I was very interested in realizing this blog about marketing in Le Havre. It was the first time I made this. And I must avoid that I have made a lot of progress as regards my informatics competences !

I hope you will find this blog as nice as possible. If you have another question, I will try to answer it as often as possible.

For instance for some years Le Havre has accomodated the “Jacques Vabre Transat”, which is a sailing racing known in the whole world. This year it will take place in October.

Look at some photographs…

But there are a lot of another examples. All sports or cultural events can be used as a marketing support for the town. And Le Havre owns a lot of facilities…

Indeed, in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 the website of Le Havre (http://www.ville-lehavre.fr) has been marked out as “the best town website of France”. So the town is rewarded for making Internet accessible for the great majority of people, while offering much information and a lot of services on line. The results for 2007 are not published yet.

You can find here more information about the foundation which awards the prize :

http://www.villes-internet.net/UPLOAD/rubrique/pages/241/241_rubrique.php

You can find a summary and the result of this survey here…

Sample

15 women and 7 men accepted to answer my questionnaire. 68,2 % of the people polled were between 15 and 24 years old, 13,6 % of the people polled were over 55 years old and 9%  were aged between 35 and 45 years old. People who were polled are representative of the target, with more women than men and more youths than middle-aged persons.

Description of the habits

Only 15% of the people polled never consume dietary products. This is a very low rate and a good thing for our clients : the market has outlets. Moreover 30% of the people asked consume these products several time a week : the consumption is regular most of the time.

As far as the kinds of products which are consumed, 95 % of the respondents consume light yoghourts and other dairy products, 55 % drinks, 50 % cereals or cereal bars. Only 10 % of the people polled consume ready-made meals.

As regards the price, nobody spends more than 45 € per month to buy dietary products. 90 % spend between 0 and 30 € per month (with as many people between 0 and 5 as between 5 and 15 as between 15 and 30).

There is another interesting thing to know for our clients. Indeed absolutely all people who were asked buy their products at the supermarket. Some of them can buy it at other places too, but everybody buys dietary products at the supermarket.

Finally, 57,9 % of the people polled consume dietary products with their families and 42,1 % alone. The percentage of people who don’t want to consume such products in society is quite high and must not be forgotten. Dietary products are eaten at home most of the time.

Concepts around consumption of dietary products

47 % of the people polled consider that health is the most important thing when they consume dietary products. For 42 % of people, it is slimming effect. Then, for 21 % it is taste, 11 % price and 5 % packaging. Before slimming effect, health is said to be the more important. Price seems not to be a important selection criterion for dietary products consumers.

Finally the words which were the most quoted were positive or neutral most of the time : women, slimming, health, trendy, beautiful. But some of them were negative : bad taste, expensive, marginal, diet.

The name of Le Havre is more and more citized, and I think it is a proof that the image is already changing.

For instance, you can find an interresting issue of the Express magazine, which was published on the 16 April. It is a special issue, which one deals of Le Havre, its new image and the new projects.

The subject is really in fashion !

In order to promote a brand, it is a well-known fact that it is wise to give it a modern image. It is especially the case as for the question of a town.

Indeed when you want to promote a town, you must give it a modern image. And the best way to have success is to use advertising supports which use new technologies. No doubt that Internet is the best example. Without going into to much details, a town, which is able to use Internet to show how it is pleasant to live here, is considered as a modern town, a town which is resolutely turned towards future : so the town becomes attractive.

Le Havre have already understand this. The number of links on Internet which deal with the town’s activities is impressive. Several of these can be classified in different groups :

· Official sites

Ø http://www.ville-lehavre.fr/

It is the site of town council. On this site you can find in the homepage links for all Internet adresses which have a link with Le Havre activities (sport, administration…). On « Internet au Havre » you can find all facilities that the council has created to make easy Internet access for its inhabitants.

The site has been designed as the best French town site of the web.

Ø http://www.lehavretourisme.com/

The council has created too a website deoting to tourism information. There is a English version of this site. It can be infered that it is a way to show an attractive and modern image of the town.

Ø http://www.havre-developpement.com/

This site gives a piece of information about economic dynamism of the region Le Havre and neighbourhoods. This is another example of a marketing way to give a modern and economic attractive image.

· Blogs

Blogs are a way to promote the town with modern and free methods. When you search such a blog, you find a lot of sites which are showing very nive photographs of Le Havre. This kind of support serves the marketing campaign too. My own blog could be considered too as a mean to rpomote the town . Lokk some examples of these blogs :

Ø http://havre.canalblog.com/

Ø http://www.lehavrephoto.canalblog.com/

Ø http://www.photomaville.com/

There are websites of sportive activities and official teams of Le Havre : STB for basketball, HAC for football or handball… There are sites which are devoting for that with some chats in order to exchange about these subjects.

· Videos

There are some videos on Internet which are made to promote the town. There are official and unofficial videos. Look at the links :

Ø http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRN5kDV1Oks : a video made by the Unesco World Heritage

Ø http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AO8zcfI4_Y

Ø http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyzegulhX70 : a video clip from a group of rap music and a concert in Le Havre. This can show cultural activities of Le Havre.

As far as I an concerned, I still believe that the fact to use new technologies is one of the best ways to promote a town, espiecially if it deals with Le Havre, which is suffering (but less and less) from a old-fashionned image. This shows that the town is modern, turned towards the future and cultural rich.

This reputation also finds expression through the developing of a specific form of cultural tourism: visits by a large number of schools of architecture and other university institutes: Ecole Nationale des Arts et Métiers (national school of engineering and technology), Research Centre for Contemporary Art History (Paris I Sorbonne), Oxford School of Architecture, Venice and Geneva University Institutes of Architecture, city delegations (Amiens, Rotterdam…), Guides du Patrimoine, etc.

And finally, maybe the post signifacant thing… In Juli 2005, the UNESCO listed the centre of Le Havre rebuilt on the World Heritage. This event had been showed on TV news. I think it was what inhabitants were waiting to rediscover their town. For the first time their town was interesting and a lot of people have begun to interest to Le Havre as a cultural town. No doubt that this measure, which is a marketing measure too, was the most successful

This historical reminder was eventually useful to understand the reason why such a marketing policy has been launched.

 That isthe beginning of the bad imag. Inhabitants of this generation did not like the new town and the bad image has begun to be conveyed. As far as I ma concerned I think that the main reason for the bad image of Le Havre is nothing else than tha bad opinion that its inhabitants have conveyed from generation to generation.