The executives running the Dearborn, MI, attraction formerly known as The Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village were unsatisfied with its name. To them, it didn't express all that the place had come to offer, which had grown beyond the museum and the village to include an IMAX theater, a research center, and an upcoming tour of the Ford River Rouge factory complex.

So they hired a marketing company from Pasadena, California. After many meetings and much money, a new name was agreed upon: "The Henry Ford, America's Greatest History Attraction." That is not a typing error.

Patricia Mooradian, chief operating officer of The Henry Ford, feels that it's a good name, conducive to a revitalized brand strategy marketed on a national scale. "We needed a singular way to talk about who we are," she explained to the Detroit Free Press. "We have such equity in the name 'Henry Ford'."

As for "Attraction," the other contenders were "Destination" and "Experience." Destination tested poorly with focus groups, Mooradian said, while Attraction "conjured up things like fun, exciting, adventure, and exploration."

Clear enough... we wouldn't want it confused with the offerings at "The Harold Warp" or "The Max Nordeen."

[02/15/2003]