The “Word on the Street” column Monday had this tidbit of information regarding naming the new museum. So far, all we’ve been told is that the name didn’t “test well” in focus groups. But what does that mean? Now we know:
Apparently, it’s not that people don’t like Peoria. Unfortunately, we’re unknown to a majority of the focus groups they interviewed in southern Wisconsin, northern Indiana, St. Louis and Chicagoland.
“Sixty-nine percent said either they didn’t know enough about Peoria or Peoria sounded like a small town to them,” said Woith, adding that proponents want a museum name that will be attractive to tourists far and wide.
So, from this we can deduce that the museum folks are concerned that people won’t come to the museum if it has the name “Peoria” in it because people have never heard of it or think it’s a small town. So, they’re going to call the museum something meaningless, like the “AMAZEum.” Presumably, people from Wisconsin, Chicago, and St. Louis will think that any museum with a name like that is fantastic and must be visited, so (I’m just guessing here) they’ll want to know where this incredible AMAZEum is. They’ll look for an address and perhaps directions on how to get there. Now, where are the museum people going to tell them it’s located? Just outside Chicago? A suburb of Rockford?
But beyond that, I wanted to point out the sheer irony of the situation. You know the phrase you love to hate: “Will it play in Peoria”? Wikipedia has a good entry on that phrase:
The phrase initially came into fashion during the vaudeville era, believed to have been first asked by Groucho Marx when putting together a new act. The belief was that if a new show was successful in Peoria, it would work anywhere in America.
Years later in the 1960s and 1970s, Peoria was deemed an ideal test market by various consumer-focused companies, entertainment enterprises (films and concert tours), even politicans, to gauge opinion, interest and receptivity to new products, services and campaigns.
Isn’t it ironic that a city that had been known throughout the 20th century for its discernment in entertainment and sensibility for testing new products would find its own name won’t “play” anywhere in America, not even regionally? I, for one, don’t believe it.
Soon, people will actually test their products here…and if it passes the test, they will not market the products at all, and actually throw everything in a burn pile. Until, we start to work together pro-actively and come to better resolutions. When City Council agrees with the public and we follow some synergistic progression that we need to propel us forward and to be taken seriously again.
What would the museum collaborators have to gain by making up something about negative focus group reaction to Peoria’s name? Does this mean they don’t want the museum to succeed and are shunning the best name because of that? THAT seems ironic to me. FYI, Albany, NY is now recognized as the country’s best test market; Peoria is 38th.
Peoria? Where’s that? I grew up in AMAZia, the Spherical Port of Exploration on the Square.