Villagemarketing has started: Geldrop-Mierlo's time has come!
Geldrop-Mierlo is a comfortable municipality, we know that, but sometimes it can be expressed more clearly. That is why the city council decided to allocate a lot of money for village marketing for the next four years. Not a half measure, but a hands-on initiative to make its inhabitants and the region aware of the power of Geldrop-Mierlo. A sound like a factory flute once made to wake everyone in the textile towns: come, see and experience all that we have to offer here.
Villagemarketing Geldrop-Mierlo - Adri & Marc
Power of Connection
As alderman, Marc Jeucken has village marketing in his portfolio: "As a municipality, we felt the need to market the Geldrop-Mierlo brand more and more; we will therefore be working hard on it for the next four years. Geldrop-Mierlo has a lot to offer and connects the surrounding municipalities and its people like a solid fabric: there are many lines running towards Geldrop-Mierlo. Over the past two years, this connecting factor has been strongly depicted in our town in the theme "interwoven". This theme is in our DNA. Geldrop-Mierlo has a rich textile history that defines the town and we are proud of that. It connected the people and now connects in the textile expressions in the town. Geldrop has a beautiful position between Eindhoven and Helmond, is located in an urban area in the Brainport region, is easily accessible and beautiful nature is around the corner. The area will recognize Geldrop-Mierlo as a connecting town with its roots in textiles and the inhabitants will more consciously know "this is Geldrop-Mierlo, I live there and I'm proud of it". It is time for that to be told loudly and the Villagemarketing foundation was commissioned to do so.
Adri Geerts (former director of Rabobank and chairman of Gemini, business platform of Geldrop-Mierlo) is chairman of the foundation's board: I think it's cool that the municipality chooses to place village marketing in a foundation set aside a substantial amount of money for it. She thereby gives a mandate to a group of people from within and outside the municipality. Basically, each on the basis of a contribution to knowledge or network. Village marketing is a serious job that I like to do with the foundation board. The official term is City Marketing, but I prefer to call it Village Marketing: Geldrop-Mierlo has a village character and is not a city.
Marc: In a vision note, the municipality has indicated in which direction it is thinking when it comes to establishing our town. She provides enough money to make that possible, but other than that, she lets go of Village marketing and gives the foundation plenty of room to make it happen.
Adri: we work independently, but the municipality and the foundation will not lose sight of each other. We will regularly check whether we are working in the right direction. That direction has to do with textiles, but it is much broader than that. The interwoven, connecting character can be felt in the major themes of living, working, catering and recreation. Geldrop-Mierlo is a strong, woven fabric that extends to its surroundings. That is our strength. We deploy professionals with the resources we have to focus on these elements. The board itself works voluntarily as a friend of Geldrop-Mierlo, so unpaid and with heart and soul for the interests of the town. That is our motivation. The board consists of people from Geldrop, Mierlo and beyond, with broad expertise. We draw up a plan of action and then recruit marketers and project managers to implement it. In addition, village marketing will use the available money to create and enable communication tools, possibly a website, brochures, or something in the public space. It does not have to be expensive, you just have to know the way and automatically end up in Geldrop-Mierlo. The exact action plan will be written from now on. It is not primarily the intention to organize extra events, because many beautiful things are already happening in Geldrop-Mierlo. Village marketing will stimulate connections between these and the environment and support it with money. This is necessary in order to work powerfully together under the same "brand".
Adri: I would like the region to recognize the concept of Geldrop-Mierlo soon; that people consciously come here to recreate, to do business or to live. It will soon manifest itself in more activities in all kinds of areas. We are going to use the most modern ways of communicating to make it loud and clear that Geldrop-Mierlo's time has come.