A Marketing Plan for Downtown Revitalization

[Metro Jacksonville]

A Marketing Plan for Downtown Revitalization



The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce's marketing plan for downtown revitalization.  Is the chamber on the right path or are they making downtown revitalization more complicated than it has to do be?


Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-jan-a-marketing-plan-for-downtown-revitalization

[dougskiles]

Very interesting plan.  A little note to the the original posters of the article, after page 8, they are out of sequence.

[thelakelander]

Thanks.  I went and corrected that.

[Noone]

"I am Downtown" If "I'm allowed to participate!"

Who wants to go kayaking and fishing under the brand new no fishing signs that extend from Berkman all the way through the Entertainment District?

Is this the same Penny Thompson that is on the Jacksonville Waterways Commission? The new no fishing signs were not before Waterways. Why?

Sidney Gefen Park! I'll promote that Downtown Destination River Activity location with a banner and ENTHUSIASM so we can all say

"I am Downtown"

[02roadking]

Catch phrases & marketing. Yeah, that's how to do it....
 

[comncense]

It seems like this is a never ending cycle. "Insert Group Name Here", takes a trip to "Insert City Name Here", to explore how they have resurrected their downtown. Group comes back, puts together a white paper to justify these trips and then nothing happens.

You can study cities for years and years but if you don't actively do anything about whatever research you're gathering, it's meaningless. Though marketing definitely is an important aspect of 'selling' Downtown to suburban Jacksonville residents, I agree with roadking's snarky reply above. There has to be more to the plan than that.

[cline]

It seems like this is a never ending cycle. "Insert Group Name Here", takes a trip to "Insert City Name Here", to explore how they have resurrected their downtown. Group comes back, puts together a white paper to justify these trips and then nothing happens.

You can study cities for years and years but if you don't actively do anything about whatever research you're gathering, it's meaningless. Though marketing definitely is an important aspect of 'selling' Downtown to suburban Jacksonville residents, I agree with roadking's snarky reply above. There has to be more to the plan than that.

This is true.  These Chamber trips are a joke.  A bunch of lip service and no action.

[thelakelander]

^Could this stem from simply not really knowing what to do in regards to turning helping turn downtown around?  Thus, the tendency to over complicate the issue?  Personally, based on my travels and research over the years, I'm still of the opinion that we tend to make urban redevelopment more complicated than it has to be, especially when it comes to downtown. 

I believe the most effective method is to "get out of the way" and let the free market take control.  By this, I mean less to little focus on attracting suburbanites and more towards modifying public policy and regulations to allow businesses to succeed and natural creativity to happen.  When you allow innovation, creativity, and small scale urban pioneer oriented investment to happen within a compact area great organic things tend to happen. 

From a public investment standpoint, try focusing on downtown from the pedestrian scale and historic perspective.  For nearly a century it served as the central business district for a dense collection of urban core neighborhoods all woven together with mass transit and human scale development.  Perhaps instead of focusing on raising $100-$150 million for something like a convention center, waterfront theme park, or filling the riverfront with waterfront residential, we should get back to the basics and invest $50 million or less on a fixed transit system that actually reconnects our dense residential neighborhoods back with the CBD?  How about preserving the remaining historic building stock, which gives small scale investors more opportunities at being a part of the revitalization process while also preserving the neighborhood's sense of place and culture in the process?  What about building upon the preservation of human scale building fabric by not allowing bland autocentric building facades and site layouts within the area you claim to want to be vibrant and walkable?  In addition, while we may not be able to incentivize a Macys, Whole Foods, or some big name chain immediately to the core, we can create and stimulate more foot traffic instantly by focusing on affordable methods to better integrate and expose existing businesses and buildings to the sidewalks they face. 

I'll admit, this view towards downtown around isn't sexy and won't get suburbanites remotely interested as the ribbon cuttings of many failed expensive one-trick ponies that have been proposed throughout the decades but recent history in peer communities has shown that it works.  When you have a vibrant self sustaining organic fueled urban community, its vibe with be all the marketing the city needs to attract suburbanites to downtown.

[Rocshaboc]

@ comncense
Exactly. Its "The same soup warmed over" we have to digest. Never any immediate change. Weak.

[TPC]

I'm over simplifying this but a way I see Downtown revitalizing itself in terms of increasing residents is to offer below average rent/hosing costs. It has to be below what it costs to live in Riverside where they have a grocery store, restaurants, bars, etc...

Downtown needs to realize it's not only competing with the suburbs, but Riverside, San Marco and Springfield which are in the immediate surrounding area and offer cheaper housing with better amenities.

[downtownjag]

Free parking anywhere and everywhere; that's the single scariest issue to suburban companies, besides maybe the percieved commute.

[John P]

If a marketing group is created to promote downtown i hope they consider including people from san marco pres, spar and rap in their group. The 3 neighborhoods are important to the perception of downtown and important in attracting their residents to downtown for business and functions. Who ever does the marketing for mysanmarco, myspringfield and riversideavondale websites needs to be involved because those all do a good job selling their neighborhoods and living close to downtown. They probably do it for less than what City of Jacksonville would spend on it too.

[Tacachale]

While it gets tiresome to hear about all these ideas that never come to fruition, I'm of the opinion that a real marketing plan is a legit strategy. The goal should not be "attracting suburbanites", it should be PROMOTION. Getting people thinking about what you're selling where they weren't before, and making the product more part of the conversation. I think most of us would agree that downtown is under promoted. As someone who works in that field, this stuff works better than a lot of people think.

And I don't see it as incompatible with thelakelander's small-scall organic investments. In fact, I see it as another small-scale investment that we're not doing enough of.

[Tacachale]

If a marketing group is created to promote downtown i hope they consider including people from san marco pres, spar and rap in their group. The 3 neighborhoods are important to the perception of downtown and important in attracting their residents to downtown for business and functions. Who ever does the marketing for mysanmarco, myspringfield and riversideavondale websites needs to be involved because those all do a good job selling their neighborhoods and living close to downtown. They probably do it for less than what City of Jacksonville would spend on it too.

I definitely agree. We need to sell the whole urban package. Downtown proper struggles, but Riverside and San Marco, and slightly further neighborhoods like Avondale, Fairfax, and St. Nicholas thrive. We need to change the perception that downtown is a failing, isolated enclave and get folks - including people who live there themselves to see the whole area as a united organic core.

[thelakelander]

^Promoting the "urban core" isn't a bad idea.