I attended a night out on the town in downtown Ft. Worth this past weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised at the atmosphere. My perception of Ft. Worth has always been stockyards and rodeos, and I would never consider hosting a night out in downtown Ft. Worth. I think Ft. Worth needs to get the message out to the public: we’re hip, we’re clean, we’re safe, we’ve got variety! I NEVER knew Ft. Worth had such a nice selection of nightlife and hotels, and without the prodding of my friends, I never would have checked out the scene. It seems that the city has gone to a lot of trouble to give themselves a new image, so it’s a little unfortunate that they haven’t gone to the trouble to tell people of their new image. Unless I’m just out of the loop, they haven’t done any advertising to showcase the new possibilities downtown. I mentioned the awesome experience to a friend who is planning a bachelorette party, and she also seemed surprised that I had such a great time. I told her to enjoy a date night with her husband to check out the area, in hopes of having the bachelorette party downtown. I’m also considering spending some date nights with my husband in downtown Ft. Worth. They’ve invested the money to make it a fun place for a night on the town… now they just need to invest the money to get the message out!

The lesson is that if you’re going to give yourself a new image, you have to be prepared to inform people. If you’ve had the same image for years, you’re going to have to spend some money on a campaign to champion your new look and feel.