Spin Daddy
Photography: Timothy Thimmes
My focus is more on community issues, not selling skiing per se,” says Myles Rademan, director of public affairs and communications for Park City Municipal Corporation, about his public relations efforts on behalf of the city.
He points out that in a town like Park City, most community issues are related to tourism. “If you want to be successful, you have to know what business you’re in,” he explains. “Our business is tourism. I spend a lot of time reminding local residents — our constituents — of the importance of tourism.” More than two thirds of Park City’s economy is directly related to tourism, according to Rademan.
In addition to putting out regular press releases on city issues and fielding media questions as the city’s point person, Rademan spends many of his evenings meeting with neighborhood associations, second homeowner groups and other constituents in order to tell Park City’s story and to make sure residents know they have an open door at the City. He also participates in the media FAM tours put together by the Park City Chamber for visiting journalists. He tells them the same story. “I’m good at telling the Park City story. I believe in it and I’m proud of what we’ve created here,” he says. “But I also don’t try to hide the blemishes.”
While the City doesn’t market directly to tourists — “The Park City Chamber/Bureau does a great job of that and we don’t need to duplicate their efforts,” says Rademan — maintaining Park City’s positive image is a top priority at City Hall. “That’s always my job,” he says about the imaging or branding of Park City. “I try to incorporate it in everything I do. I tell anyone who will listen what a neat place Park City is.”
And, lest City Hall take itself too seriously, Rademan works to inject fun into local government. One of the hottest issues when the current administration took office was to make good on their election platform of rolling back Park City’s paid parking. Since the elimination of paid parking in Swede Alley was to coincide with the city’s Fourth of July celebration, and since the newly freed parking would equal 76 percent of the total city parking spaces, Rademan orchestrated a creative publicity campaign for the announcement. First, the City sent postcard announcements to all city residents capitalizing on the Independence Day themes of the “Spirit of ‘76” and “We Freed Swede.” Then, he convinced Mark Bennett from the Park City Chamber/Bureau to dress in a founding father’s costume and hand-deliver to all Park City and Salt Lake media rolled parchment paper invitations for the official announcement. Finally, Mayor Dana Williams and City Council members dressed in founding fathers costumes for the event. Every major media outlet in Salt Lake City and Park City showed up to cover the news.
Like his counterparts at the resorts and the Park City Chamber/Bureau, Rademan figures he’s found the perfect profession. “It’s not a job to me, it’s a belief,” he concludes.
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