Lubbock is Real High-Tech:
There's a guy up there running electric fence

May 7, 2006

COMMENTARY: JOHN KELSO
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Now that Lubbock has managed to get its name on the side of the tote bags at the big high-tech conference here, the big question is this:

Does it mean a high-tech company will relocate there?

Probably not. But maybe somebody will stop for gas.

Either way, the City of Austin sure did get its fanny paddled by the goober City of Lubbock in the tote bag wars at the big techie convention downtown.

OK, so Lubbock is a high-tech town. Several people up there own extension cords, and I hear there's a guy with a Skil Saw.

Still, when pixelheads from around the planet arrived at the Austin Convention Center for the World Congress on Information Technology, they were handed tote tags with "Lubbock" printed on the side.

That's right. Lubbock, that cotton town in West Texas known for its prairie dogs and Pedro's Tamales, whupped Austin a good one in the marketing department. Here's an international technology conference in Austin, the Techno Nerd Capital of the World, and the conventioneers go home carrying their free refrigerator magnets in totes done up in the black and red school colors of Texas Tech.

This is downright humiliating. The situation painted Austin as such a fool that City Manager Toby Futrell belatedly ordered 2,000 "Austin: Live Music Capital of the World" totes. The bad news is, they arrived just in time for the last day of the convention.

This has people from Lubbock happier than usual. It probably doesn't take much up that way.

"It was probably the biggest marketing tool we've ever pulled off — accidentally, by the way," said Gary Lawrence, CEO of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance, who wanted to thank Austin for a wonderful conference.

He was probably tickled because this marketing coup most likely means he'll be able to go on another expense-accounted trip next year to some place like Boston. And any day you can get out of Lubbock is a good one.

Anyway, Lawrence says he stumbled across a online list of all the sponsorship items you could buy for the conference.

"And when I saw on there 'tote bags,' I said, 'I'll take 'em,' " he said.

He says his outfit invested $15,000 for 2,200 Lubbock tote bags. The bags were so popular at the convention that they were all snapped up. So Lawrence ordered 500 more for people in Lubbock who were clamoring for them.

"People are calling our office wanting a tote bag," he said.

Lawrence said the bags have brought so much publicity that a guy with a German accent approached the Lubbock table at the convention, wanting to know if "Loobock" was a high-tech company.

"I said, 'No, it's a high-tech city,' " Lawrence said.

He's right. Many people in Lubbock have garbage disposals.

"We certainly didn't know, when we came here with a bag, it was going to cause a stir," said Kenny McKay, director of business retention for the Lubbock economic alliance. "It did, I guess."

I should say so. It made the City of Austin look inept. The city puts on a major wireless event, and who gets the notoriety? Lubbock, home of the Pancake House.

I should mention that the Lubbock table at the conference was decorated with a basketball. This, by the way, was not the same ball Austin dropped in this tote deal. This ball was autographed by Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight.

Now, I will admit that this really doesn't make that much difference. No matter what name you put on the side of a tote bag, most techies don't really care where they are anyway. As long as there's takeout, a cappuccino frother and Wi-Fi hookup, your average Web wonk would be happy conventioning on Dante's seventh level of hell.

Or in Lubbock, for that matter. But if these folks ever convene in Lubbock, I'll bet Lubbock provides the bags.


John Kelso's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 445-3606 or jkelso@statesman.com.