I’ve only lived in Indianola a very short time, so I am still trying to get settled, and in many ways, I’m still living off first impressions, as I get to know new people and places each day.
Doing the paper’s circulation route has helped me learn the county and meet many of the business owners who sell our papers.
After spending a little over a month here, I can say the thing that I am most impressed with is the fact that the community is united behind the brand that makes this county so rich in culture.
Just last week, there was the annual B.B. King Symposium at Mississippi Valley State University, where they dedicated a stretch of highway as the B.B. King Memorial Highway.
This community recognizes the power of the B.B. King brand and the blues brand as a whole.
There are some communities that still struggle with this.
When I was working for the newspaper in West Point, Miss., there was a fierce debate over whether the town was going to build a museum to honor Howlin’ Wolf, the famous bluesman who happened to be born in Clay County.
There was a faction in the town that did not appreciate the power of the brand and the tourism dollars that would result from a world-class museum in his honor.
West Point was visited weekly by bus loads of tourists from Europe, Australia and most of the United States, but it had one small one-room building dedicated to Howlin’ Wolf.
Once the tourists had taken their picture with Wolf’s statue, they were back on the bus, heading to Tupelo, Indianola, Clarksdale and Memphis. All of these places had world-class museums, and all of these places were united by the figures that put these towns on the map, like Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips and of course, B.B. King.
To my knowledge, the faction against the Wolf museum won out, and West Point missed its chance to capitalize on the blues culture.
Even when I was at Delta State, the university scoffed at the Okra mascot. It was never officially recognized. That is until a marketing genius explained how they could monetize the brand.
Around 2005, I got one of the first “Okra Cards” and the university has embraced the brand ever since.
Sometimes we underestimate the power of branding and we miss out on opportunities that could enrich our communities, both culturally and monetarily.
It’s good to see Indianola recognizes that, because tourism is a huge component of economic development.
The community unveiled its Downtown Harmony Guitar on Thursday, and it should be proud of what has been accomplished.
