New Woodstock marketing committee created

On Tuesday, July 22, during the Woodstock Town Selectboard meeting, a new marketing committee was created under the jurisdiction of the selectboard, to be comprised of five community members and two Chamber of Commerce members.

The director of Woodstock’s marketing program Jessica Kirby had pitched for a new marketing committee in a presentation to the selectboard during its June 26 meeting. Kirby currently is under contract with the town in a role in which she manages the official Instagram and Facebook pages for the town, as well as an email newsletter sent out to subscribers monthly. Kirby told the Standard, “I manage all digital marketing for Woodstock. I update the social media daily, write the monthly newsletter, and manage the website content. We are also currently in the process of building a new official town website, which will hopefully be ready to launch this fall.” 

The Woodstock website is currently co-owned by the town and the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce. During the June 26 selectboard meeting, as discussion of a new marketing committee and marketing acitivities for the town that are taking place, the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce board president Loren Fischer expressed his frustration with municipal manager Eric Duffy, the selectboard, and Kirby for excluding the Chamber in this new marketing endeavor. He said, “I have seen the faces on the other board members here. We are rather surprised that this [marketing committee] has moved along this far and we have not been consulted at all. We were told that if any other meetings regarding this took place, that we would be involved in the discussion. We have not been. [The Chamber of Commerce] is still a major part of the website, and we need to be a part of deciding what is going to be on that website.” 

It appears that the new marketing committee will be built around Kirby’s current role and expand to a seven-member committee, as part of an attempt to “reinvigorate Woodstock’s brand presence and identity.” Kirby went on to say during her June pitch to the selectboard, “Some of the points of focus are developing a unifying brand message that speaks to diverse experiences, natural beauty, community, and quality of life. Other goals are to attract new and repeat visitors year-round, foster community engagement, support resident retention and new relocation and encourage business growth and investment.” 

In response to Fisher’s concerns, it was decided that two members of the new marketing committee will be members of the Chamber board. Kirby told the Standard this week, “I want someone from the Chamber to be involved in this group. I want this [to foster a] collaboration with all the key stakeholders in town when it comes to marketing and events.” 

According to Woodstock municipal manager Eric Duffy, the committee would report to his office.

For more on this, please see our July 31 edition of the Vermont Standard.