Lisle is considering a plan to hire a public relations firm to increase its tourism, give the village a stronger identity and get rid of its blue-collar image in white-collar Du Page County.
Martin-Grimes & Co., a Clarendon Hills firm, is asking $1,000 a month plus expenses to do the job-a task the firm acknowledges won`t necessarily result in immediate, tangible benefits.
Nevertheless, the plan ”can`t help but make the corporate sector more aware of the village . . . (which) can`t help but have some good come from it,” according to William J. Fick, the firm`s executive vice president.
In a presentation Monday to the Lisle Village Board, Fick said his firm`s goals will be threefold: to increase spending in Lisle by visitors staying in the area`s three large hotels; to encourage participation in village events by out-of-towners who work in Lisle`s growing corporate sector; and to increase residential and corporate support for village activities.
The firm`s plan includes measuring people`s attitudes toward Lisle through a direct mail survey and increasing the village`s contact with the business community through, among other things, a newsletter.
The ”perception of Lisle, by some outsiders, is believed to center on an image of a blue-collar community,” the firm says in its proposal. ”The general awareness level of Lisle itself, in terms of location, character and importance, appears to be extremely low.”
”You`re making a longterm commitment to build something,” Fick said.
”We are not selling you a pig in a poke here.”
Mayor George Varney asked what good it would do for Lisle residents if, in three years, ”everyone in the six-county area has heard of Lisle.”
”I would see no downside to having your village well-known,” Fick said. The board is scheduled to vote on the proposal at its Oct. 5 meeting.
