"Destination Downtown kicks off on Jan. 9. That's when people can visit the Jacksonville Landing, get a wristband and get into six different nightclubs for free."
Am I in the dark on this one or is this another case of Jacksonville putting together an event and not doing nearly enough to get the word out. A piece running on WJXT's website was promoting this event and apparently it begins tonight. I for one have not even heard about it until today, and I visit the various local news sites, as well as sites like MetroJax several times a day. This lack of promotion is one on the main reasons events fail, not only in the core of Jacksonville but throughout.
http://www.news4jax.com/entertainment/18441383/detail.html
there was a 2 page spread in Folio Weekly last week and this week....since many people get their bar/club/entertainment info. from the Folio, I think the promotion was fine.
I saw it in the Folio too. But I'll be darned if I've heard anything about it on the radio, or TV. Stuff like this should be much more visible (i.e. 'in your face') than this.
But it sounds like good times. If I didn't already have stuff planned for out-of-town this weekend, I'd definitely be all over it.
Poor promo and marketing? Too little too late?
Heights Unknown :(
Hopefully this week is a soft opening and they will up the effort after seeing initial results. It seems like a good idea.
Quote from: Doctor_K on January 09, 2009, 08:45:31 AM
I saw it in the Folio too. But I'll be darned if I've heard anything about it on the radio, or TV.
Maybe if more local stations had local morning shows instead of shows that originate from Tampa or Dallas, they could get the word out better on the radio.
I don't disagree with you at all, Copper. However, 'The' Morning Show on Channel 4 - at least the part I watched this morning - said nary a word. I'm hoping they did indeed mention it, just at a time different than when I was able to watch it.
It was more a complaint about local radio than anything directed towards you. It's amazing that 97.9, 104.5 and 107.3 all carry syndicated morning shows.
Understood. And still agreed.
In the radio field it also shows, probably as a combination of, a) the corporate stations' unwillingness to expand their future markets by hiring newer/more local talent; and/or b) the lack of talent locally (see: Morning Mess, Hometown Morning Show); or c) the lack of accessibility of any other possible up-and-coming local talent.
At any rate, the lack of advertising for something like this is sad, abhorrent, and unfortunately not all that surprising. This Destination Downtown thing has the potential to be huge and a great boon for the Core.
To be fair... the L & T show was local. It is a testament to their success here that moved them to Dallas. Do not think for one second that I am defending local radio... It is absolute crap... from our supposedly "alternative" station to Dino rock and plethora of country stations... ugh... :P
Fair point, BT.
But moving beyond the local TV and radio morning shows, I'm surprised more that there doesn't seem to be any advertising airtime bought by the promoters of this little shindig.
I've not heard any commercials during programming breaks for it. Anywhere. I'm not saying that there's none at all; but rather I've not heard anything. And I have the radio on pretty much all day, thanks to my eclectic (read: A.D.D.) tastes in music.
Something new for Friday nightsQuoteThose looking for a good reason to either stay Downtown or come Downtown on Friday nights can stop searching as of tonight.
Five Downtown bars and clubs and two hotels have formed a partnership that looks to capitalize on the success of the City’s Make a Scene Downtown that proved popular over the summer and early fall. While Make a Scene was held Thursdays, Destination Downtown kicks off tonight with drink specials, nearly-free parking, plenty of security, free rides home and discounted hotel rates for those who have a couple too many and want to spend the night.
full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=51593
I learned about it from Folio. They would be my first place to turn to get entertainment news.
The WJXT did a small spot on it. http://www.news4jax.com/video/index.html
Will anyone be attending tonight? Me and the wife are gonna use this as a chance to go in several places we have never been: Mavericks, The Ivy and Dive Bar.
I think this is a great idea and would be even better if some of the art walk street performers and such would be along the route, and maybe a few street vendors. It would make some of those long stretches seem more safe. I think this is very good and may encourage more to open.
I know Stephen mentioned a Supper club at some point. Is that still in the works?
I could not go this time... Anyone have a review?
The wife and I went last night and had a pretty good time. We visited all the clubs and everything went smoothly. You can get a wrist band and any of the clubs and it allows you to get in free at the clubs allowing to to come and go when ever you want. That's great along Bay St and at the Landing. You can hop from one place to another. The Designated Drive Inc had their cars and drivers out and towards the end of the night we saw people using them.
There were some downsides. The streets along the route between the Landing and Bay St. were pretty sparse with walkers. Also the green M's that were meant to be along the route to let people know were to go were hard to see and we didn't notice them until Bay St.
Most of the clubs were really great at letting you know about the program and they were well educated and there weren't any problems with using the bands to get into the club. The only problem the whole night was with The Ivy Bar. Before they would stamp our VIP card, they told us we would have to buy drinks. My wife informed the person stamping the cards that she doesn't drink at which she was told "well you can get a water then, I just have to make sure you buy something." That spoiled it for us and we quickly left. The Ivy Bar was the only bar to have that rule and out of all the clubs they had the least amount of people. We later did buy something to drink at the Dive bar and then later at Marks.
Overall it was fun and we will definitely be going downtown more on Friday nights. I don't know if I'd go back to the Ivy again. It's a shame since that was the one bar I really wanted to spend time in.
Sounds like they still have some kinks to work out but at least there is an effort. I bet Ivy comes around... In the meantime if people would spread the word (positively) in a month or so we may have a critical mass... :) Hopefully I can participate next week.
dapperdan (O Brother Where Art Thou?) Do you go out downtown often? I am curious as to the crowd it drew..
It was not too large of a crowd. I imagine it will grow as the word gets out and if stuck up bar hostesses don't insit that you buy a drink. Yes, the name is from that movie
I also went out for the destination downtown event thought is was alright. It was a little slow for my tastes all over but seeing as the college game was on the night before, I didn't expect much either.
As for the bars themselves, I think they all did a wonderful job. The drink specials were awesome and I got to try out all of the bars in one night without paying a lot of money in cover.
Dapperdan, sucks that The Ivy rubbed you the wrong way. I personally had the best time there that night. The service was super fast and I was also able to register for a Free VIP at The Ivy without a drink purchase. I talked to the door guy (I think his name was Kyle) and was surprised at how nice he was. He had tattoos on his arms but ended up being extremely polite. I thought that was a great change for the normal bone head door guys. Being required to purchase a drink first did not upset me at all. The bars had to of put a lot of money into this promotion and there are a lot of cheap people downtown that were walking bar to bar getting stamps on a bunch of cards without buying drinks. It is those cheap people that ruin it for everyone else like us. I'll admit it was odd and not printed anywhere on the card or in the Folio but a drink cost $2! Not a big deal to me!
I hope the destination downtown thing picks up. It is a great concept and I think with a few more people walking downtown it will be a major promotion for all of the bars downtown. We as quests of this board need to show our support for what is happening downtown. I have read many times on this board the good and bad about downtown and at least they are trying to improve their image and gain exposure!
Buying the drink wasn't the problem. We brought drinks at other clubs. What turned us off was being told that we HAD to buy drinks when it wasn't posted with the promoter or a policy with the other 4 clubs that paid probably as much as The Ivy to participate. Another thing is that my wife doesn't drink so to get a stamp it would we would have to waste money on a drink she didn't want.