Type: Award

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Town Green Special Services District (TGD) in New Haven, CT needed to communicate and present their data in a way that highlighted the accomplishments and vitality of their district. Obtaining presentable data was necessary in working to attract retail businesses and making decisions that would lead to more economic development. Chris Ortwein, the Director of Economic Prosperity, worked to ensure that data could be used as a business tool. Through demographic data models and the Retail Snapshot that tracks retail growth, TGD uses their DA•TA program to provide information to members and residents in its newsletter and create a more comprehensive economic vitality strategy. Since implementing DA•TA, the district has grown retail business and shaped a sustainable economic initiative.

The 400-block of E. Pratt Street is one of the most important blocks along Baltimore’s prestigious Pratt Street corridor. This block is at the heart — both geographically and symbolically — of Downtown Baltimore’s commercial and tourism economies, as evidenced by the nearly 14 million people who walk past the site each year. The 400 E. Pratt Street structure faced significant challenges, including coordination among multiple stakeholders, project partners, and funders as well as complex below-ground infrastructure issues that complicated construction. However, the building now stands as a tremendous success and serves as a demonstration block for other property owners to pursue projects in accordance with the Pratt Street Plan. The expansion, renovations, and streetscaping improvements helped take the occupancy at the property from 60% at construction start to 100% upon completion. In addition to the benefit of increased tax revenue for the City, the project contributes to environmental improvement through the installation of bio-retention basins that assist with storm water management. It has also helped to further economic inclusion and workforce development efforts through the utilization of a local minority-owned contracting company for the streetscape improvements, as well as the hiring of Baltimore City residents for positions at the four new retail establishments.

Downtown Norfolk Council (DNC) established a committee to create more vibrancy and street-level businesses in downtown as well as develop a catalyst program to accelerate the vision. The committee recruited property owners who had available properties that could accommodate a vibrant and compatible tenant to the initiative. The property owner had to agree to lease the space at 50% market rate for two years and 75% market rate for year three. DNC would provide the selected tenant a $20,000 kick-start grant with $10,000 paid at opening and the balance at the one-year anniversary. Existing businesses also had an opportunity to submit ideas for funding to make their businesses more exciting and vibrant. A Request for Proposals was issued, and a strong public relations and social media campaign was used to drive interested business owners to apply through vibrantspaces.com, a website developed specifically for the program. Vibrant Spaces has added three new businesses to downtown to date, and grants were awarded to four existing businesses. Vibrant Spaces was invaluable in attracting interest from small businesses and inspiring property owners to reinvest in their buildings and the streetscapes of downtown. The program continues, and is a vital aspect of the continued vision for downtown Norfolk.

The Thanksgiving Day Parade has been a holiday tradition in Charlotte, N.C. since 1947. For almost seven decades, hundreds of thousands of participants, volunteers, sponsors, families, and friends from across the region have cherished this event as a part of their Thanksgiving Day traditions. In August 2013, the tradition almost ended when the Carolina’s Carousel Parade could not find a title sponsor. With the help of Charlotte Center City Partners, the parade found a new sponsor and a new name: Novant Health Thanksgiving Day Parade. In order to elevate the level of the parade and make it an entertaining experience, the new organizers increased the total number of floats, marching bands, and performances to add to the entertainment value. They added several new floats, giant snow globes, and Segwalloons (a unique balloon design wrapped around a Segway) to their inventory. The parade featured 25 balloons, 14 floats, 5 Segwalloons, more than 1,400 marching band participants, and 120 marching units including performers, sports organizations, community organizations, and favorite characters. More than 100,000 people from around the region attended the 2014 Novant Health Thanksgiving Day Parade; 55% of attendees came from Mecklenburg County, 34% from surrounding counties and 11% from out-of-state or other counties. The parade was broadcast to over 1.5 million homes. The parade generated over $1 million in spending that contributed to the local economy. (Given that many businesses are closed during the parade, the spending is significant.) The out-of-town visitors provide the hospitality sector with business during a traditionally slow week for hotels. Additionally, the spending numbers do not include the expenses of the parade production, which generates revenue for local businesses in sectors such as waste management, exhibit design, production and marketing. The 2014 Novant Health Thanksgiving Day Parade is an example of the power and influence a historical community event can have. Charlotte Center City Partners was able to bring the parade to its full potential with a clear vision and plan for action.

The Pittsburgh 2030 District is a public-private nonprofit partnership of building owners and managers, community stakeholders, and resource partners who are committed to the aggressive building performance goals of The 2030 Challenge. Facilitated by Green Building Alliance (GBA), this collaborative includes 436 buildings and over 65.5 million square feet of real estate in Downtown Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Oakland–all actively working towards 50% reductions in energy consumption, water use, and transportation emissions (below baselines) by the year 2030, with new construction reaching carbon neutrality by 2030. Headquartered in Pittsburgh and serving all of Western Pennsylvania, GBA is a nonprofit organization that inspires the creation of healthy, high performing places for everyone. One of the oldest regional green building organizations, GBA was founded in 1993 and is one of the three largest chapters of the U.S. Green Building Council. Across North America, 2030 Districts are forming to meet The 2030 Challenge goals for energy, water, and transportation emissions reductions. Established in August 2012, Pittsburgh was the third of 10 established 2030 Districts in North America (listed by magnitude of current commitments to 2030 goals): Pittsburgh, Seattle, Cleveland, Toronto, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, San Francisco, and Stamford. The multipurpose vision of the 2030 Districts Network is to support peer exchange across Districts, store and share data, use the aggregate power of District membership to secure reduced costs, create national partnership relationships, and influence national policy on building performance and transportation infrastructure. In just three years, GBA created and launched the largest 2030 District in the world to date. In two of Pennsylvania’s three largest downtowns, 83 property partners have committed 436 properties spanning Downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland, with 33 community and resource partners (nonprofits, professional organizations, utility providers, and BIDs) supporting their efforts. The Pittsburgh 2030 District has incorporated 83% of the existing building square footage in Oakland and 60% of the square footage in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Downtown Windsor is the economic and cultural hub of the region and offers prime investment opportunities in the heart of the city. Beautifully situated on the banks of the Detroit River, downtown Windsor has undergone major transformations in the past 10 years including the addition of a world class, 5,000-seater entertainment auditorium and a 27-story hotel tower at Caesars Windsor; five new post-secondary campuses; and over $1 billion in infrastructure improvement and development projects. Recognizing that the city centre lacks retail, the DWBIA embarked on creating a workable retail attraction strategy. The strategy would provide information about the downtown market key to attracting retail investment, strengthening the downtown’s current mix, and revealing the abundance of emerging opportunities in the city centre. The DWBIA Rental Recruitment Campaign has had a significant impact on the core and has attracted seven new businesses to the city centre within a period of 18 months. The campaign’s goal was to attract new retailers to the city centre to fill previously unoccupied buildings with new commercial ventures. The program has exceeded every expectation and continues to grow and evolve as new sectors — such as cultural precincts — are identified. The DWBIA gauged the campaign’s success by the number of new businesses moving into the downtown and by the decrease in vacancy rates, which in a period of one year dropped by 25%.

Downtown London, Ontario, like many other North American cities, suffered a major decline in its shopping area in the late 1980s due to the creation of suburban and downtown shopping malls. Businesses across the downtown moved into London’s new malls leaving the streets empty and the buildings unkempt for years. The new millennium loomed and the downtown had a calculated loss of $60 million in taxable assessment. To save the downtown, the Municipality wrote and implemented the IDA Pinnacle Award-winning Millennium Plan. Then, the city created the nonprofit MainStreet London, which the B.I.A. manages along with the London Downtown Business Association under the brand Downtown London. Merging the two organizations together under one brand gave the group an innovative solution to provide programs not permitted within a traditional B.I.A. Through a Building and Tenant Improvement Program, Downtown London is able to offer Tenant Improvement Loans, an About Face Facade Grant Program, and the Last Mile Fibre Optic Grant. Working with tenants, building owners, architects, construction professionals, and the City’s urban regeneration unit, Downtown London is able to bridge the gap between the tenant’s start-up costs and the high costs to rehabilitate the building. The process is highly directive, prescriptive and strict, but the results are remarkable. To date, Downtown London has invested a total of $1,103,075 in improvements. 121 businesses have used the incentive program, and between 2001 and 2004, 25% of these projects were new businesses to the downtown. The other 75% were existing buildings or tenants upgrading their current space. However, since 2005, 70% of these businesses have been new to downtown, proving the incentives to be a strong recruitment tool once initial investment in the downtown began taking place.

In May 2015, the Downtown Denver Partnership and nearly 800 community leaders and entrepreneurs celebrated the grand opening of The Commons on Champa, a new 20,000 SF public campus designed to advance the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in downtown Denver. As a unique gathering place for the city’s diverse community of business builders and innovators in the heart of downtown, The Commons on Champa emphasizes inclusivity and expands access for entrepreneurs in all industries through high-quality programming, advanced technology, networking and other resources at low- to no-cost. The Commons is led by the Downtown Denver Partnership, in conjunction with the City and County of Denver, and the Colorado Technology Association. The Commons is a first-of-its kind public, private and nonprofit partnership that plays a key role in the Partnership’s 20-year strategic vision of a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. By building on the energy of the startup community and momentum of Denver Startup Week, also produced by the Partnership, the Commons is a catalyst for economic development in Denver. It is built on three key elements – space, programming and community – to accelerate entrepreneurship in downtown. The Commons also houses a digital art installation designed by artist David Niles. An innovation lounge is open to the public daily, fostering creativity and collaboration. The space includes a 200-person event venue, resources for the entrepreneurial community and diverse programming. Located in a city-owned building, The Commons brought together 30 partners who contributed time, money, materials and resources to support the $2.5 million building renovation. In its first month of programming alone, The Commons hosted 30 programs attended by more than 1,500 people. The Commons has attracted significant media coverage and the Partnership already secured more than $650,000 toward the $1.5 million of private funding needed to support programming and operations for the next five years.

The corner of Pine Avenue and Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach, CA had been left vacant and in a state of decay for over 25 years. It is now home to a bold, effervescent, community engaging, public open space. Initiated through a partnership between the Downtown Long Beach Associates (DLBA), Long Beach Downtown Development Corporation (DDC), the City of Long Beach, and Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, The Loop at Pine + Ocean opened on April 15, 2016. It functions as a dynamic activation stage, hosting weekly and seasonal events including leisure and health activities as well as art and cultural happenings. The Loop is organized around two large gathering areas linked together by a central oasis garden and a brightly colored sculptural space-truss gives form to the site. Internal speakers play music on a daily basis and five existing trees on site were preserved, with new drought tolerant landscaping used to provide accent. At night the park is activated by a series of unique light and sound choreographies. The project is an example of community partners working together to promote design and culture, provide a public gathering space, and show an innovative, tactical approach to community building.

From meandering stream to reclaimed recreational resource, the Chicago River has a long and storied history. Until recently, the public’s perception of the river made the goal of embracing it as a recreational amenity seem impossible. The Chicago Riverwalk project, an initiative to reclaim the river for the ecological, recreational, and economic benefit of the city, is responsible for many realized segments of continuous river improvements over the past three decades. Turning challenges into opportunities, programmatic connections to the river were designed: The Marina Plaza (restaurants and outdoor seating), The Cove (kayak rentals and docking for human-powered crafts), The River Theater (a sculptural staircase linking Upper Wacker and the Riverwalk), The Water Plaza (a water feature for children and families), The Jetty (a series of piers and floating wetland gardens), and The Boardwalk (an accessible walkway creating continuous access to Lake Street). Lastly, the project realizes three “underbridge” crossings under the existing bridge desks at each block, connecting blocks that had been previously discrete spaces. These stainless steel-canopied mini-bridges both shelter pedestrians as they pass beneath the bridge deck above and reflect the texture and light of the river’s surface.

The NoMa Parks Initiative will deliver parks and great public spaces in a vibrant, growing neighborhood. The Initiative is the brainchild of the NoMa Business Improvement District (BID) and is being executed by its related entity, the NoMa Parks Foundation (NPF). Through a partnership with the District of Columbia Government, the NPF has a $50 million capital grant, structured over six years, to execute the NoMa Public Realm Design Plan. This Plan was developed with significant stakeholder and community input, and identifies innovative strategies for developing parks and open spaces. The NoMa BID finalized the NoMa Public Realm Design Plan, building upon previous planning efforts and projected neighborhood development. The current phase of the NoMa Parks Initiative — design and construction — stems from years of planning, coordination, and negotiations. The neighborhood previously had less than 5 acres of open space; the Initiative has added almost 3 acres of land that will be soon developed into parks. For both residents and workers, the NoMa Parks Initiative will create a lasting legacy of parks that contribute to a thriving neighborhood.

The inspiration for Yonge Love started when the City of Toronto announced that the water pipes circa 1878 on Yonge Street will be replaced from the Waterfront to Davenport because of the infrastructure. This was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to provide long-overdue improvements to our streets and sidewalks. Yonge Love took place over the course of seven months from 2014 to 2015. It took a creative approach to community consultation on the future of Downtown Yonge, with the goals of cultivating diverse voices in civic engagement, building stronger connections with and within the neighbourhood, and sharing Yonge Street’s unique stories and perspectives. Torontonians from all walks of life were engaged through an innovative and interactive mix of original video and editorial content, social media and street level conversations. These created fun opportunities to express, share ideas, and collectively paint a picture of our best Yonge Street. Yonge Love’s Campaign Findings Report is the culmination of a robust, community-driven visioning for Yonge Street and the Downtown Yonge neighbourhood. Going forward, the Yonge Love Report will be used to guide DYBIA’s advocacy work, as well as inform both current and future priorities and the City of Toronto is implementing our campaign findings for Yonge Street Revitalization.

Once comprised of parking lots, a second wave of major development resulted in 17 mixed-use projects under construction and another 33 in the pipeline. However, little pedestrian activity and vacant storefronts reflected the behavioral pattern of SP’s residential community, who ventured out to shop, eat, and play. SPBID invited its residents to share feedback through surveys and meetings. The results revealed interest in events that were free and involved art. Informed by this feedback, SPBID implemented five innovative series: “Green Carpet” Business-Of-The-Month, “Art in the Park”, “Meet Your Artist”, Experiential Art, and Resident Block Party. By implementing programming to encourage residents to explore their neighborhood, SP is now living up to its expectations of vibrancy and activity. Since starting these events, retail lease rates climbed by 36% per square foot and 20+ new retailers moved into the district. With revitalization taking off in city-centers across the nation and world, SPBID’s replicable model of low-cost programming ensures residents will develop neighborhood-driven spending patterns that successfully partners with new and ongoing development.

Like many city centers, Downtown Huntsville is fortunate to have a significant public library; unfortunately, the library is located on the perimeter of the city center, away from much of the residential and office population. Recognizing this, Downtown Huntsville, Inc., Arts Huntsville, the Huntsville/Madison County Public Library System, the Huntsville Times, and the City of Huntsville developed a novel way to meet the goal of making books and other media more accessible. Partners adaptively re-purposed unused Huntsville Times newspaper racks by converting them into free library book borrowing stands. Each Book Box is placed in an easily accessible and heavily walked area of the city center. The partners also included an emphasis on public art, having Arts Huntsville promote the project among the local arts community. Local artists were invited to submit proposed Book Box designs and the winners were commissioned to create one box each. The Public Library carefully and continually stocks the Book Boxes with titles and genres that appeal to all ages. To date, the selections have been popular with an estimated 2,000+ books borrowed since last fall!

The Newark Downtown District (NDD) launched an initiative to beautify and renew entryways into the City of Newark, New Jersey, entitled “Gateways to Newark.” These ‘gateways’ shape the perception of Newark as the first point of reference for residents and visitors. The NDD tapped into the city’s extensive arts community, engaging 18 artists. The murals were completed in 15 days. The end product yielded “Gateways to Newark: Portraits” — 1.39 miles of colorful pride for the Newark people and beauty for the 1.1 million who drive McCarter Highway each month. The hashtag #gatewaystonewark has over 500 posts on Instagram and 205K impressions on Twitter. Facebook had similar results, most notably, a photograph taken by “Halopig,” a popular street art photographer, which received 72,406 views, 535 shares and 725 likes. The mural has been featured in the Star Ledger, NJTV, Verizon Fios News, and NJ.com.

Through the work of its Clean, Safe & Sustainable Committee, the Board of the Downtown Victoria Business Association (DVBA) realized that the main street was starting to decline. In January 2015 the DVBA arranged a facilitated charrette with Douglas Street stakeholders to re-envision what the street could look like in 20 years, and presented the resulting vision, Arriving at Douglas Street, to City Council. After the Victoria City Council enthusiastically embraced the plan, a partnership was formed amongst the City, DVBA, and Downtown Victoria 2020 Society to develop the stART on Douglas pilot project. START on Douglas was an opportunity to test out immediate and short term solutions with physical enhancements in the public right-of-way and on private property using a mixture of public and private funds. The pilot continued over the next year, giving time to test out concepts presented and gather feedback.

The vision of the Old Town Square in Fort Collins, Colorado, began in 1983 by converting a deteriorated block and city street into a public pedestrian plaza. Today, Old Town Square is a thriving public space with overflowing restaurants, successful retailers and well-organized and award-winning events, cultural celebrations and intimate concerts. In 2012, the Fort Collins Downtown Development Authority (DDA) undertook a comprehensive evaluation of Old Town Square and identified strategic improvements; construction took place in 2015. The Downtown Fort Collins Business Association’s (DBA) role in the project was two-fold with regard to communications and post-construction programming of the space. While the DDA planned and managed construction, the DBA partnered as a communicative collective voice on behalf of businesses, a marketing agent of the plaza and the City’s primary programmer of events, festival and celebrations. The space was redesigned to become the cultural anchor and heart of Fort Collins, with specific attention paid to economic viability, durable and quality materials, accessibility, comfort, historic iconic elements, feedback from the community, and more.

The creation and evolution of State Street, and its unique Flag Program, exemplifies the City of Santa Barbara, California’s distinctive and on-going approach to caring for and curating great public space. Every day, year-round, the State Street Flags provide the visual cue that one has arrived in downtown — while leveraging a 40-year history of partnership between the City of Santa Barbara and Downtown Santa Barbara, Inc., bringing strong community collaboration from every non-profit sector in the greater Santa Barbara region. The DSB has overseen the day-to-day management of the program since 1991, expanding the program from six to 14 blocks, and including more than 40 different nonprofit partners annually who fly their flags for various initiatives or events. Many of these non-profit organizations also now actively participate in DSB’s year-round events, parades, and activities, in part due to the strong working relationships forged through the State Street Flag Program. A comprehensive overhaul of the program in 2016 resulted in major changes to reduce the waitlist from 57 nonprofits to 27; accept new nonprofits to the lineup; and ensure quality measures for storage and care of flags.

The 1998 Riverfront Vision Plan in Columbus, Ohio, accomplished what other plans over the past 100 years have struggled to achieve — a connected, active, and healthy river system that is a community asset. This initial planning set the stage for numerous improvements and investments, including five new downtown riverfront parks, the removal of two low-head dams, a restored riverfront ecosystem, revitalized neighborhoods and new urban districts. It instilled a planning ethos in the minds of both the City and the private sector and demonstrated that open and transparent planning processes could galvanize a community toward reaching a common goal—a process that has been repeated throughout implementation. In 2002, the City of Columbus convened the public to develop a Strategic Business Plan for downtown and also created an implementation entity, the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation (CDDC) to guide riverfront park and neighborhood projects, liaise with the public and private sectors, and raise funds. The CDDC and the City designed and implemented investments in parks totaling $127.5 million. These 179 acres of new and renovated parkland have substantial environmental benefits through the restoration of 78% of the Scioto River’s riparian edge and planting of over 1,400 trees. Riverfront access has also been improved, with five new boat launches, 1.5 miles of new multi-use paths and 4 miles of new walking paths. The Scioto Mile, once a traffic artery for exiting downtown, today is a civic magnet, attracting over 1.5 million people to the riverfront annually to enjoy the Promenade; the interactive, 15,000-square-foot fountain; festivals; and the Milestone 229 restaurant. The final piece of the riverfront renaissance, the Scioto Greenways, was completed in November 2015, creating a restored, natural river channel and new riparian habitat.

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Prior to 2013, the Red Deer Downtown Business Association in Alberta, Canada, ran a Christmas shopping campaign called the North Pole Stroll. North Pole Stroll was originally a late-night shopping event that occurred on one day in December, in which merchants encourage shoppers to use a passport and collect stamps. However, merchants reported that patrons were getting the stamp and leaving quickly, rather than staying to shop. In 2013 the association decided to expand the program into a month-long campaign with multiple events and the pickle promotion. A pickle used as a decoration on a Christmas tree is an old German tradition. The pickle is hung last and hidden among the branches. The first person on Christmas morning to find the pickle would receive a special blessing for the year and an extra gift. To encourage shopping and lingering, visitors must now search for the hidden pickle. The association advertises the pickle and participating businesses on social media, bus benches, annual shopping guide and radio advertising. The project is proving to be very popular, and more businesses are coming on board each year. The businesses enjoy the fun campaign and appreciate that visitors are more engaged in their business. Public awareness is expanding as well. Each year downtown visitors look forward to the pickle campaign and have fun with it on social media.

In 2015, the Downtown Portland District wondered, “What’s our identity as an organization?” and “Do folks know who we are and what we do?” It was clear that an evolution was on the horizon. The organization needed to reflect the energy and awesomeness of Portland, and to win the hearts of residents and visitors. The key goals of the brand re-launch were to enhance the overall visibility and awareness of Portland Downtown, engage the community through surprise & delight, and refocus attention on the services, programs and events. Thanks to the “brand alchemists” at Portland-based Pulp + Wire, Portland’s Downtown District was armed with a beautiful new logo and a simpler, subtly sleeker (and somehow edgier) name: Portland Downtown. Implementation highlights included: a brand re-launch party, a popular new e-newsletter, impromptu mini scavenger hunts, and lots of logoed swag. By experimenting with a variety of marketing techniques, Downtown Portland was able to revitalize print, online and social channels, renew interest in monthly merchant meetings, and attract excellent new volunteers.

The public spaces of Ann Arbor, Michigan’s 67-block downtown are the streets and sidewalks (together, “streets”). While a network of vibrant, complete streets is a desired goal, the reality is that with narrow downtown streets and a high intensity of use, not every street can equally accommodate all desired uses. Compounding this challenge is that multiple entities, including the City of Ann Arbor (City) and the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), implement projects in downtown streets. In fall 2013, the DDA initiated a process to develop an Ann Arbor Downtown Street Design Manual (Manual) with the City. The Manual assists both the public and private sectors in making informed street design and management decisions that support a vibrant downtown context and meet the needs of multi-modal transportation systems. The Manual’s primary innovation is creating a “street typology” framework, which considers the mix of existing and future land use to establish a desired frontage context for each type of street. This context sensitivity combines with a “functional emphasis” designation for each street — pedestrian and business access, transit, bicycling, and vehicle traffic. The resulting street type acknowledges that with a limited right-of-way, downtown streets need to be planned and managed as a network. A second innovation focused on the critical need for cross-agency collaboration to realize these goals. This was the first project shared equally between the City and the DDA. Now that the project has been completed, an Inter-agency Street Design Team is in place to advise street improvements and management decisions. The DDA’s leadership brought together an unprecedented level of cross-agency and stakeholder coordination for Ann Arbor. In addition, several rounds of targeted focus groups engaged individuals who were actually using the streets, by meeting them on the sidewalk in a series of nontraditional “pop-up workshops.” The Manual development process has shifted the community’s thinking. Rather than the historic engineering-centric view of streets, the community now acknowledges that street improvement projects and policies can serve multiple objectives and effectively respond to a vibrant and diverse downtown environment.

As Canada’s premier economic centre, and a global financial presence, the Financial District is Toronto’s public face to the world. Since 2013, the Financial District has positioned itself as a unique voice for a unique district. The Financial District was already using LinkedIn to communicate information and share article links that were relevant to its members. However, given the quickly changing landscape of social media, it is critical to implement new strategies to maximize reach and ensure relevance. With that in mind, the organization developed a new strategy for using LinkedIn to share the team’s collective experience and FDBIA’s credibility. The plan incorporates several tenets which focused on showcasing visual examples as an active demonstration of skills, easy-to-understand writing examples, leveraging joint knowledge and experience of the staff, and staying tight on brand messaging. Using LinkedIn in this way allowed FDBIA to maximize the benefits of the platform and expand the reach to membership within a short timeframe. By leveraging collective knowledge and experience, the team was able to portray strong examples of success in the Financial District. In less than six months, the strategy achieved a collective 1841 readers, 2902 followers and 471 interactions.

Thanks to the Waterfront Business Improvement Association of Toronto, Canada, Singing Ambassadors perform songs, visit members daily to gain updates, and take photos to ensure everyone they meet is left with a lasting impression. They enhance member and resident events through pre-promotion, performances and distribution of savings cards. Singing Ambassadors are seen as a beacon of support, keeping both residents and visitors well-informed of everything our member businesses have to offer and increasing repeat visits. Community member support comes in a variety of contributions including complimentary rehearsal space and recordings, as well as gift certificates for products, services, and food & beverages. Music and theatre students are hired, helping them gain valuable work experience in the entertainment industry. The program has been supported through grants awarded from Ontario’s Summer Jobs Services and Canada Summer Jobs, while cross-promotional partnerships create lasting relationships. The goal of the Waterfront Singing Ambassadors program is to improve and promote The Waterfront BIA throughout their revitalization process while enhancing the visitor experience. Measurements of success include increased partnerships, cross-promotions, savings card distribution, festival attendance, member orientation participants and PR values/impressions. This is best seen in the exceptional media exposure on TV, radio, print and online which has contributed to a record-breaking PR Value of $121,000 and 25 million media impressions.

The Downtown Community Improvement District in Columbia, Missouri, created a comprehensive “It’s Good To Be Here” branding campaign that was designed to be inclusive of the many businesses and developments within their downtown district. The campaign included the creation of a custom video highlighting a day in the district, a new website with weekly videos from shopkeepers within the district, an events calendar, and a revamped logo. To date, the area has seen a large return in terms of social media success. This success was best recorded by their video, which has 8,600 YouTube views, and their weekly videos which receive at least four times the reach when compared to other social media posts and outlets. The Downtown Community Improvement District hopes to expand on this campaign through investing in advertising vehicles for the 2016 fiscal year, including videos, events, or television placements shared by the businesses within the district. This would also enhance their website and increase use of campaign materials.

Downtown Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, is changing: yet people still remember the past, when crime, vacant buildings, and a lack of accessibility all kept visitors and patrons away. While city revitalization efforts and private-sector investment have brought new vibrancy to downtown, negative perceptions persist among city patrons. So the Edmonton Downtown Business Association launched a marketing project in the summer of 2014 to address outdated attitudes to re-boot the discussion about downtown and bring awareness to its newfound vibrancy. To bring awareness to the positive impacts of recent revitalization, the association designed a complex communications campaign to bypass preconceived notions. The plan created three levels of communication. These included a 30-page report on new vibrancy in downtown, a simplified handbook that compiled narratives and visuals of the changes, and an infographic depicting the most kinetic elements of revitalization. These items were disseminated through a community workshop, the website, public relations, and digital outreach. The project team engaged with community business owners, employees, residents, visitors, and numerous city planners. The project integrated cultural, financial, and ecological sustainability messages to better communicate the ways that downtown Edmonton was becoming a complete community.

Downtown Vision, Inc. (DVI), located in downtown Jacksonville, Florida, wanted to generate authentic conversations on social media from community leaders in order to address outdated misperceptions. DVI also wanted to promote Downtown Jacksonville as an exciting place to live, work and play. The #DTJax Twitter Promoter Program leveraged the most influential Twitter users in Jacksonville to turn the tide on inaccurate perceptions about downtown while boosting top-of-mind awareness of Downtown as an ideal destination to play. As a bonus, the program grew #DTJax brand equity and @DTJax social media followers. DVI staff and their marketing committee acted as the program coordinators, and 14 of the most influential local Twitter users participated. In addition, downtown partners—venue managers and business owners—provided incentives for the promoters to encourage them to spend time downtown and have material for their #DTJax tweets. The program cost no money to implement, aside from staff time. The program was able to not only produce a 21:1 average ratio of mentions positive to mentions negative, but also gain 3,700 new Twitter followers. Downtown Vision, Inc. continues to use and monitor #DTJax across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Today, #DTJax reaches 399,467 unique Twitter users with 1.3 million+ impressions monthly. One year later, DVI’s Twitter handle, @DTJax, now boasts more than 22,000 followers.

Parking stands out as one of the single greatest deterrents to visiting Downtown Norfolk, so the Downtown Norfolk Council (DNC) created a parking working group consisting of DNC, the Downtown Norfolk Civic League and Re:Vision Norfolk to present a unified vision and effort for improvements. Based on the advocacy efforts of the working group, the City of Norfolk agreed to implement a number of key changes to parking, including free 2-hour parking on Saturdays, extended monthly parking pass hours, removing parking meters, and accepting credit cards only. DNC was tasked with branding the parking initiative and developing a comprehensive public relations and marketing campaign to communicate these changes. One of the major innovations of the initiative was the development of the “Park Happy” icon to serve as the umbrella for all parking-related marketing and communications for the launch of the campaign and beyond. DNC utilized a combination of traditional and non-traditional marketing tactics to get the message out and generate media interest. Well past the October 2014 launch, the Park Happy icon continues to be used in any and all parking-related marketing and communications by the City of Norfolk as well as DNC. The advertising campaign delivered over 2.4 million impressions. Park Happy PR initiatives had a publicity value of over $7,500. Response from the downtown community and businesses has been extremely positive and awareness of parking changes are widespread throughout the region. A downtown business added Saturday hours as a result of the parking changes.

The new Downtown Santa Ana website represents a milestone for place-based marketing because of a unique approach to a common problem. The success of the site relied on it having the most current information and rich content, but the BID operates at about $100,000 per year, and having enough staff time to update the site wasn’t an option. Downtown Inc. also knew it was unrealistic to expect high-quality, consistent content to be entered into the website by stakeholders. They are busy running their business and promoting them on…social media. That’s when the idea struck: the organization built the website to host a curated mix of stakeholders’ social media feeds! By importing and organizing the rich, social content their stakeholders were already creating and tagging, the organization could relay the real-time, authentic messaging of businesses without taking any more of their time. Downtown Inc. worked with local food media and restaurants to develop a “hashtag” called #eatDTSA for restaurants to use, importing their Instagram content into the website without additional effort. A new calendar system automatically imports stakeholders’ Facebook events, and the information is represented in a downtown-wide calendar on the website. Each day, Downtown Inc. staff are dazzled by the creativity and new offerings of stakeholders and are able to use the website to create and share newsletters and press releases more easily. They saw an almost immediate doubling of traffic after releasing the new website, and the amount of content posted has increased from a few times per month to dozens of times per day. The events calendar went from a handful of events to listing over 100 per month.

The 6-block Fulton Mall, home to the greatest built density in the region, was a failed pedestrian mall, operating at just 6% of its capacity with 1.5 million square feet of vacant retail and office space in the heart of downtown Fresno. In 2012, Mayor Ashley Swearengin announced that the city had been awarded a federal TIGER grant to reintroduce vehicular traffic to Fulton Mall. That funding, combined with local and state grants, would provide one lane of traffic in each direction, on-street parking, updated infrastructure, 25 foot sidewalks, and a re-curation of the phenomenal public art collection on the mall. What should have been a great day for the city quickly dissolved into a battle of public opinion. The Mayor, the Downtown Fresno Partnership (DFP) and Fresno Citizens for a Strong Economy came together to launch the I Believe in Downtown Fresno campaign. Community leaders met residents in their homes, churches or workplaces in small groups of about 10 friends and neighbors to have an open conversation about Fulton Mall and the importance of downtown to the city as a whole. This was an opportunity to have meaningful conversations without the distraction of online chatter. The approach did take a significant investment of time from civic leaders, plus an investment of about $100,000 on the production of a video, mugs, t-shirts, lapel pins and yard signs to help promote the I Believe brand. However, the return on that investment could not be matched in a media buy, a newspaper op-ed, or a Facebook page. When residents were able to calmly engage and ask questions without fear of online snark or retaliation, they began to wonder why the City had not done this earlier. During this time, DFP created the Downtown Booster Squad, calling together representatives from 50 hospitality, tourism and cultural organizations to share resources and information. When it came time for the vote on Fulton, the I Believe Campaign had amassed such a diverse following that over 400 people showed up to City Hall in support of the legislation to reinstate traffic. People from all over the city wrote letters and signed petitions asking City Council to help the entire city by making downtown a priority. In the end, City Council voted 5-2 in support of Fulton Street. The real power of the I Believe campaign is how sustainable it has been since the vote. After that night, the Fresno Citizens for a Strong Economy disbanded, DFP and the Mayor got to work on next steps and the I Believe campaign was left unattended. But local businesses kept the I Believe signs in their windows, local artists began using the logo in their artwork, and sports teams included it on their jerseys. Standing together as a community was empowering and Fresnans wanted more.

More than $2 billion of new investment is under construction and planned for the heart of Atlanta. To capitalize on Downtown’s unprecedented momentum, Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) launched a comprehensive marketing campaign “Be Downtown” that has guided the organization’s communication strategies and tactics over the past year and will continue to be the framework for organizational marketing efforts through 2016. The Be Downtown campaign is characterized by its signature “Point” icon, recognizable color scheme, and unique hashtag. Over the past year, CAP worked to increase awareness of Downtown Atlanta’s livability, foster a sense of civic pride among Atlanta residents and visitors, and engage the Downtown community and the broader public in the campaign.

The Capitol Riverfront marketing video is one tool in a larger marketing/PR/branding campaign that reflects the dynamic energy of this new downtown along the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Having built a solid foundation for growth in the neighborhood, the BID began production for this marketing video in fall 2015.The 2.5-minute video depicts “what the Capitol Riverfront looks like” by highlighting the attractive amenities of this premier waterfront destination. The Capitol Riverfront marketing video highlights the exciting growth and development of the neighborhood while telling a story of daily life in this mixed-use community. The upbeat music and active scenes of the video convey not only a neighborhood, but a lifestyle from sunrise to sunset. The creative multi-axis motion time-lapse photography sequences were an innovative and compelling way to capture the neighborhood’s vibrancy. The use of super graphics incorporated into the footage was a more compelling and visually stimulating way to supply information to the viewer than the use of a voice-over narrator. By using lively music, highly animated time-lapse sequences, and colorful graphics, all senses and attention of the viewer are drawn to the video and the story that is being told. Development marketing teams have utilized the video to add value to potential tenant presentations, and stakeholders play the video in Capitol Riverfront building lobbies. Residential developers have commented that the video is a valuable tool in the leasing of apartment units, as it effectively captures the vibrancy, assets and quality of life in the neighborhood.

GIVE RESPONSIBLY was borne as a call to action to alleviate an almost impossible situation. Against a dire lack of services, the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) – an area of just over a mile square – has a community of around 600 permanent and transient street people. In addition, 98% of the area shelter beds (only 200 total) are permanently occupied. Each day, the CCID’s team of four permanent social development staff can see up to 50 clients (as they refer to the members of their homeless and destitute communities). GIVE RESPONSIBILY was developed by the CCID to make the public aware of the challenges faced not only by social workers, but by the very real need to support six primary NGO (non-governmental organization) service providers. When GIVE RESPONSIBLY was conceptualised in 2008, the CCID’s approach to the messaging was to supply information to the public on its primary NGOs. This was done in-house in the form of a double-sided brochure. The message was simple and in line with universal thinking: a hand up would always be better than a hand-out. The CCID coined its own call to action to echo this, and GIVE RESPONSIBLY was launched. To drive measurable action, by 2010 the CCID upscaled the campaign using a team of external communication and design experts who expanded the messaging to include real-life stories. An interactive strategy enabled the public to engage with three sketched characters representing the concepts of Dreams, Success and Dignity. A district-wide activation was implemented with paste-ups across town, plus an interactive website, regular brochure distributions, media outreach, and a text messaging/SMS tool that allowed the public to make donations to the partner NGOs. From the onset, the CCID has treated GIVE RESPONSIBLY as an open source campaign to be taken up by organisations and areas beyond the district’s boundaries, and has made all its materials and messaging available without charge. As the call to action has grown, it has also increasingly attracted the support of private companies who want to be more activity involved with the plight of the area’s homeless. While the SMS number has, to date, raised close to R100 000 (nearly $7,000 USD), the real value has come in the millions of rands of goods and services that are now being donated each year, as well as the extensive media coverage that the GIVE RESPONSIBLY messaging now generates.

In the fall of 2014, the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Council, the Wichita Community Foundation (WCF), and the Wichita Downtown Development Corporation (WDDC) partnered to present the Fuel the Fire Speaker Series to the Wichita, Kansas, community. The speaker series consisted of three presentations from national speakers. The intent was to engage the community in discussions about national trends on the topics of talent, opportunity, and place to competitively position Wichita for the future in a creative, innovative approach. This was all done in order to create the spark that the Wichita community needs to position itself for the future. The Fuel the Fire Speaker Series brought three distinct speakers to discuss the national trends affecting Wichita, and ways the city could remain competitive through change. The speaker series deliberately put Wichitans in the middle of tough conversations and brought together the business, philanthropic, and economic development sectors of the community in conjunction with the general public.

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