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Despite Rankings, Pittsburgh Has Image Problem

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Jun 10, 2009 7:08 pm US/Eastern

Despite Rankings, Pittsburgh Has Image Problem

Reporting
Jon Delano
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― It's happened again.

Pittsburgh has been named America's most livable city.

This time -- it was a British magazine, the Economist, that made the rating.

But despite this latest positive press, Pittsburgh still has an image problem.

When visitors come see the 21st century Pittsburgh, they usually go away believers in a region that has remade itself over the last 50 years.

But most Americans have never been here -- and old images die hard.

Other cities often run TV ads in major markets like Washington, New York, and Chicago, but never Pittsburgh.

So could we be doing something more to change America's old image of Pittsburgh?

"We know it's a great town, and this is not the first accolade we have received," says Beverly Morrow-Jones of Visit Pittsburgh.

"I travel around there a lot. The buzz is out there about Pittsburgh," adds Michele Fabrizi of Marc Advertising.

That may be true -- but why then did the White House press corps snicker when Pittsburgh was named the host for the G-20 summit?

Or how about this Newsweek headline: "What Pittsburgh (Don't Laugh) Can Teach Obama."

Why doesn't America know what we know?

"Do you think over the years we have missed the opportunity?" KDKA money editor Jon Delano asked Scott Morgan of Brunner Advertising.

"I think we have not capitalized on the best things that have been said about us, absolutely."

While the positive press is there, Morgan says the region has not pushed advertising to dispel the smoky, dirty Pittsburgh image of yesteryear.

"There just aren't the dollars to do that. We're just not a big time consumer package goods brand that can spend a hundred million dollars on our own city," he notes.

So while other cities have a TV marketing budget, Pittsburgh tries to promote itself in more cost-effective ways, says Dennis Yablonsky of the Allegheny Conference, citing the software and hi-tech community.

"People in that industry know about Carnegie Mellon, know about the software industry here, and have a more modern image about it," says Yablonsky. "That didn't happen through advertising. That happened through word of mouth, talking to friends and of course modern social media."

And both advertising experts Morgan and Fabrizi say Pittsburghers who have moved away can be rallied more effectively to promote the new Pittsburgh.

"Pittsburgh's in their heart and soul like you don't hear other communities talked about, and I think they are our best ambassadors because they're living out there," says Fabrizi.

That's true, of course, unless they moved away because Pittsburgh didn't have the jobs to keep them.

Turns out that we actually have 23,000 open jobs in the region right now.

Bottom line -- without marketing dollars -- Pittsburgh has to be creative -- and the presence of a thousand reporters this September at the G-20 summit is a great opportunity.

Because being America's most livable city means little if nobody believes it.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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