October 10, 2025 • 17 mins
Becky Bakken is President and CEO of Westopolis, the destination marketing organization representing the Minnesota cities of St. Louis Park and Golden Valley, just minutes from downtown Minneapolis. Over the past year, Becky has led her team through a major transformation, rebranding from Discover St. Louis Park to Westopolis, to better reflect the vibrancy and connected spirit of both communities. She shares why the rebrand happened, what they've learned one year in, how the community has embraced the change and what's next for Westopolis.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
The Growing Destinations Podcast is brought
(00:02):
to you by Experience Rochester.
Learn more about Minnesota'sthird largest city, which is
home to Mayo Clinic and featureswonderful recreational and
entertainment opportunities byvisiting
ExperiencedRochesterMN.com.
SPEAKER_01 (00:16):
We felt that the name Wastopolis said a lot.
We liked the idea of it beingone name, and we felt that that
one name had a lot of power.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
Welcome to the Growing Destinations Podcast,
where we take a deep dive intodestination development and
focus on a wide range of topicsfrom tourism and entertainment
to economic development andentrepreneurism and much more.
I'm your host, Bill Von Bank.
My guest today is Becky Bachin,president and CEO of Westopolis,
(00:46):
the destination marketingorganization representing the
Minnesota cities of St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley,just minutes from downtown
Minneapolis.
Over the past year, Becky hasled her team through a major
transformation, rebranding fromDiscover St.
Louis Park to Westopolis, tobetter reflect the vibrancy and
connected spirit of bothcommunities.
We'll talk about why the rebrandhappened, what they've learned
(01:08):
one year in, how the communityhas embraced the change, and
what's next for Westopolis.
Becky Bach and welcome to theGrowing Destinations Podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
Hi, Bill.
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:18):
Well, let's get started with your career journey
and what led you to your currentrole as president and CEO of
Westopolis.
SPEAKER_01 (01:26):
I grew up in a hospitality family.
And I always like to say, whenyou anybody who's had that
experience knows what it's like,you you kind of help with
everything.
You're just part of the part ofthe team.
My father ran an American Legionin the town I grew up, Fairfax,
Minnesota, southern part of thestate.
And there were many morningsbefore school I helped clean.
There were weekends I helpedwash dishes.
(01:47):
You know, you helped pick up thegarbage in the parking lot.
You kind of did it all and youfell in love with it a little
bit.
I started serving in a smallcafe in the same town when I was
16, and that led to a long fewyears of serving through high
school and college and loved it.
I went to the University ofWisconsin Stout for both my
(02:07):
bachelor's and master's degrees.
My bachelor's degree is inhospitality management.
Started working for MarriottHotels in Detroit right out of
school.
I will forever be grateful forthe opportunity to have worked
in corporate America as my firstcareer job just because you
learned so much.
I mean, there is a policy andthere's a procedure for
(02:29):
everything.
And so you really learn kind ofright and wrong and just really
how to do things.
So I'm forever grateful forthat.
Went back to Stout for mymaster's degree in tourism, had
the chance to work as a graduateassistant under a well-known um
professor in the tourism realmand really thought I was going
to teach.
I thought that that was the paththat I was on.
(02:50):
But when I finished that degree,I needed a little break and
started working for CarlsonMarketing Group.
At the time, they did incentivetravel for Fortune 500
companies, so got to see alittle bit of the world.
And then I started to work forthe Twin West Chamber of
Commerce.
And that started kind of my longcareer in this West suburban
market.
So the Twin West Chamberrepresented eight West suburban
(03:14):
cities.
Two of them were St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley.
And I really then started to getthat deep appreciation for
community and really for what achamber of commerce is and does
for the business community, andfell in love with that.
Took a bit of a diversion thenfor almost 15 years when I went
to work for a community bank astheir marketing director.
(03:34):
That bank was headquartered outof St.
Louis Park.
And although I wore many hats inthat organization and learned a
lot about operations, uh, one ofmy favorite parts of that job
was to be the face of theorganization in the community.
So again, part of the St.
Louis Park area.
And so when the job at DiscoverSt.
Louis Park at the time, nowWestopolis, presented itself, I
(03:56):
just felt like it was meant forme.
Like it was kind of like megoing back to my hospitality and
tourism roots.
SPEAKER_00 (04:05):
I always say people who grow up in the hospitality
industry, I'm doing air quoteshere, get it.
Because you know what it takesto really serve customers and
serve a community, or in thiscase, a destination.
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
Absolutely.
And I feel like it helps youreally get the people you
represent now, too, right?
Like the restaurant world, thehosp the hotels, the people who
are willing to work those longhours, weekends, holidays, but
they love it.
SPEAKER_00 (04:32):
You know, yeah, there's something special about
that.
Can you paint a picture of thedestination you represent,
specifically St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley?
Tell us about this region of theTwin Cities.
SPEAKER_01 (04:43):
So these are two beautiful, well-established
communities.
Both touch Minneapolis to thewest.
When I talk about them beingestablished, it really means
these are older communities,right?
In order for development to comein, something typically has to
go.
So these are communities thathave put a lot of thought into
that over the years.
unknown (05:03):
St.
SPEAKER_01 (05:03):
Louis Park, I would say, was really aggressive in
this realm already about 30years ago.
So 30 years ago, they took thisarea called Excelsior Boulevard,
turned it into Excelsior andGrand.
They removed many, many longtimebusinesses that were tired and
created this mixed-use property.
(05:24):
So that meant that there wasretail on the bottom and living
space on the top.
Now you see this type ofdevelopment everywhere.
It was novel.
It was the first of its kind inMinnesota.
So it was a big project for thiscity.
And it really created kind of anarea.
I think they had hoped it wouldfeel even more downtown-esque,
but it certainly is an area thatis still vibrant today.
(05:45):
Then about 15 years ago, theydeveloped a space called the
shops at West End.
And so for people who do knowart market, they tend to know
that area.
It's a few blocks of an areathat is retail, it's restaurant,
it's activity.
And it's just the thing aboutthis city that's most easily
(06:07):
accessible and really prominent.
It's located, you know, on acorner of two major highways,
Interstate 394, Highway 100.
It's five miles from downtownMinneapolis.
It's 16 miles from the airport.
It's within walking distance ora very short drive to any of our
hotels.
So it really kind of became thisplace.
It's kind of a lifestyle typemall.
(06:28):
And with that came the creationof Discover St.
Louis Park, now Westopolis.
The city said we really coulduse a destination marketing
organization.
We now have something we thinkwe can share and invite people
to come experience.
SPEAKER_00 (06:40):
And then you added Golden Valley.
SPEAKER_01 (06:42):
We added Golden Valley.
Yep.
Golden Valley came into the mix.
So St.
Louis Park, Discover St.
Louis Park was developed in2011.
And in 2017, Golden Valleyjoined the mix.
And really that was just aconversation where the city came
to the destination organizationas well as the city of St.
Louis Park and just said, we'dlove to be part of this.
(07:02):
How can we be part of this?
That's how that happened.
I would say that Golden Valleyis going through a lot of its
redevelopment right now.
So I really believe they are acity to watch over the course of
the next few years for the samereasons as St.
Louis Park was a few years back.
SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
About a year ago, Discover St.
Louis Park took on a new brand.
Tell us about Westopolis and whyyou decided to rebrand under
that name.
SPEAKER_01 (07:27):
Clearly, we were representing two cities under
the name Discover St.
Louis Park.
So that was kind of the premiseof the conversation.
I think when we started toreally dig in, we realized there
was so much more there.
Like we worked with a namingagency, we worked with a a
branding agency who specializedin naming, which was really
important to us.
And it really came down to usreally leaning in and trying to
(07:50):
identify that one thing that wasunique to us.
And that is very hard.
It's so easy to say, we can dothat.
Any business can do that.
But it was very hard to say toreally identify the one thing
that you say, this is special tous.
Because we all do lots of reallyincredible things.
But for us, we knew that beingjust west of Minneapolis said a
lot for us.
(08:10):
It told people a lot about wherewe were located.
Um often when we're at at showsor meeting with planners outside
of Minnesota, they didn't knowwhere St.
Louis Park or Gilson Valley was.
So we really wanted to lean intothat location thing.
We felt that the name Westopolissaid a lot.
(08:30):
We liked the idea of it beingone name, and we felt that that
one name had a lot of power.
Polis is Greek for city.
And so truly we are uh, youknow, west of the city.
Most people tourists get theconcept of what it means to be
right next to a majormetropolitan area.
It comes with some perks.
(08:51):
Um, and so we felt like thathelped identify people to the
fact that we were we werevibrant.
We believe that this area of St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley hasa vibrancy that not all other
suburbs have the luxury ofhaving.
So that was our our our lean-in.
And we felt that even though itwasn't necessarily a place on a
map, it would it would createinterest.
(09:13):
You couldn't ignore thisinteresting name and you would
want to learn more.
SPEAKER_00 (09:16):
How did you balance honoring the unique identities
of each city while creating onecohesive brand?
SPEAKER_01 (09:23):
Such a great question, right?
Because every place has itsunique properties.
So for us, we understand theimportance of uh boosting the
economy through tourism,bringing people here, bringing
people here who may not haveever been here before, never
discovered this awesome place.
So we know the importance ofcreating interest and intrigue
and getting them here.
But certainly once they're here,it's about discovering what
(09:44):
there is here.
And we know we have amazingopportunities and venues and
places in both of these cities.
So for us, Westopolis is an areacomprised of St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley.
And we're always veryconscientious in our marketing
to promote it in that way.
SPEAKER_00 (10:00):
Now that you're a year into Westopolis, how has
the transition gone overall?
SPEAKER_01 (10:04):
It's been great.
Um, we feel like we've, youknow, for us, we didn't do a
slow launch.
We did like turn the lightswitch on kind of launch.
We felt that that's what wouldwork best for us.
We do feel really great aboutit.
People have gravitated to us.
We feel like we've seen umincreases in a lot of our
marketing, specifically oursocial.
Our community has reallyembraced us.
(10:26):
Our board is very, you know, uhsupportive.
I think that though, the thingis we did a lot of change here,
right?
We've we changed, we changed aname, we changed the logo, we
changed colors, we changed itall.
So the reality is the proof isin the pudding.
And I think one of the thingsthat makes me and our
organization super excited isto, you know, really pay
attention to our work and theresults and the impact that we
(10:49):
have on St.
Louis Park and Golden Valleyover the course of the next few
years.
SPEAKER_00 (10:52):
Looking back, what surprised you most about the
rebrand journey?
And is there anything you wouldhave approached differently?
SPEAKER_01 (10:59):
I loved our process.
We we did this slowly.
Very thoughtfully.
Um, we did it very thoughtfully.
It was a two-year process, whichdidn't feel too long at all, to
be honest with you.
We involved our board, weinvolved uh one-on-one
conversations with the communityand task force and all of the
all of the stuff.
I would encourage anybody goingthrough this process to do that,
(11:20):
to to take the time to get asmuch input as possible.
So I think one of the thingsthat that did catch us off guard
a little bit was the interest inour local media.
We actually worked with a mediacompany and and you know, really
came to the conclusion that weweren't that this wasn't going
to be that interesting.
Um, and then the media really,the local media really globed
(11:41):
onto this, which was awesome.
But they had a little fun oftheir own in kind of uh
confusing the messaging just alittle bit.
So misinformation.
Absolutely.
A little bit of like playingwith St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley arebecoming one, or St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley arechanging their name.
And then of course they would goon to explain, but some of the
seeds of confusion had alreadybeen planted.
So I think had we realized that,we would have, we would have
(12:03):
aggressively uh, you know,worked to address that and maybe
even had some fun with it.
But instead we were payingplaying a little bit of of
ketchup.
SPEAKER_00 (12:10):
Yeah.
So a little explanation thatit's a destination brand
promoting two cities.
SPEAKER_01 (12:14):
Right.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (12:15):
What lessons do you think other destinations can
take away from your experience?
SPEAKER_01 (12:20):
I mean, I think that being unique is okay, being
different, taking a chance.
We're really excited about thisunique choice we had in the way
that we branded and namedourselves.
I think that, you know, again,the process is very important.
You have to involve community inthe end.
We are trying to bring visitorsand tourists here, but we
represent this beautifulcommunity, these beautiful
(12:42):
communities, and involving asmany of the players as possible
is really important.
And I think it's oh, I mean, Ithink the bottom line is it's
okay to take a chance and it'sokay to do something a little
different.
SPEAKER_00 (12:53):
What new initiatives, campaigns, or
partnerships have launched underthe Westopolis brand that you're
especially proud of?
SPEAKER_01 (12:58):
Well, we've had a lot of fun with a few different
things.
One of the things we did thisyear that's different from what
we normally would do from amarketing perspective is we we
launched what we call our loudand proud campaign.
That's what we call itinternally anyway.
And it was just a little morefocus and effort on our
communities and our region justto help um help the name sink in
and help the name become ahousehold name.
(13:20):
So that's been fun for us.
It's been fun to see the impactthat that is having.
One of the initiatives that'stied to that is our uh we tapped
into the mayors of each of ourcommunity to be influencers for
us.
They are two pretty incrediblehuman beings with stories of
their own.
The uh Golden Valley Mayor isthe first female black mayor for
that city, and the mayor of St.
(13:42):
Louis Park is the youngest mayorfor that city and the first
Somali American mayor in thecountry.
So pretty special people.
Um, they're doing this funlittle play on vibrant
leadership and equals vibrantcommunity.
And I'm really anxious to seehow that plays out.
We're getting we're getting waymore traction than we even
expected, although it's reallynew.
It launched the middle ofSeptember.
(14:02):
So stay tuned on that one.
And then we had a couple thingsgo on where we had different
businesses in the community thatkind of uh tapped into
Westopolis for their ownmarketing.
The Marriott that has uh arestaurant called Kipps in it.
They have an event, a weekendlong event every year for St.
Patrick's Day.
They create a t-shirt everyyear, and this year they created
one featuring Westopolis.
(14:25):
And we also have uh a brewerythat offered to make a beer
called West Hopolis, which thatwas pretty fun, right?
SPEAKER_00 (14:33):
Great.
Looking ahead, what's next forWestopolis and what excites you
most about the future?
SPEAKER_01 (14:38):
We have some great campaigns.
One is is running right now, andyou know, when you're in
marketing, you get excited aboutthese, all these things.
But we have one that we call GoWest.
It's a several differentvignettes, little videos of um
featuring kind of that conceptof Go West.
One was we invited people to gowest, but some took us a little
too literally, and it's kind ofhaving some fun with cowboys and
(14:59):
and cowboy hats and really beingon horses and out west instead
of just to Westopolis.
One is uh a mature couple thatis trying to figure out what
they want to do for their wintervacation, and they choose to go
west to Westopolis for all thebeautiful things there are to do
here.
We have 80 parks here.
I don't think I mentioned thatone, but you know, 80 parks in
this urban market.
(15:20):
So there's just so many outdooractivities here.
And then another playful onewe've done so far was um that
concept of watching the sunsetin the west.
And when you're on vacation, youwatch, you know, you go to the
the balcony or the beach towatch the sun drop.
So we've had a lot of fun withthat.
We think that'll continue and itseems to get, you know, just
draw interest and get theattraction that we're looking
for.
SPEAKER_00 (15:40):
So this area is so accessible.
We mentioned earlier, because ofall the major interstates, I
mean, that's you know, you cantalk about brick and mortar
attractions and motivators for acommunity, but even just the
ability to get around so cleanlyfor, you know, if you want to
have a nice restaurant orexperience, that makes that's
(16:01):
part of it, right?
SPEAKER_01 (16:02):
Oh, it's a big part of it.
And and it really, we understandthat.
We know that a big, a big plusfor us is our accessibility and
our proximity.
So again, we've leaned into thatwith our name.
That's even a plus for us whenattracting, you know, planners
and developers.
So the problem we have is, youknow, once they get here, do we
have the facilities they need?
Can we can we make it affordablefor them?
(16:24):
So that's where I reallyappreciate having the two
cities.
Um, with two cities, we justhave more.
You know, here in our market, wedon't have a convention center,
we don't have a sports complex.
So we have to get kind ofscrappy and creative with fields
and venues and uh and the liketo really try to secure the most
business we can and to bestserve our communities.
SPEAKER_00 (16:47):
But you do have the first relaunch restaurant of Chi
Cheese.
Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_01 (16:53):
Right.
Yes.
So we do.
We have the first Chi Cheese umcoming back coming back opened
yesterday, in fact.
So um, with to a to a lot ofbuzz.
The again, speaking of localmedia, they can't love it
enough.
So there's been a lot ofinterest.
We had uh the there was afeature of a couple who was here
from Ohio yesterday who couldn'tmiss opening day of Chee Cheese.
SPEAKER_00 (17:16):
Becky Bachin, it's been great to have you on the
podcast to learn more aboutWestopolis and the rebranding
effort there.
Thank you for being our guest onthe Growing Destinations
Podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (17:26):
So much, Bill.
SPEAKER_00 (17:27):
Thank you for tuning in to the Growing Destinations
Podcast.
And don't forget to subscribe.
This podcast is brought to youby Experience Rochester.
Find out more about Rochester,Minnesota, and its growing arts
and culture scene, itsinternational culinary flavors,
and award winning craft beer byvisiting Experience Rochester
Mn.com.
The Growing Destinations Podcast is brought
(00:02):
to you by Experience Rochester.
Learn more about Minnesota'sthird largest city, which is
home to Mayo Clinic and featureswonderful recreational and
entertainment opportunities byvisiting
ExperiencedRochesterMN.com.
SPEAKER_01 (00:16):
We felt that the name Wastopolis said a lot.
We liked the idea of it beingone name, and we felt that that
one name had a lot of power.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
Welcome to the Growing Destinations Podcast,
where we take a deep dive intodestination development and
focus on a wide range of topicsfrom tourism and entertainment
to economic development andentrepreneurism and much more.
I'm your host, Bill Von Bank.
My guest today is Becky Bachin,president and CEO of Westopolis,
(00:46):
the destination marketingorganization representing the
Minnesota cities of St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley,just minutes from downtown
Minneapolis.
Over the past year, Becky hasled her team through a major
transformation, rebranding fromDiscover St.
Louis Park to Westopolis, tobetter reflect the vibrancy and
connected spirit of bothcommunities.
We'll talk about why the rebrandhappened, what they've learned
(01:08):
one year in, how the communityhas embraced the change, and
what's next for Westopolis.
Becky Bach and welcome to theGrowing Destinations Podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
Hi, Bill.
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:18):
Well, let's get started with your career journey
and what led you to your currentrole as president and CEO of
Westopolis.
SPEAKER_01 (01:26):
I grew up in a hospitality family.
And I always like to say, whenyou anybody who's had that
experience knows what it's like,you you kind of help with
everything.
You're just part of the part ofthe team.
My father ran an American Legionin the town I grew up, Fairfax,
Minnesota, southern part of thestate.
And there were many morningsbefore school I helped clean.
There were weekends I helpedwash dishes.
(01:47):
You know, you helped pick up thegarbage in the parking lot.
You kind of did it all and youfell in love with it a little
bit.
I started serving in a smallcafe in the same town when I was
16, and that led to a long fewyears of serving through high
school and college and loved it.
I went to the University ofWisconsin Stout for both my
(02:07):
bachelor's and master's degrees.
My bachelor's degree is inhospitality management.
Started working for MarriottHotels in Detroit right out of
school.
I will forever be grateful forthe opportunity to have worked
in corporate America as my firstcareer job just because you
learned so much.
I mean, there is a policy andthere's a procedure for
(02:29):
everything.
And so you really learn kind ofright and wrong and just really
how to do things.
So I'm forever grateful forthat.
Went back to Stout for mymaster's degree in tourism, had
the chance to work as a graduateassistant under a well-known um
professor in the tourism realmand really thought I was going
to teach.
I thought that that was the paththat I was on.
(02:50):
But when I finished that degree,I needed a little break and
started working for CarlsonMarketing Group.
At the time, they did incentivetravel for Fortune 500
companies, so got to see alittle bit of the world.
And then I started to work forthe Twin West Chamber of
Commerce.
And that started kind of my longcareer in this West suburban
market.
So the Twin West Chamberrepresented eight West suburban
(03:14):
cities.
Two of them were St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley.
And I really then started to getthat deep appreciation for
community and really for what achamber of commerce is and does
for the business community, andfell in love with that.
Took a bit of a diversion thenfor almost 15 years when I went
to work for a community bank astheir marketing director.
(03:34):
That bank was headquartered outof St.
Louis Park.
And although I wore many hats inthat organization and learned a
lot about operations, uh, one ofmy favorite parts of that job
was to be the face of theorganization in the community.
So again, part of the St.
Louis Park area.
And so when the job at DiscoverSt.
Louis Park at the time, nowWestopolis, presented itself, I
(03:56):
just felt like it was meant forme.
Like it was kind of like megoing back to my hospitality and
tourism roots.
SPEAKER_00 (04:05):
I always say people who grow up in the hospitality
industry, I'm doing air quoteshere, get it.
Because you know what it takesto really serve customers and
serve a community, or in thiscase, a destination.
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
Absolutely.
And I feel like it helps youreally get the people you
represent now, too, right?
Like the restaurant world, thehosp the hotels, the people who
are willing to work those longhours, weekends, holidays, but
they love it.
SPEAKER_00 (04:32):
You know, yeah, there's something special about
that.
Can you paint a picture of thedestination you represent,
specifically St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley?
Tell us about this region of theTwin Cities.
SPEAKER_01 (04:43):
So these are two beautiful, well-established
communities.
Both touch Minneapolis to thewest.
When I talk about them beingestablished, it really means
these are older communities,right?
In order for development to comein, something typically has to
go.
So these are communities thathave put a lot of thought into
that over the years.
unknown (05:03):
St.
SPEAKER_01 (05:03):
Louis Park, I would say, was really aggressive in
this realm already about 30years ago.
So 30 years ago, they took thisarea called Excelsior Boulevard,
turned it into Excelsior andGrand.
They removed many, many longtimebusinesses that were tired and
created this mixed-use property.
(05:24):
So that meant that there wasretail on the bottom and living
space on the top.
Now you see this type ofdevelopment everywhere.
It was novel.
It was the first of its kind inMinnesota.
So it was a big project for thiscity.
And it really created kind of anarea.
I think they had hoped it wouldfeel even more downtown-esque,
but it certainly is an area thatis still vibrant today.
(05:45):
Then about 15 years ago, theydeveloped a space called the
shops at West End.
And so for people who do knowart market, they tend to know
that area.
It's a few blocks of an areathat is retail, it's restaurant,
it's activity.
And it's just the thing aboutthis city that's most easily
(06:07):
accessible and really prominent.
It's located, you know, on acorner of two major highways,
Interstate 394, Highway 100.
It's five miles from downtownMinneapolis.
It's 16 miles from the airport.
It's within walking distance ora very short drive to any of our
hotels.
So it really kind of became thisplace.
It's kind of a lifestyle typemall.
(06:28):
And with that came the creationof Discover St.
Louis Park, now Westopolis.
The city said we really coulduse a destination marketing
organization.
We now have something we thinkwe can share and invite people
to come experience.
SPEAKER_00 (06:40):
And then you added Golden Valley.
SPEAKER_01 (06:42):
We added Golden Valley.
Yep.
Golden Valley came into the mix.
So St.
Louis Park, Discover St.
Louis Park was developed in2011.
And in 2017, Golden Valleyjoined the mix.
And really that was just aconversation where the city came
to the destination organizationas well as the city of St.
Louis Park and just said, we'dlove to be part of this.
(07:02):
How can we be part of this?
That's how that happened.
I would say that Golden Valleyis going through a lot of its
redevelopment right now.
So I really believe they are acity to watch over the course of
the next few years for the samereasons as St.
Louis Park was a few years back.
SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
About a year ago, Discover St.
Louis Park took on a new brand.
Tell us about Westopolis and whyyou decided to rebrand under
that name.
SPEAKER_01 (07:27):
Clearly, we were representing two cities under
the name Discover St.
Louis Park.
So that was kind of the premiseof the conversation.
I think when we started toreally dig in, we realized there
was so much more there.
Like we worked with a namingagency, we worked with a a
branding agency who specializedin naming, which was really
important to us.
And it really came down to usreally leaning in and trying to
(07:50):
identify that one thing that wasunique to us.
And that is very hard.
It's so easy to say, we can dothat.
Any business can do that.
But it was very hard to say toreally identify the one thing
that you say, this is special tous.
Because we all do lots of reallyincredible things.
But for us, we knew that beingjust west of Minneapolis said a
lot for us.
(08:10):
It told people a lot about wherewe were located.
Um often when we're at at showsor meeting with planners outside
of Minnesota, they didn't knowwhere St.
Louis Park or Gilson Valley was.
So we really wanted to lean intothat location thing.
We felt that the name Westopolissaid a lot.
(08:30):
We liked the idea of it beingone name, and we felt that that
one name had a lot of power.
Polis is Greek for city.
And so truly we are uh, youknow, west of the city.
Most people tourists get theconcept of what it means to be
right next to a majormetropolitan area.
It comes with some perks.
(08:51):
Um, and so we felt like thathelped identify people to the
fact that we were we werevibrant.
We believe that this area of St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley hasa vibrancy that not all other
suburbs have the luxury ofhaving.
So that was our our our lean-in.
And we felt that even though itwasn't necessarily a place on a
map, it would it would createinterest.
(09:13):
You couldn't ignore thisinteresting name and you would
want to learn more.
SPEAKER_00 (09:16):
How did you balance honoring the unique identities
of each city while creating onecohesive brand?
SPEAKER_01 (09:23):
Such a great question, right?
Because every place has itsunique properties.
So for us, we understand theimportance of uh boosting the
economy through tourism,bringing people here, bringing
people here who may not haveever been here before, never
discovered this awesome place.
So we know the importance ofcreating interest and intrigue
and getting them here.
But certainly once they're here,it's about discovering what
(09:44):
there is here.
And we know we have amazingopportunities and venues and
places in both of these cities.
So for us, Westopolis is an areacomprised of St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley.
And we're always veryconscientious in our marketing
to promote it in that way.
SPEAKER_00 (10:00):
Now that you're a year into Westopolis, how has
the transition gone overall?
SPEAKER_01 (10:04):
It's been great.
Um, we feel like we've, youknow, for us, we didn't do a
slow launch.
We did like turn the lightswitch on kind of launch.
We felt that that's what wouldwork best for us.
We do feel really great aboutit.
People have gravitated to us.
We feel like we've seen umincreases in a lot of our
marketing, specifically oursocial.
Our community has reallyembraced us.
(10:26):
Our board is very, you know, uhsupportive.
I think that though, the thingis we did a lot of change here,
right?
We've we changed, we changed aname, we changed the logo, we
changed colors, we changed itall.
So the reality is the proof isin the pudding.
And I think one of the thingsthat makes me and our
organization super excited isto, you know, really pay
attention to our work and theresults and the impact that we
(10:49):
have on St.
Louis Park and Golden Valleyover the course of the next few
years.
SPEAKER_00 (10:52):
Looking back, what surprised you most about the
rebrand journey?
And is there anything you wouldhave approached differently?
SPEAKER_01 (10:59):
I loved our process.
We we did this slowly.
Very thoughtfully.
Um, we did it very thoughtfully.
It was a two-year process, whichdidn't feel too long at all, to
be honest with you.
We involved our board, weinvolved uh one-on-one
conversations with the communityand task force and all of the
all of the stuff.
I would encourage anybody goingthrough this process to do that,
(11:20):
to to take the time to get asmuch input as possible.
So I think one of the thingsthat that did catch us off guard
a little bit was the interest inour local media.
We actually worked with a mediacompany and and you know, really
came to the conclusion that weweren't that this wasn't going
to be that interesting.
Um, and then the media really,the local media really globed
(11:41):
onto this, which was awesome.
But they had a little fun oftheir own in kind of uh
confusing the messaging just alittle bit.
So misinformation.
Absolutely.
A little bit of like playingwith St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley arebecoming one, or St.
Louis Park and Golden Valley arechanging their name.
And then of course they would goon to explain, but some of the
seeds of confusion had alreadybeen planted.
So I think had we realized that,we would have, we would have
(12:03):
aggressively uh, you know,worked to address that and maybe
even had some fun with it.
But instead we were payingplaying a little bit of of
ketchup.
SPEAKER_00 (12:10):
Yeah.
So a little explanation thatit's a destination brand
promoting two cities.
SPEAKER_01 (12:14):
Right.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (12:15):
What lessons do you think other destinations can
take away from your experience?
SPEAKER_01 (12:20):
I mean, I think that being unique is okay, being
different, taking a chance.
We're really excited about thisunique choice we had in the way
that we branded and namedourselves.
I think that, you know, again,the process is very important.
You have to involve community inthe end.
We are trying to bring visitorsand tourists here, but we
represent this beautifulcommunity, these beautiful
(12:42):
communities, and involving asmany of the players as possible
is really important.
And I think it's oh, I mean, Ithink the bottom line is it's
okay to take a chance and it'sokay to do something a little
different.
SPEAKER_00 (12:53):
What new initiatives, campaigns, or
partnerships have launched underthe Westopolis brand that you're
especially proud of?
SPEAKER_01 (12:58):
Well, we've had a lot of fun with a few different
things.
One of the things we did thisyear that's different from what
we normally would do from amarketing perspective is we we
launched what we call our loudand proud campaign.
That's what we call itinternally anyway.
And it was just a little morefocus and effort on our
communities and our region justto help um help the name sink in
and help the name become ahousehold name.
(13:20):
So that's been fun for us.
It's been fun to see the impactthat that is having.
One of the initiatives that'stied to that is our uh we tapped
into the mayors of each of ourcommunity to be influencers for
us.
They are two pretty incrediblehuman beings with stories of
their own.
The uh Golden Valley Mayor isthe first female black mayor for
that city, and the mayor of St.
(13:42):
Louis Park is the youngest mayorfor that city and the first
Somali American mayor in thecountry.
So pretty special people.
Um, they're doing this funlittle play on vibrant
leadership and equals vibrantcommunity.
And I'm really anxious to seehow that plays out.
We're getting we're getting waymore traction than we even
expected, although it's reallynew.
It launched the middle ofSeptember.
(14:02):
So stay tuned on that one.
And then we had a couple thingsgo on where we had different
businesses in the community thatkind of uh tapped into
Westopolis for their ownmarketing.
The Marriott that has uh arestaurant called Kipps in it.
They have an event, a weekendlong event every year for St.
Patrick's Day.
They create a t-shirt everyyear, and this year they created
one featuring Westopolis.
(14:25):
And we also have uh a brewerythat offered to make a beer
called West Hopolis, which thatwas pretty fun, right?
SPEAKER_00 (14:33):
Great.
Looking ahead, what's next forWestopolis and what excites you
most about the future?
SPEAKER_01 (14:38):
We have some great campaigns.
One is is running right now, andyou know, when you're in
marketing, you get excited aboutthese, all these things.
But we have one that we call GoWest.
It's a several differentvignettes, little videos of um
featuring kind of that conceptof Go West.
One was we invited people to gowest, but some took us a little
too literally, and it's kind ofhaving some fun with cowboys and
(14:59):
and cowboy hats and really beingon horses and out west instead
of just to Westopolis.
One is uh a mature couple thatis trying to figure out what
they want to do for their wintervacation, and they choose to go
west to Westopolis for all thebeautiful things there are to do
here.
We have 80 parks here.
I don't think I mentioned thatone, but you know, 80 parks in
this urban market.
(15:20):
So there's just so many outdooractivities here.
And then another playful onewe've done so far was um that
concept of watching the sunsetin the west.
And when you're on vacation, youwatch, you know, you go to the
the balcony or the beach towatch the sun drop.
So we've had a lot of fun withthat.
We think that'll continue and itseems to get, you know, just
draw interest and get theattraction that we're looking
for.
SPEAKER_00 (15:40):
So this area is so accessible.
We mentioned earlier, because ofall the major interstates, I
mean, that's you know, you cantalk about brick and mortar
attractions and motivators for acommunity, but even just the
ability to get around so cleanlyfor, you know, if you want to
have a nice restaurant orexperience, that makes that's
(16:01):
part of it, right?
SPEAKER_01 (16:02):
Oh, it's a big part of it.
And and it really, we understandthat.
We know that a big, a big plusfor us is our accessibility and
our proximity.
So again, we've leaned into thatwith our name.
That's even a plus for us whenattracting, you know, planners
and developers.
So the problem we have is, youknow, once they get here, do we
have the facilities they need?
Can we can we make it affordablefor them?
(16:24):
So that's where I reallyappreciate having the two
cities.
Um, with two cities, we justhave more.
You know, here in our market, wedon't have a convention center,
we don't have a sports complex.
So we have to get kind ofscrappy and creative with fields
and venues and uh and the liketo really try to secure the most
business we can and to bestserve our communities.
SPEAKER_00 (16:47):
But you do have the first relaunch restaurant of Chi
Cheese.
Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_01 (16:53):
Right.
Yes.
So we do.
We have the first Chi Cheese umcoming back coming back opened
yesterday, in fact.
So um, with to a to a lot ofbuzz.
The again, speaking of localmedia, they can't love it
enough.
So there's been a lot ofinterest.
We had uh the there was afeature of a couple who was here
from Ohio yesterday who couldn'tmiss opening day of Chee Cheese.
SPEAKER_00 (17:16):
Becky Bachin, it's been great to have you on the
podcast to learn more aboutWestopolis and the rebranding
effort there.
Thank you for being our guest onthe Growing Destinations
Podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (17:26):
So much, Bill.
SPEAKER_00 (17:27):
Thank you for tuning in to the Growing Destinations
Podcast.
And don't forget to subscribe.
This podcast is brought to youby Experience Rochester.
Find out more about Rochester,Minnesota, and its growing arts
and culture scene, itsinternational culinary flavors,
and award winning craft beer byvisiting Experience Rochester
Mn.com.
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