Austin Matches Lubbock Tote-for-Tote at Tech Conference
Rush order of bags due to arrive today with 'live music capital' slogan

May 4, 2006

By: Tony Plohetski
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Austin City Manager Toby Futrell opened her Tuesday newspaper and saw that economic development glad-handers from Lubbock were in her town, flooding one of the world's most prestigious tech conferences with tote bags stamped with their logo.

Futrell declared a marketing emergency.

The city has no strategic reserve for a tote bag crisis, so Futrell whipped her staff into a frenzy Wednesday to quickly order 2,000 high-quality tote bags that say "Austin: Live Music Capital of the World."

The order, which will cost the city about $2,000, was set to be filled by noon today, when city officials will begin handing out the bags at the World Congress on Information Technology.

About 2,100 business, government and academic leaders from 80 countries are attending the three-day conference that began Wednesday at the Austin Convention Center.

"It would be a travesty for people to leave Austin without Austin tote bags," Futrell said. "This silly little thing is one of the most representative pieces people carry back with them, and they are going to carry memories of our city and a Lubbock tote bag? Nah."

Futrell said her original plan was to require conference participants to surrender their Lubbock tote bags in exchange for Austin ones — a sort of tote bag amnesty — but said she later decided that sounded petty and scrapped the idea.

Futrell said she was appalled that Lubbock had initially out-toted Austin, especially after city workers spent months planning the conference.

"We shouldn't have allowed that marketing opportunity to go by," she said. "It wasn't until everybody saw tote bags with 4-inch-high letters with 'Lubbock' on them, that it sort of hit everybody in the face."

The Lubbock bags feature the conference logo on one side; the other says, "Lubbock Economic Development Alliance, Home of Texas Tech University." The bags are black and red, Texas Tech Red Raiders colors, and have a zipper side pouch and a Velcro closure.

Not to be outdone, Austin will stuff its canvas tote bags with CDs featuring Austin and Texas musicians.

Gary Lawrence, CEO of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance, said conference organizers called them several months ago and asked if they wanted to sponsor a marketing tool. He said the alliance decided on the tote bags and paid $15,000 for the sponsorship.

"We thought we wanted to put our name out with all these international people," he said. "We never believed that the tote bags would become this big of a thing."

Futrell said whoever thought it a good idea to let Lubbock hand out tote bags at a conference in Austin "should have to go spend a week in Lubbock."

Lawrence doesn't want to escalate the tote war. He said he'll even take an Austin tote back to Lubbock with him.