Downtown Rideau Business Improvement Area (DRBIA), in partnership with the City of Ottawa, expanded an initiative initially designed by the city as a project to reduce graffiti removal maintenance costs on utility boxes by vinyl wrapping them in a transit motif design. The D.R.B.I.A took the initiative to an entirely different level by building on its brand as Ottawa’s Arts, Fashion & Theatre District and turning the utility boxes into original works of art.
Branding and Identity
Sub Categories: Branding and Identity
Lower Manhattan Restaurant Video Series
Lower Manhattan’s food scene, from the restaurants that perennially grace the pages of a Michelin guide to hole-in-the-wall gems that only locals know of, has quietly been booming. While publications like the Associated Press and Bloomberg News have taken notice, the perception of the neighborhood as an after-hours ghost town lingers. To address that misconception and to increase awareness of the breadth of restaurants that call Lower Manhattan home, the Alliance created a monthly video series.
The MARTA Makeover Project
The Five Points MARTA Station Makeover project is an effort led by Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District to evaluate, design, and execute creative placemaking enhancements for Atlanta’s south-central business district. Because Five Points station is often a person’s entry point into Downtown Atlanta, this project offers an array of tactics to improve the experience and foster positive emotional responses to this public space for range of population segments.
Inside Downtown Delray Beach Video Series
The Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority (DDA) launched their “Inside Downtown Delray Beach Video Series” to highlight the unique attributes and authenticity of downtown. The business owners, residents and visitors, also known as the “faces behind the spaces,” were given an opportunity to express what they love most about downtown. Conveying vibrancy, activity friendliness, and walkability in the marketing and PR messaging was crucial to sustaining and growing Downtown Delray Beach.
First Wednesday Art Walk
For the past 13 years, Downtown Vision Inc. (DVI) has produced the First Wednesday Art Walk in the heart of Downtown Jacksonville. This innovative event acts as an economic development tool supporting downtown merchants and cultural entities while improving the vitality of downtown through the arts. With more than 10,000 people participating each month, Art Walk has grown into a treasured street festival, one that is constantly reimagined to mirror the diversity of Jacksonville.
The Best of Cape Town Central City 2018 guide
The Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) began to look for ways to promote the many offerings that had become integral to the Central City and, in particular, to add value to the stakeholders that had invested in the CBD in “Eat”, “Stay”, “Play” “Shop” or “Visit” destinations. To fulfill this, “The Best of Cape Town Central City” guide was created in 2009, originally published in conjunction with the internationally reknown “Time Out” brand.
Welcome to Rosslyn Video Strategy
Rosslyn has transformed from a 9-to-5 employment hub to a vibrant, mixed-use urban center. By June 2017, Rosslyn reached a critical point in its evolution, where the momentum of recent growth combined with the activation work of the Rosslyn BID created a fresh, energized vibe in the community. To create a way for stakeholders to feel what it is like to be in Rosslyn, the BID launched a comprehensive video strategy to take their brand story to the next level.
Brand Overhaul
For more than 60 years, the Downtown Denver Partnership has convened, collaborated and led a bold vision to build an economically powerful center city. The Downtown Denver Partnership has had the same logo, mission statement, manifesto and key messages that had been established over a decade ago. Shifting the organization’s positioning, identity and overall communications with our audiences was going to be a challenge both internally and externally, but we knew it had to be done.
Downtown Denver Rink at Skyline Park
The Downtown Denver Rink at Skyline Park is a nearly full-?sized ice rink that sits downtown at the corner of 16th and Arapahoe St. and is open daily from Nov. 22, 2017 Feb. 14, 2018. The rink is part of a series of strategic initiatives from the Downtown Denver Partnership that helps to create diverse and attractive programming and encourage a wide variety of cultural, leisure, entertainment and recreation in Downtown Denver’s parks and public spaces.
Dundas Roncesvalles Peace Garden, Toronto
The site of the Dundas Roncesvalles Peace Garden (DRPG) was previously a concrete promontory jutting into the wide, busy intersection of Dundas Street and Roncesvalles Avenue. The site was broadly disliked by pedestrians who often dashed, unsafely across the road to get away from blazing heat in the summer or windswept barrens in winter. The Roncesvalles Village Business Improvement Area (RVBIA) was able to fund the DRPG project through strategic partnerships.
The Minneapolis Big Build
The Mpls Downtown Improvement District (DID) tracks their progress with a perception survey of downtown workers, residents, and visitors. In 2015 and 2016 surveys showed significant decreases in the perception of downtown Minneapolis cleanliness. The #1 reason was construction. Led by the DID, the team developed a POV about all the construction called “The Minneapolis Big Build.” The campaign kicked off with www.MplsBuild.com which communicated the details of the projects.
#IgoDowntown Music Video
The Louisville Downtown Partnership (LDP) hosted a launch party featuring the world premiere of the “#IgoDowntown” a music video to promote the downtown brand, showcasing local musicians Jecorey “1200” Arthur, Laura Ellis, Gayle King, Love, Joy and Faith, Frankie Moody and Ben Sollee. The upbeat video, filmed on locations throughout the Downtown area, also includes special performances by CirqueLouis, Dance 360, The Louisville Leopards and Squallis Puppeteers.
Looking Ahead Video
Downtown Seattle is experiencing record growth and investment. It seems everywhere you look there are cranes. While most DSA members and stakeholders view this development as positive, there are those who remain frustrated with the impact on mobility. To focus attention on the future instead of the inconveniences the DSA Communications & Marketing team produced a video using renderings of major projects to paint a picture of the future, allowing people to see Seattle’s skyline post-construction.
Music in the Park 2017 Marketing Campaign
With a newly created Marketing, Communications and Events Director on staff, San Jose Downtown Association took its four-concert Music in the Park series marketing to a whole new level, focusing on on-site digital photo kiosks, email marketing automation and strategic social media. Not only did Music in the Park achieve record attendance and revenues, marketing for the 2018 season and beyond has gathered momentum and general Downtown San Jose marketing capabilities have improved dramatically.
Golden Triangle Neighborhood Plan
The Golden Triangle Neighborhood Plan, unanimously adopted in 2014, outlined a vision, goals, plan framework, and implementation strategies for the eclectic district’s evolution and continued improvement. The Neighborhood Plan set forth a comprehensive, holistic approach, weaving together a nuanced set of strategies that collectively fostered an eclectic, creative, connected, and livable Golden Triangle.
A Creative Placemaking Guide for Business Districts to Work With Local Artists
This creative placemaking toolkit was created specifically for business districts, offering guidance on engagement with local artists to best enhance the experience and vitality of a place. This guide showcases strategies to integrate the talents and ideas of multiple artists to best address the unique opportunities and challenges in BIDs. The toolkit includes case studies of the six unique placemaking projects funded by IDA, Springboard for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Nuart Aberdeen
Nuart Aberdeen is an internationally acclaimed, multi-award winning street art festival that premiered in Aberdeen in April 2017. The festival was delivered through developing a close collaborative approach with Nuart in Stavanger, Norway where it began in 2001 and is widely considered to be the world’s premier celebration of Street Art among its peers. Nuart Aberdeen was delivered by Aberdeen Inspired, the Business Improvement District (BID) organization.
Leeds International Festival (LIF)
Leeds Business Improvement District (LeedsBID) has acted as catalyst and funder for the realization of a vison to create an aspirational, overarching festival to promote the vitality of downtown as a world-class destination. From an initial proposal in September 2016, the inaugural Leeds International Festival (LIF) took place in April 2017; a festival of 35 events over 8 days in front of an audience of 17,000.
201 Portage Canada Day Living Maple Leaf
Since 2011, the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ has been engaging the public by challenging Winnipeggers to help claim the title of largest living flag in Canada. Volunteers from the community are invited to become part of a larger mosaic in various iconic downtown locations. A banner year was in 2012, when Winnipeg’s Canada Living Flag defended its record, while the photo of that year’s living flag was selected to be produced as an official Canada Post stamp, inking over 10 million copies.
London Arts Live
London Arts Live— the first program of its kind in Canada—is a city-wide pop-up art program that places professional artists in urban spaces to reinvigorate local businesses and offer Londoners new opportunities to engage with and experience the arts. With a particular focus on downtown, the program showcases London’s artistic talent across all performative disciplines — including dance, multimedia, music, theatre, and visual arts — artists perform in parks, streets, and buildings.
Top Issues Council: Place Branding – How to Brand and Market Your District
Each downtown and urban district is unique and offers different experiences. More than just a logo, tagline or marketing campaign, place branding identifies and distills a district down to its core identity and sense of place. The IDA Place Branding Top Issues Council has developed this report as a guide for urban districts to evaluate different tools and approaches for their own place branding efforts. Learn best practices and strategies to brand and market your district.
Top Issues Council: Maintaining Authenticity of Place
This report defines the various elements that contribute to the authenticity of a place. This report highlights a ten-point authenticity checklist on: engaged and involved property ownership; commercial diversity and independent businesses; built environment; walkability and accessibility; places that are clean, safe, attractive and welcoming; diversity and culture; public spaces; theater, arts and culture; historic preservation; and vibrancy.
Community Building – Creative Placemaking
Place management organizations work at the cross-section of thoughtful development and making culture accessible, increasing the quality of life for our districts. Pola Bunster, Director of Storytelling, Prism Creative Group, talks about the creative placemaking projects she has undertaken in Miami, tapping into the city’s culture to tell a story and create an experience.
Retro Districts: Leveraging Arts, Culture, and Heritage
In the resurgence of downtowns, cultural districts have become a highly effective catalyst for cultivating authentic mixed-use districts that encourage the people who have historically lived and worked in a place to be part of its future. Cultural districts can take many forms, but ultimately are successful because they are true to a place and its people. Learn about cultural districts augmenting the downtowns of San Antonio, Charlotte and Denver.
Place Branding Top Issues Council: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
More than merely marketing campaigns, Place Branding explores the features that make your downtown or urban space unique among others: those quirky spaces and interesting places that define your urban experience. The best practices, lessons learned, and surprising tips can assist planners in defining strategies for physical manifestations of their community’s cultures in public spaces.
If You Build It, They Will Come – Building and Promoting Your Retail Destinations
This session delves into attracting a consumer base in the changing retail environment through the creation of specific economic development initiatives and strategic destination marketing to drive traffic. Using two case studies, the Selden Market and Glebe Spree 150, Speakers will discuss the relationship between building retail spaces and promoting those places to draw consumers again and again.
The Neighborhood Your Brand Built
Managing a brand is just as complex, challenging, and occasionally joyful as managing a place is. In the age of social media and global competition, districts rely on brand to communicate their character and deliver impressions. Though varied in scale, geography, and governance, these districts share a common understanding of the vital role place brands play in expressing the essence of a location.
Shop Small: Supporting Independent Businesses in Your Community
Supporting local, small businesses is important to the regional economy. In this session, youll hear from three communities who utilized Small Business Saturday, an annual U.S. small business holiday shopping tradition created by American Express in 2010, to help initiate year-round Shop Small movements in their districts. Learn how to find local partners, leverage social media and activate your downtown to make a big impact on your small business community.
If You Build It, They Won’t Necessarily Come: Re-Shaping The Narrative of a Place
After years of work, your place is improving: business is good and streets are clean. But old reputations die hard, and problems remain framed a certain way. What if we want people to see places, problems and possibilities differently? Hear diverse places share how they used public space management, programming and public-private partnerships to change the narrative, and offer for discussion and commentary the perception or problem you want to change.
Culture is Key
From urban adventure games and the world’s largest steampunk festival to some of the best Christmas markets in Europe, cities in the UK are actively developing cultural and events programmes that nurture local distinctiveness and attract people and trade. Learn how they engage with partners and develop a cultural strategy that is engaging and sustainable without spending millions.
Mapping Authenticity: Contemporary Mapping
Maps are the primary way that we orient ourselves to places. But they aren’t neutral: by highlighting some features while obscuring others, they are powerful tools for making meaning. Today, civic data and mobile technologies give us unprecedented control over visualizing place — and new ways for telling authentic, place-based stories.
Teaming Up To Clean Up
Teaming Up To Clean Up showcases partnerships with local stakeholders to clean and beautify their cities. Best practices include businesses and communities working together to improve storefronts, and reduce graffiti and litter while focusing on cigarette litter, recycling, and needle waste. Case studies in this presentation show how organizations can achieve best practices in maintaining cleanliness and building vibrancy in urban settings.