk's development director.
And much of it is free.
Like the stories that dozens of travel writers across the country - even from foreign lands - produce for their hometown readers.
These are a few lines from a travel feature in the May 15, 1994, Charlotte (N.C.) Observer:
``Whether it's history or culture, entertainment or sports, art or exercise, Norfolk has something that will appeal to just about anyone. And with an international airport hosting more than 200 flights a day and major transportation routes crisscrossing the area, it is easy to get to.''
Readers of the June 1993 World Trade magazine saw a beautiful color photograph of Norfolk's downtown waterfront - complete with pleasure boats, Waterside, the Marriott Hotel and Main Street bank buildings.
The caption read, ``Norfolk, Virginia: A quality-of-life leader.'' The story listed Norfolk as one of 15 cities ``Where the Living is Easy.''
Sometimes news services distribute one report to dozens of newspapers.
A piece by Gene and Adele Malott, who write a syndicated column called ``The Mature Traveler,'' ran in at least 18 newspapers. The list included the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press and the Desert Sun of Palm Springs, Calif.
Readers in those communities learned about such attractions as the MacArthur Memorial museum and the Carrie B and Spirit of Norfolk harbor cruises.
The Harbor Park baseball stadium was prominent in a July 1993 story in The Record of Bergen County, N.J.
``You're at a Mets home game and your team's winning again. You're gobbling crab cakes and, between innings, you watch the sailboats gliding by on the river.
``No soggy hot dogs, no deafening noise from airplanes landing at La Guardia. No worries that your car is getting stripped.''
The scene, of course, is Harbor Park, home of the junior Mets, better known as the Norfolk Tides minor league baseball team.
This year, the opening of Nauticus attracted travel writers.
``New Norfolk has a razzle-dazzle approach to the waterfront,'' wrote the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa. and The Herald-Sun of Durham, N.C., also ran features about Nauticus. The Durham paper included a color map showing how to get to Norfolk.
Norfolk's promotional efforts generally yield tourism articles.
In fact, 1993 proved to be a bumper year. A record crop of 520 articles or calendar listings about Norfolk appeared in out-of-town publications, said Amy W. Jonak, communications manager for the Norfolk Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Jonak also said that over 30 out-of-town travel writers toured Norfolk and at least 220 more had requested information or other help.
Tourism-related articles aren't the only bounty.
Southern Living magazine has featured the redeveloped neighborhoods of Middle Towne Arch and Pinewell-by-the-Bay.
``The City of Norfolk and its Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority have been doing something since the late 1960s that most Southern cities still only dream of: building viable, new in-town neighborhoods for residents of varying income levels,'' Southern Living said.
The city hadn't even tried to interest Southern Living in Norfolk.
``One of their editors had noticed an article about Middle Towne Arch in Progressive Architecture,'' said Andrea Bear of the housing authority. ``So they came to us. We didn't go to them.''
The article was part of Southern Living's occasional series on Southern neighborhoods. ``It's interesting that Middle Towne Arch is not one of the best-known new neighborhoods in Hampton Roads, yet it received this national attention,'' she said. ``It was a nice surprise.''
Bear and Jonak are part of the Norfolk National Public Awareness Committee. The group dreams up ways to get broad exposure for Norfolk's achievements.
It's difficult to measure the full effect of out-of-town publicity, Bear noted. But the newspaper and magazine stories, she said, all go toward changing one popular national perception, that Norfolk is still a rundown Navy town much as it was during World War II.
``The word of mouth carried for many years was that Norfolk is a horrible place,'' Bear said. ``Hopefully, some of this positive publicity . . . will build a better image.''
But Bear also has a caveat: While Norfolk is basking in good publicity for now, ``you can do overkill.''
``I do believe that. If you pat yourself on your back too many times it becomes like a crying wolf syndrome.''
Some publicity presents a quandary.
Journalists often report Norfolk's accomplishments in contrast to the blight and honky tonk of yesteryear.
These stories invoke old images, as this article in The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution:
``You can't get a tattoo in downtown Norfolk anymore, but you can still get a drink, if you want one badly enough.''
The generally positive article then presents Norfolk as a ``far cry from the Navy town it used to be.''
Similarly, a feature in The Buffalo (N.Y.) News about Norfolk's success with Police Assisted Community Enforcement, or PACE, anti-crime program began with a vivid scene - a young man in a public housing neighborhood preparing to sell $1,000 worth of heroin.
Norfolk's economic development activities also generates publicity.
The city's Development Department organizes paid promotions as well as well as cultivates the out-of-town news media. Efforts have included lunch meetings in key cities, said Smithwick, the director.
For example, a reporter from The Washington Post attended a luncheon in New York City last spring. As a result, Smithwick said, Norfolk was discussed in several paragraphs of a news-feature about business recruitment.
Smithwick's efforts go beyond getting Norfolk into newspapers.
One campaign features advertisements based on New Yorker magazine-style cartoons of the late Charles Saxon. Most were drawn by Saxon.
With gentle humor, the cartoons portray Norfolk as a relaxed but sophisticated place to do business.
In one panel, two businessmen are sitting on a yacht, the downtown skyline in the background. The caption says, ``It was tough at first, but I've managed to adjust to the Norfolk lifestyle.''
Promotional efforts are not limited to print media.
Smithwick said he got Norfolk ``12 mentions at no cost'' on the ``Regis and Kathy Lee'' morning television show.
An entourage of Smithwick, Mayor Mason C. Andrews and three city councilmen situated themselves in the audience during a live broadcast from New York.
``We knew that Kathy Lee was expecting a baby at the time and here was Mayor Andrews, an OB-GYN doctor,'' Smithwick recalled.
Smithwick said he approached the show's producer, just before air time, and mentioned the ``coincidence.''
``When the show started, Regis looked out there and saw this group of people from Norfolk. He asked Kathy Lee how she felt and told her, `You're in good hands. We have with us today the mayor of Norfolk, Va., and he's an OB-GYN doctor.' ''
Smithwick, who boasts of ``not taking `No' for an answer,'' also has coaxed free publicity from the USA Today national newspaper.
Four years ago, he succeeded in getting the newspaper to include Norfolk on its large weather map.
And, since March, USA Today has given Norfolk more prominence. The city is among 42 listed in a more-detailed weather section called ``Top Travel Destinations.''
``Awareness advertising at zero cost,'' Smithwick said. ``You can't do better than that.'' by CNB