Mktg. Strategy: Learn to Spell Chile
We New Mexicans are
passionate about our chile (spelled with an “e” - it’s a pepper not a Tex-Mex concoction.) And, many of us want to protect our heritage and environment from clueless developers.
So, I wasn’t too surprised that the Madrid Chili Festival this past weekend was a bust. A developer, originally from Long Island, who now lives in Madrid (a picturesque former mining village), decided to take advantage of the fading buzz and set dressings left over from the filming of Wild Hogs in the town. Nothing wrong with that conceptually. When driving through last year, I chuckled when I saw the movie trailers and “Madrid Chili Festival” sign hanging over the road. Everyone loves a good party and our various food festivals, street fairs, and fiestas are typically jammed. Madrid is a popular stop along the Turquoise Trail. 
Hollywood is fascinating (if you’ve not had John Travolta blocking your driveway for days.)
So, why didn’t the Chili Festival get cookin’? Here are some quotes from the article Chili Fest gets chilly turn-out.
“In all, there were about 85 people at the $29-a-head festival when the music started, not counting those who were working there.”
Ouch! $29 for no chili (they canceled the cook-off which was sanctioned by the International Chili Society), and only one band. Plus, you can see everything there is to see of the main buildlngs (and remaining sets) by simply walking (for free) from one end of Madrid to the other (takes about 10 minutes). By contrast, I paid $12 for Salsa Under The Stars on Friday night - for three solid hours of music and terrific people watching in a lovely and unusual museum amphitheater, about 12 minutes from my house. (Madrid is an hour’s drive for me, more for many others.)
“Cheryl Pinter, daughter of promoter Ron Phillips, said she believed the festival wasn’t as successful as it could have been because of the opposition from Madrid residents.”
Yep, those pesky locals. Well, you know it is their town. I’d bet if Cheryl and her Dad had talked to people about how to make the “Madrid Chile Fiesta” good for them and their businesses, opposition would have melted away. They could have had some fun with that whole “i” and “e” thing in chile too. Use the original signs, cross out “i”, put in an “e” and so on. (And - um - I think there are only about 85 permanent residents total in Madrid proper.)
“The idea for the festival came from the movie Wild Hogs, which was shot in Madrid last summer. Phillips is a Connecticut real-estate investor who recently moved to Madrid. He has said he decided to spell chile with an “i” on the end instead of an “e” because that is more familiar to people outside New Mexico.”
This is one of those “minor” details that ends up being not so minor. New Mexico tourism is already a multi-billion $ industry, so lots of people know about the state. Our chiles are sold world-wide. Not to mention, chile is grown in places like New Jersey (but not - wuh-ho - Madrid.) People come to New Mexico because it’s unfamiliar. If they want familiar, they stay in Connecticut. So, what was done to promote the event outside the state? For how long? In what venues? Did you partner with other tourist-related groups to draw in visitors? Work with local Madrid galleries and stores to promote to their out-of-state customers? Why was the only lodging listed on the web site the budget/generic hotels in Santa Fe? (All on Cerrillos Road, the least lovely of streets in Santa Fe, to put it mildly. It’s strip mall Hell.) What about B&Bs? There are at least a couple in the Madrid area, more if you include the surrounding area, such as Galisteo Inn. What was done to build web site traffic? Etc. etc. etc.
Here’s another clue (re ‘tude) - from another article:
“Phillips said he knows some Madrid residents oppose his festival because they are sending him ‘hate e-mail.’ But he said he intends to build on the interest in Madrid that Wild Hogs fostered and would like to see the town develop a tourism industry like Tombstone, Ariz.
‘Madrid’s a diamond in the rough,’ Phillips said. ‘And to have an opportunity to have your town publicized in a favorable way with millions and millions of people, there’s thousands of towns that would die for that. …
‘The first step starts with an attitude of welcoming newcomers with different views and having them all come into the fold, and I think Madrid is in that period of adjusting to their new role of being gracious hosts.’”
Owww! Burn, Baby, Burn! Putting aside the Tombstone reference (shudder) and the fact that a lot of folks come to New Mexico to get away from all those “millions and millions of people”..Mr. Phillips, how about being a gracious newcomer and guest? There are already tons of different views in New Mexico. Name a viewpoint, we’ve got it - what with Native Americans, Anglos, Hispanics, Latinas, Liberal, Conservative, old hippies, young hippies, movie stars, millionaires, high rollers, low riders, Wiccans, Catholics, farmers, loft dwellers, monks, artists, accountants…We (usually) manage to muddle along - and welcome guests all the time. And, when I’ve visited Madrid through the years the locals have never anything less than welcoming.
Mr. Phillips and his daughter are probably wonderful people with good intentions. But, the first thing they should do, before planning another event, is to learn how to spell - and then think about how graciousness isn’t just something you receive. (Mr. Phillips and Ms. Pinter - if y’all want to give me a call, I’d be happy to talk more. We native New Mexicans are usually glad to help, if you ask. And, having lived on the east coast for years, I think I know where you’re coming from.)
Read More: Free New Mexican article
If you’d like to leave a comment, please do so. It may take a bit to show up since I hate making people type in little letters (I can’t read most of them myself) - so I moderate all comments. Feel free to disagree - debate is healthy. However, I’ve blacklisted the worst obscenities, including the “f” word, as part of the troll wall.
Tags: local touchNew Mexico, marketing strategy, target marketing, marketing, marketing troubleshooting
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July 19th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Good grief, $29 was way too much to charge. I’m one of those out-of-staters, a Californian, and from what I remember from my last trip to New Mexico, you can’t be there for more than an hour without being introduced to chiles. They are everywhere! The best food festivals I’ve been to have been collaborations between the organizers (often the Chamber of Commerce) and local businesses, so that the festival itself was a promotion of the town rather than in competition with it.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:02 am
Peggy,
And, here we thought you people from California were all fabulously wealthy!
You got it - collaboration is key to such events - or really to any activity involving more than one person, organization, or location. Unfortunately, many people just don’t get that.
P.S. Madrid has a blues festival every year that’s fairly low key, but very popular.
November 30th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Chile is the name of a nation. Chili is the word for pepper that American English borrowed from Mexican Spanish. During the past couple decades, some English dictionaries added “chile” as an alternative spelling of chili out of deference to people who insist that since Chile is shaped like a chili, that’s what the name means.
November 30th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Well, that’s an interesting take on it. But, here in New Mexico we’ve always spelled it “chile” and not because of the country.
And in Europe and Asia, you’ll see it spelled “chilli” in English.
November 30th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
I know the British claim that chilli was the original transliteration of the indigenous Mexican word, but it was transliterated by the Spanish first, and if they’d transliterated it as chilli, it would be pronounced differently.