Mixing Public Assembly Facilities with Live, Work, Play Communities

 

The traditional method of building a public assembly facility is a simple one, “Build it and they will come-about 30 years later maybe. Take the case of the Georgia World Congress Center built in 1976. Now 31 years later it is a true destination with Phillips Arena, Centennial Park, The Georgia Aquarium, The World of Coca Cola, lots of new hotels, condominiums plus retail and restaurants. It has become a city within a city. Let’s talk neighborhoods. We have not built a traditional city in this country in almost a hundred years. Look at the examples of the wildly successful communities of Celebration Station and the Villages both in Florida. They built neighborhoods retail, services, restaurants, entertainment and other amenities all at the same time. Starting to get the picture? Don’t just build a singular economic generator and expect it to become a destination overnight.

 

In the 60’s when people began to migrate to the suburbs they first built rooftops, retail malls followed and then office buildings and a new kind of “Edge City” was born. In the 90’s “New Urbanism” caught fire and people moved back into the cities but these projects built all the components at one time to create another new city called “Live, Work, Play” or “Lifestyle Centers.”

 

The interesting thing is that public assembly facilities and communities share a very strong commonality they both need amenities. First class communities attract first class restaurants, retail, entertainment and cultural attractions. The size and number of these amenities can be greatly enhanced by the enhanced traffic a public assembly facility generates while adding to the quality of life.

 

Destination building is critical to cities of all sizes and increasingly fiercely competitive. Larger cities must compete with each other and continually keep refreshing and expanding their product. Medium size and smaller communities have a new competitor in that the “Edge Cities” in the large metropolitan areas are offering unique alternatives for the clients with large city amenities. A great example is Atlanta; which has three great convention centers in the Galleria, Gwinnett and Georgia International which are strongly competing with the medium and smaller markets by offering a better experience than those markets have traditionally provided. Additionally, well-planned one-stop-shop facilities are producing profitable operating budgets.

 

The key to the future for all communities is to approach new facilities and enhance older ones by creating more than just another location to vacation or meet. It is to broaden the thinking to creating a destination both locally and from out of town, while improving the quality of life. To sell a destination you have to actually have a product that creates an experience. Community pride is a wonderful thing but it sometimes gets in the way of building a destination and enhancing a community’s ability to compete. You can imagine that you have a destination and lots of things local people are proud of but when you have to compete with Orlando, Las Vegas or New York, where will people choose to go?

Destination Marketing is as important as building a destination. Once you have built a destination it is vital that you choose the right Branding mechanism. The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.

Therefore it makes sense to understand that branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, but it is about getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem.

 

The objectives that a good brand will achieve include:

•    Deliver the message clearly

•    Confirms your credibility

•    Connects your target prospects emotionally

•    Motivates the buyer

•    Concrete User Loyalty

 

“To succeed in branding you must understand the needs and wants of your customers and prospects. “A brand is the most valuable real-estate in the world, a corner of the consumer’s mind.”