Streetwise: Fond du Lac Area Convention and Visitors Bureau to change name

FOND DU LAC – Fond du Lac Area Convention and Visitors Bureau will soon have a new name: Destination Lake Winnebago Region. 

The new name comes at the CVB undergoes a rebranding to fit its role as a “destination marketing company,” and the organization moves to its new location on Main Street, according to its president, Craig Molitor, at the Fond du Lac City Council meeting Wednesday night. 

The purpose of the organization is to market and sell the region to tourists, in order to promote commerce in the community. In his own experience, this in turn promotes quality of life, said Molitor.

Since 2010, the area marked increases in tourism spend and bed tax. Measured by the Department of Tourism, the tourist money spent in the county has grown from $89 million in 2010 to $147 million in 2017. Bed tax — which comes with the cost of a hotel room, is collected by the city from hotels and passed onto the CVB as its “sole revenue stream” — has grown from $320,000 in 2010 to $807,750 in 2017, according to Molitor. 

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With its new name, the CVB is looking to use the region to continue to up these numbers. The name birthed from discussions with the CVB’s marketing team, as well as key staff members, and the board of directors learned of the idea to rename last August. While first presented to the Downtown Architectural Review Board, the CVB’s board of directors approved the name unanimously following meetings as a whole and with individual members, said Molitor. 

Multiple marketing firms believed that as one of the largest freshwater lakes in the United States and most known attributes of the area, Lake Winnebago needed to be “taken advantage of” in the name. By eliminating the words "convention and visitors bureau," the name sounds less bureaucratic, said Molitor, and follows the trend of instead using words like “visit,” "explore" and “destination" being seen in many bureaus.

However, Lake Winnebago is not the only facet that the CVB looks to draw upon for tourism. Molitor said that broadening the brand regionally means adding to brand attributes in the region that runs from the northern tip of Lake Winnebago to the Waupun and Horicon areas, encompassing the Niagara Escarpment and Horicon Marsh. 

Already, the organization has found success in working a regional capacity, said Molitor. Through bringing in Waupun, the organization has added three lodgings to its offerings and added a $70,000 impact to its revenue. Art All Around, occurring May 31 through June 3, will run from the east side of Lake Winnebago to Waupun. 

The goal is to also expand into other cities and towns, such as those in Calumet County. Events will be able to be found on the CVB’s updated website, which will feature a new calendar that allows people to add their own events, available late this year. 

"Tourists don't care about county lines," he said.

While the saying “come on in” and the logo’s three swooshes and boat will remain in the branding, the new name will have the goal of communication more clearly to “the community and stakeholders” the destination marketing organization is regional, said Molitor. 

This change was not without concern, however. City Council Vice President Catherine Block and member, Donna Richards, both questioned if the removal of Fond du Lac from the name would negatively impact the city and county.

“I think it’s a little bit of an uphill battle for Fond du Lac when Fond du Lac is not in the moniker,” said Richards. 

Block found it “a little” disappointing that other areas would be getting the recognition, with only the hope that they would reciprocate and give similar recognition to Fond du Lac. She stated she believed that businesses in Fond du Lac would, too, like the focus to be on them.

“I was hoping that CVB, regardless of what it’s named, its focus would be on Fond du Lac and Fond du Lac County,” she said. 

Molitor stated that the words “Fond du Lac” will not go away, but be prominent in marketing and sales efforts as CVB continues to serve the area. The name will work with the “hub-and-spoke practice” of the tourism industry, in which people will make Fond du Lac hotels, which make up 90 percent of the CVB’s lodgings, their hub, and then go out an explore other areas of the region — including Fond du Lac — in the spokes.

“I believe that as we create an environment where all the boats float, everyone benefits,” said Molitor. “I understand your concern … but I believe there is success in regionalism and I hope to be proven right.”

The name change will come in the near future, as new window decals are placed on the CVB’s soon-to-open downtown location at 23 S. Main St.