WESTFIELD – The City of Westfield, along with partners Westfield Gas & Electric/Whip City Fiber, the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce and Westfield Bank will be running a series of focus groups beginning next Monday to get input for Go Westfield, the city’s marketing campaign.
Go Westfield (at GoWestfield.com), which launched last summer, is a marketing partnership to communicate to people outside the region that Westfield is an attractive location to grow a business and an exceptional place to live, work, and play. “This campaign is focused on promoting the full Westfield value proposition,” Mayor Sullivan said. “Westfield has a great story to tell, and our team has worked hard to ensure that story is known around Massachusetts and beyond,” he added.
At Monday’s invite only meeting for retailers, those attendees will be asked to talk about what the different aspects of the city are, both good and bad, that affect their businesses. Future focus groups will be held with manufacturers, developers and real estate professionals and non-profits.
“These meeting are to get some feedback from these communities to help us focus our marketing message and identify areas that we, the city, can improve on,” said City Advancement Officer Joe Mitchell.
Mitchell said that following the Go Westfield rollout last year, some city councilors and other stakeholders advised the group to conduct these outreach meetings to get their fingers on the pulse of the community.
For small retail, they are not just focusing on the downtown, but on the citywide experience. Mitchell said invitations for the first focus group have been mailed out to businesses located in Hamden Ponds, East Main St., Southampton Road and Southwick Road.
Community Development Director Peter J. Miller will also be unveiling design plans for wayfinding signs at Monday’s meeting, which he is developing thanks to a grant from the state for $25,000 secured by State Representative John Velis last year.
