Hangouts, Eats, Experiences– what shapes a great place-brand?

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The Unique Mix of Temescal Alley.

What draws you somewhere? What makes that place special? What suddenly turns an ordinary location into a hot, buzzing focus of activity? Creating a brand for downtown, a neighborhood shopping area or urban center is not just about creating a cool name or logo, it’s much more nuanced than that. It’s about activating the layers of unique activities that draw people in and engage them.

It’s about creating and fostering a place that isn’t every day, by tapping into what’s unique in the community both in character and experience. Focusing on some simple principles you can shape locations and brands that attract people and connect with them.

Understanding What Makes a Place Unique

The Temescal neighborhood along Telegraph in Oakland, California had seen better days in the late 1990s. Most of the storefronts were empty or closed. The hardware store was gone and there was only one ancient reminder of its Italian past, the Genova Deli. Now it’s one of the hottest neighborhood districts in Oakland with bars, craft beer taprooms, coffee shops, and numerous restaurants, not to mention the unique walkable Temescal Alley. This place has completely come back to life. What the heck happened here? Pioneers who brought in new ideas with a receptive neighborhood and supportive city government started attracting the key ingredient: people. From the adventurous Bakesale Betty’s to Pizzaiolo, these businesses began a transformation of the Temescal into a busy, thriving place.

How to Create a There, There

Establishing what makes a place unique is harnessing a range of assets that build on each other and create an identity and the story around it. You can help make this happen by focusing on Hangouts, Eats, Experiences, and Connections. Each of these does something special to connect people to places.

 

First, there’s a small art gallery in a storefront (experiences), then a coffee house (hangout) next door, then a taproom down the street (hangout), and now that awesome taco truck shows up three times a week (eats) next to the barbershop that just opened (experiences). This mix feeds on itself and builds multiple reasons to connect and be there. Crafting this and connecting people to layers of experiences is what shapes a place.

Know Who You Want to Attract

Creating personas, defining who the people are that you know you can attract is essential. Understanding this means you know what types of businesses and activities you can invite in. Remember, it’s the mix that counts. It also defines the voice you have with your audience and what they can expect. Is it more locals or more outside visitors? This all builds your brand story.

Map Out and Connect Experiences and History

Establishing what makes a place unique is essential in creating an identity and story around it: the history, the local food, the local scenery, etc. tangible things, from movies to live theatre, galleries, taprooms to coffee houses and yoga studios… how do they connect? How do you shape a series of experiences for different visitors? How do you shape the story?  This will give you insight into what to connect with. In working with the downtown of Vacaville we discovered some amazing assets they had: the walkability, the history of the downtown and great gathering spaces.

 

Create Everyday Activation

The most important thing is building a strategy for everyday experiences that draw people to the community. It can as simple as food trucks on Tuesday, creating parklets for outdoor seating near cafes, simple outdoor music experiences. These all invite people in and let them know who you are. It’s what says, come here and hang out. Once people hang out they find more and the place comes to life.

It’s essential that you build strong partnerships with businesses throughout the downtown. They all can “play together” in creating community experiences for visitors whether they are local or regional folks. Tying together a series of things gives people a great way to be part of a place and leave with a sense of community.

 

Shape the Authentic Brand Story

All this adds up to one thing: building an authentic brand story that invites visitors in. This means shaping the history, the culture, and the existing experiences into something that’s authentic, real and inviting to visitors and locals. People want to have a sense of what a place is and the brand tells that story. For example, Vacaville has great agricultural connections, a scenic location, and historic roots. How do you turn this into a story? Bringing this all together can create a unique experience for a unique place brand wherever it is.

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