CT Retail Network's The Voice of Retail

The Vital Role of Tourism in Connecticut's Economy

• Tim Phelan • Season 1 • Episode 2

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In this episode of The Voice of Retail podcast, Tim Phelan speaks with Anthony Anthony, Chief Marketing Officer for the State of Connecticut, about the intersection of tourism and retail in Connecticut. They discuss the importance of tourism for the state's economy, the challenges of unifying tourism efforts, and the recent rebranding initiatives aimed at promoting Connecticut as a vibrant place to live, work, and play. The conversation also touches on the impact of the pandemic on tourism, funding challenges for marketing efforts, and the metrics used to measure success in attracting visitors to the state.

The Connecticut Retail Network is The Voice of Retail, at the State Capitol and across the state. Our podcast features timely conversations about retail topics and trends, with retail industry leaders and business owners from throughout the state. It’s a podcast for retailers – and their customers! To learn more about us please visit https://ctretailnetwork.com/

Tim Phelan (00:04.59)

Welcome to the Voice of Retail, the podcast of the Connecticut Retail Network. I'm Tim Phelan, the president of the Connecticut Retail Network and your host for this podcast. The retail industry is the nation's largest private sector employer, contributing $5.3 trillion to annual GDP and supporting more than one in four U.S. jobs, 55 million working Americans. The Connecticut Retail Network represents the retail industry in the state of Connecticut.

 

an industry that supports more than 470,000 jobs and contributes more than 34 billion to our state's economy. 24 % of the jobs in Connecticut, nearly one in four, are supported by the retail industry. And more than 98 % of all retail companies are small businesses, employing fewer than 50 people. The Connecticut Retail Network is the voice of retail at the state capital and across the state.

 

On our podcast, we'll bring you timely conversations about retail topics and trends with retail industry leaders and business owners from throughout the state. It's a podcast for retailers and their customers. After the podcast, to learn more about Connecticut's retail industry, visit our website, wwwctretailnetwork.com. And if you have a suggestion for a retail topic you'd like to hear about, let us know by email. We'd welcome your suggestions.

 

Today, our guest is Anthony Anthony, Chief Marketing Officer for the State of Connecticut within the Department of Consumer Economic and Community Development. And Anthony's main focus is on tourism, and we wanted to talk to him about what's happening in tourism and everything about how retail can get involved more or how his efforts as the Chief Marketing Officer are a bearing fruit for tourism in Connecticut. So Anthony, welcome.

 

to our podcast. Thank you, Tim. I really appreciate you having me on. Well, it's good to see you. I know folks won't be able to see us, but be able to hear us, but it's good to see you again. And before we begin, why don't you just take a couple of minutes if you can, and just tell us a little bit about yourself and how you landed in Connecticut, because I know you're not a native, but how did you land here and how did you land in this position that you have now?

 

Tim Phelan (02:27.252)

Yeah, absolutely. very long story short. So my background prior to public service was I was working in the private sector as a creative director and strategist for brand communications agencies. So working with some of the biggest businesses out there in consumer products, hospitality, media, automotive, even pharmaceutical. So really broad.

 

broad experience across sectors. And you know what I said, you know what, one day I want to get back into public service. So after being in New York and 10 years, I got a call and moved on up to Connecticut and worked in the governor's office for a few years. And by the time my the the election of 2022 rolled around, I felt I had done, we'd done some good work and it was time to

 

amp it up a little bit, go beyond that. And let's proactively tell a better story about Connecticut as a place to live, work and play. So I pitched this role to the commissioner at DECD and the governor's chief of staff at the time, Paul Malins. And they said, absolutely, we need this. We love it. And the rest is kind of history. So in my role, I oversee both the Office of Tourism

 

and office of previously the office of marketing and branding. And now we've united these two offices all under one banner. And as I was saying before, it's really telling a story about Connecticut as the best damn place in the country to live, and play. Yeah. Well, that's great. That's a great story. You're kind of back to where you started back on advertising and branding and promotion. That's great.

 

Absolutely. And we have so many good things that folks don't necessarily realize here in the state. You know, I love that we're talking about retail and tourism among many other things today. And I think what tourism does for the state and not just bringing people in to spend money, I think we all need to be thinking about tourism a little bit differently than maybe we have in the past. It's not always about vacation. Like I live in Avon, so I consider when I get in the car and I drive over to West Hartford,

 

Tim Phelan (04:40.278)

shop or eat dinner or have a drink with a friend. That's technically tourism. So I'm leaving to go to a place. So I think we can think of tourism as part of the quality of life in here in Connecticut and having so much within our borders of the state. That's a really good point. think sometimes somewhere along the way, even citizens and residents of Connecticut took a negative outlook about our own state. And I think

 

we have to do a better job of within ourselves realizing the value that we have and what a great state Connecticut is. maybe somebody, that example that you use, just going from one Avon to West Hartford kind of is a small example of the sort of what's within Connecticut, which is really valuable and including great places to shop.

 

Absolutely. It's, mean, all of it is part of the vibrancy of our communities. And it really is low hanging fruit to just be able to activate to our own residents and make them realize there's so much here that they can do. Make people feel good about where they live as they should. You know, one of the big conversations among retailers and restaurants and other places has been about tourism and how, you know, in previous administrations,

 

It was just a lack of funding or awareness. And then the whole tourism infrastructure was designed in a way that kind of had little fiefdoms everywhere. Tell me, talk a little bit about the challenges of trying to unify all of those efforts. You know, I love this conversation. I ask for apologies in advance for you and your audience as I nerd out a little bit about this. No, nerding out is fine.

 

Yeah, well, this is the right format for that podcast, right? Yeah. So if you look at the history of Connecticut and tourism here, I can't necessarily speak to 20, 25, 30 years ago. But I know some from a structural standpoint, it used to be, yeah, there was the overarching office of tourism. And then there were like 19 different regional organizations. And then over the course of time, I understand that

 

Tim Phelan (06:58.786)

They consolidated and now we have three in the state. So we have Eastern, Western and Central. And there have been efforts among those groups to wanna divide up into six to eight different regions. And I gotta say, from my perspective in this role, my objective overall, yeah, of course, my job is to market Connecticut as a great place to live, work and play. But I think one of the best strategies that we can put into place.

 

And really my mission, it's to unify all of the parts of our state as much as possible. I think we're gonna be so much better off if we're all kind of marching to the beat of the same drum, so to speak. So, you know, getting all of these different regional organizations all aligned with us and getting our partners externally, you know, like yourself and others all working together for the same thing, that's hugely helpful.

 

You know, in talking about budgets and things of the sorts, we are working hard to spread the word about all the growth that has occurred in the state over the last few years and how we had a banner year last year, really. And we had the most amount of visitors coming into Connecticut. So technically a visitor is somebody by the standards of our different data and metrics that we pull somebody travels more than 25 miles. So we had a banner year, the most all time.

 

just about 68 million visitors, so to speak. And one of the greatest years of expenses and the most amount of tax dollars coming into the state and our municipality. So we're really trying to continue that. And I think a lot of that is the, course, macro trends. People really pent up demand, but also I think it's the fact that we had more money than we've ever had to be able to spend on marketing the state.

 

And you did a rebrand of your relaunch. Talk a little bit about that. Because we went from, I don't even know what it was, still revolutionary. We were a land of steady habits and all that kind of stuff. But now we've got a new brand, you got a new logo, you got a new conversation about what it is we are and why people should come. talk a little bit about

 

Tim Phelan (09:17.846)

We do. So we rebranded back in October, 2023, and proceeded to put out a few different campaigns. So yes, there was more of like that identity campaign just to get that new brand out of the world. And then we brought the tourism brand in under that directive and the governor's urging.

 

We had all state agencies adopt that same branding. So you're really starting to see more and more cohesion. So going back to that unification we've been talking about, but the real core of the state identity and the message we're putting out into the world is that Connecticut's a state of makers, creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs. And we're a powerful force for good in the country. And that our brand campaign right now is Make It Here. So that's both from a live work perspective as well as a play perspective.

 

So they all come together and again, tell that robust story about who we are and why people should want to be a part of what we have going on here, whether you're not from Connecticut or you're thinking about moving here or you want to do business here. So I think there's real opportunity for people to have agency and to take control of their lives and really make their lives, make their businesses, make their careers, and make their future in this small and

 

mighty state, so. So your rebranding efforts also tie into economic development in general and recruitment of companies to move into Connecticut in general. Yeah, absolutely. So how does that work? So I got to say that we found some interesting data in our research and our approach to rebranding. And it's really transformed how we are talking about the state and marketing the state as a whole. Yeah.

 

I wish I could stay claim for this very smart statement, but I can't. I'll give credit where credit's due to Commissioner Dan O'Keefe. He's the new head of DECD. Joined about a year ago as chief innovation officer, and now he's running the agency as of January. So he says that Connecticut has been a net beneficiary of the pandemic. And I tend to agree. You've seen economic growth in the state really since the pandemic. You've seen population growth in the state since the pandemic.

 

Tim Phelan (11:37.27)

And I'm not saying all of it is by virtue of the pandemic, but I think it's helped. And actually what it's also done and going back to that idea of marketing strategies, since the pandemic site selectors, and in case folks out there don't know site selectors are the businesses that help other businesses decide where to invest, grow, and if you need to relocate to relocate. And it used to be pre-pandemic that the criteria for site selectors, number one and number two,

 

had to do one with cost of doing business and two, it was local and state incentives. you know, how is, what kind of subsidies can you get or tax breaks? And that's changed. It's not that those things aren't important anymore. They've fallen further down the list. And what quickly rose up was one, access to workforce, which I'm sure a lot of folks out in retail and hospitality are

 

finding some challenges with no doubt, but also it's quality of life. And so when you have workforce and quality of life at the top of those criteria, Connecticut stands to really benefit from it. So we realized that what makes the state a great place to visit and a great place to live are, you know, some, they're very similar. And so those things are virtuous with one another and they feed one another.

 

And then ultimately though, those two things feed into that third leg of the school, ends up being businesses wanting to grow here and relocate here because of quality of life and workforce. So we're really using tourism as the tip of the spear to bring people into the state and see what we're all about. Most often once they're here and they've spent a little bit of time, they recognize the great quality of life. it's not all that Connecticut is not what perceptions are.

 

Which is a really hard thing to overcome, know, once you get that perception of what your state is like. I know I don't have any, my kids are out of college now, but we would take kids to college out of school, you know, and be like, you're from Connecticut. Kind of different, right? A different way to look at us or feel, you know, we were just, I don't know what it is, but it was interesting. And now it's good to hear that maybe we're starting to overcome some of that stuff.

 

Tim Phelan (14:00.492)

with development. In central cities that are having more economic development, more companies are moving in, like New Haven, for instance, has got booming AI and bioscience and all that. So that's bringing more people to the state and that's good for retail. Very much so it is. You're seeing a lot of these cities that maybe had people had perceptions about

 

before just completely transforming. mean, Shelton, Connecticut, I was actually just there yesterday at Jones Family Winery. And Shelton is booming and it's being completely reshaped, not just because of investments we've made in a state in housing and community vibrancy, but also because there were so many businesses popping up and down in that part of the state. So it's just a different spot altogether. And you know, interestingly, going back to that perception.

 

piece. We did a lot of research, did focus groups and polling and studies to understand how people in state and out of state feel about Connecticut. And we found that, yeah, we have a lot of work to do in state to make people feel a little bit different. But beyond the state, it's not that people had a bad perception of Connecticut. It was that they had no perception of Connecticut. So it's, fact, an advantageous spot to be. And that's why with a lot of this new marketing you're starting to see.

 

We're really trying to find points of pride in our identity that we can kind of plant a flag in the ground and then stand behind and stand tall with. So probably seen some press in recent months around things like New Haven Pizza and being the pizza capital of the world or the country, excuse me. And we've done a lot of work around promoting. Yeah, I'll lean into that. don't mind. I don't mind that. I'm a marketer, know, so we have.

 

We have a tendency to lean into hyperbole, but focusing on oysters and basketball and all these things that we do and we do very well. that way, beyond our borders, people are starting to think of Connecticut a little bit differently than maybe they had in the past. Yeah. Yeah. Let's get back to tourism a little bit, if we can, specifically. There has been previously in previous administrations, and think even you guys are probably still struggling a little bit around funding. How do you fund?

 

Tim Phelan (16:22.402)

today, how do we fund tourism and how do we fund your efforts to brand, promote, and attract people who come to Connecticut, just specifically on tourism? Yeah. So I think that is probably one of our most important things that we can be doing right now is getting enough money to be able to actually get the word out because we're in a Look, there's no way around it. We're in election year and we're all seeing the billion ads up on TV.

 

So it's hard for us to compete with that. I advertising space is already expensive. And so that's driving up the cost in a year like this. So it's hard for us to get into big markets like Boston and New York and beyond. So we need more money to be able to do that. you know, within the administration, we've had some really productive conversations with the governor's office and they, you know, they really understand the value of what we've been doing and how the results we've produced over the last few years.

 

came about. last year, and the last legislative session was actually for folks who aren't as tapped into the legislative session as you know, maybe you and I are Tim. And this session from February to May, the governor proposed an increase to the tourism budget beyond just the normal federal funds that we've had in the past. And unfortunately, it didn't happen.

 

But we're going to continue that conversation going into the next session and asking for that proper amount of money. we need to go on the offensive. We got a great story to tell here in whether it's to get tourists in or to get people who are thinking about living here in and businesses too. So we're asking. I think for folks in your industry, think it's really a civic call. It's saying, hey, call your legislators. Let them know.

 

what it is, is like that value tourists. I do think sometimes Anthony, on behalf of the retail industry, we feel a little bit left out of your tourism efforts. I it's usually around restaurants or hotels and where people are going. There are great places to shop all throughout Connecticut. And sometimes, just this is our forum, so we get to say it. Sometimes, how can we better position ourselves as part of your

 

Tim Phelan (18:45.3)

efforts in promoting and tourism activities in Connecticut. So there's a couple things. And thank you for telling me that, I always am open to hearing constructive feedback and people wanting to partner and how we can do better. So first thing I'll say is I've seen, I actually just got an email this morning from our marketing agency and there are retail clips in the commercials. good. I go on TV. So I mean, I think you're going to be seeing that in every season's commercials.

 

whether you actually see them on TV or not. But the big thing is, in the busy media landscape that exists, we do a vast majority of our advertising digitally. And that's all driving people to our state tourism website, which is ctvisit.com. So a vast majority of our marketing dollars are not necessarily those TV ads, but driving folks to see content on our site. So I think what we can be doing is,

 

If you all feed us content, feed us content ideas like, you know, three great towns to shop in or three reasons to shop at one of your local mom and pop stores or, you know, 10 top, you know, getting into more niche categories, like 10 top boutiques in Connecticut. Those are all ways that we can partner together. And so when then we get the content up on CT visit, we'll put that in our advertising ecosystem and drives

 

people to that based upon their interests. And then beyond that, once we have that content, we've built up our team. So we're fully staffed for the first time since before the pandemic. great. Yeah. And a few of those folks are focused on making content that lives beyond CT visits. So social media, paid social media ads, even YouTube videos. You were talking a little bit earlier about the number of visitors that you can't, how do you track

 

What metrics do you use to track? And I'm sure legislators ask you this when you go in there, ask them for more money. And I mean, some of my members may even be concerned about it as well. Like, how do we really know the efforts that you're doing or working? What types of metrics do you follow to say, hey, we've got, we're doing better in tourism, more people are coming, all that. I know in our industry, we usually, we'll track it by sales. We'll track it by foot track.

 

Tim Phelan (21:11.598)

But how do you look at it and say, our marketing efforts are working? So I think there are several different efforts. And I got to look at it and keep in mind with my role being overseeing all this marketing. So live, work, and play. And that's all economic development driven. So from a tourism's perspective, yes, it's number of visitors. But beyond that, it's also economic impact. So last year, Connecticut's economic impact

 

grew as well. So the industry as a whole for tourism brought in 18 and a half billion dollars, which was up from the previous year when it was 17 billion. Beyond that, we also look at the number of jobs and then tax dollars brought in at the state and local level. So all of those things increased. I try and look at, yes, those from a tourism perspective, but then I also look at

 

overarching economic growth. So making sure that GDP data is on the increase where our part is with the tourism and hospitality industries in that piece of the puzzle. And then also the other little things, number of businesses that are operating and growing. Jobs, so actually we just got jobs data back the other day and six consecutive months of the year.

 

where we've had growth and then the other piece is population. So making sure people are considering Connecticut and the state keeps growing. All right, great. Anthony, we're wrapping it up. We only have about a couple of minutes left. We talked about a lot of stuff. there anything that you would like to, you know, anything that you would like to share with us or any surprises, any things you didn't realize when you first took the job that you now understand better about Connecticut or?

 

Well, interestingly enough, I mean, I have some good news that I'll tell you at all in a second. And then the surprise, I think the big surprise is shockingly how much Connecticut kind of has this middle child syndrome, which is like, it's that self-loathing that exists. So you're being on the side of New York and Massachusetts, people, you know, are, seemed to have like that, you know, that down ourselves, woe is me attitude. And I think I would have liked to believe

 

Tim Phelan (23:37.59)

I have only anecdotal evidence at this point, but I think we're slowly but surely embarking on a cultural change. And so hopefully over the course of the next year or two, as we, campaigns go from higher level awareness down into more engagement, we're spreading that word and people are starting to feel better and tell others how they're feeling better about the state. Now the good news I'll share with you and some of your listeners out there.

 

Our marketing efforts have expanded. So we were talking before about Connecticut as a place to live, work and play and how the identity of the state is about being makers and creators and entrepreneurs. So we started a new website called ctmakeithere.com. And this will be a companion website to ctvisit.com. But it's a little bit less about things to do. And it's a lot more about why you should consider living and working here. And it's not me as the state.

 

telling people why they should do that. That's you all telling us why you should do it. So it's first person storytelling. And so, you're some of these business owners out there. I think you all can be featured on it. Tell us your story and what's interesting about it. And how do you partner? How do you get involved in the community? What is it that you do that makes you stand out and special? So again, it's just another opportunity to market yourselves.

 

And you can email me any time of the day or week to do that. My email address is the easiest in the state of Connecticut to remember. It's anthony.anthony.ct.gov. So shoot me a note and let's chat and find out ways that we can partner together. Yeah. We'll put some of your stuff up on our website so folks can go there as well. Because I think one of the things that our organization can do a better job of just to be...

 

fair about it all, we could do a better job letting our folks know and letting you know how important tourism is to many of our members. And we want to be an ally of yours in your efforts to promote Connecticut, because if people come here to live, they're going to shop. If they come here to work, they're going to shop. If come here to play, they're going to shop. And that's what we want. So I think we want to be good partners for you in those efforts as well. So I'm glad you could take a couple of minutes and

 

Tim Phelan (25:59.298)

Talk to us about this stuff and I hope we can have you back on again. Thank you, Tim. Not only do I appreciate the kind words and your willingness to partner, I appreciate the chance to be on and talking to folks. I think we have so many rich and ripe opportunities and time to capitalize is now. That's right. And you did mention the last time we were together, you liked our logo.

 

our new I do. do. It's been, it's a nice, really nice refresh. mean, it's, and it's clever. And you see so many variations of that Connecticut outline out there. And I think like, this is one of the more original ones. Well, kind of back to your point, like you want to kind of grab your viewers attention, right? And I think for us, it was time for us to do a refresh on our, on our website. And I think I'm, you know, you guys have done a good job on doing a refresh on Connecticut.

 

Still revolutionary was interesting, but I think yours is good. Yeah, thank you, Tim. I appreciate it. it at We'll leave it at that. There you go. No need to throw anybody under a bus, right? That's right. Anthony, it's a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much. And all the best to you and your family and continue your good work with DECD and for the state of Connecticut. We appreciate it. Thank you, Tim. All right. We'll talk soon.