Edition 56

The weather is picking up, DST is kicking our asses and spring fever is starting to set in. It’s an exciting time of year as we reemerge from winter’s wasteland, and prepare for warm weather activations, FY25 planning and the monumental tasks of engineering revitalized districts four years after the fact. While the landscape is still shifting, and we’re seeing even more trends that started before the pandemic continue to shake out in weird, wonderful and unexpected ways, we have to focus on the tasks at hand right now. To help inform your strategy, amp your placemaking game and drive more foot traffic to your district, we’ve got some chonky reads, and quick-hitting tidbits in this edition of our Bulletin. Meet Breänna Clapp who develops jaw-dropping “wow moments” with districts like yours, and Mike Berne who’s breaking down that office dweller spend data (that doesn’t pass the sniff test) and demystifying the secret sauce to modern retailing for districts, to the mayor of Miami Beach, who just wants you to STAY AWAY! You’ll also be able to determine if you and your neighbors are empirically stressed out, and we’ve got nine spicy podcasts for the urbanophile in you. It’s all here in this 56th edition of the Bright Brothers Bulletin.

✌💗☮,

– Your Bright Brothers Team
David Romako / Josh Yeager /  Brandi Walsh

We ❤ good placemaking, and it’s even better when it meets strategic objectives and provides quantifiable impacts. We recently sat down with Breänna Clapp, Account Executive from A3 Visual to discuss how their company partners with downtowns, districts and DMOs on exciting and impactful placemaking and destination marketing campaigns. As a strategic and creative advisory partner with 53 years in business, A3 has a proven track record, and a dynamic and encompassing suite of offerings to “transform ordinary moments into extraordinary memories anywhere, anytime,” — and we love that!  We came to know A3 Visual through our joint work with the Downtown San Francisco Partnership on their Let’s Glow SF activations. As the country’s largest holiday projection event the past three years running, each December the Partnership has partnered with A3 to put their district on the map, support their ratepayers and constituents, counter negative media narratives, and ultimately provide solid, quantifiable economic impact for their stakeholders. And the impacts are nothing to sneeze at. Each year the Partnership’s metrics and impacts continue to grow with Let’s Glow, and December 2023 served up the BEST results to date with $8 million in economic impact for the district’s ratepayers in 10 days! So what’s it like to work with A3 Visual? Breänna explained to us that A3 Visual is in the business of “wow moments” and that got our attention. Bree specifically works with clients on designing and developing immersive experiences like projection mapping, extended reality, AR, interactivity, LED and audio engineering, and always with the client’s goals in mind. These aren’t your “simple, light, quick” types of programming like adding Adirondack chairs, giant Jenga pieces or a mural to an unactivated alley. A3 pulls out the big punches on large scale initiatives that pack a punch. And their work is scalable. They can activate one building or space, or literally illuminate an entire district or city. As you’d expect, there’s a months-long lead time in planning and developing larger scale initiatives of this nature, however A3’s differentiator is that they’re a one-stop shop — as both a tech house and a content creative agency, all in one. And the creative is all important with any kind of placemaking undertakings, (where we see some clients struggle). But problem solved. A3 works with a roster of globally-renowned artists like Yann Nguema, and ofc local artists, creatives and designers to bring that local flavor (and community support) home. In addition to their vast experience in immersive design and placemaking, we’d like to note that A3 also has a formula for fundraising events that any foundation should consider. We asked Bree about her favorite projects to date, (outside of Let’s Glow), and while it was hard to decide (because they do so much cool stuff), Bree shared a few of her personal faves, including a 10-night public art initiative to promote Napa’s tourism economy with the Napa Lighted Art Festival, a Visit Missouri destination marketing campaign that transformed NYC’s iconic Grand Central Station for three days with an immersive dome-projection experience featuring 360-degree footage of Missouri attractions, complemented with Missouri wine pairings, local MO musicians and more for tens of thousands of visitors, plus this kick-ass Roblox XR Stage at last year’s VidCon in Anaheim. If you need any more reason to check out A3 Visual, might we suggest this year’s New Year’s Eve celebration in Los Angeles that drew 35,000 attendees to ring in the new year in style, as well as this inventive heat mapping installation in San Francisco’s Civic Center that utilized moving “blobs” to circulate attendees through the space. As a one-stop shop with the experience, acumen and chops to knock your placemaking and tourism initiatives outta the park, if you want to learn more, feel free to hit up Bree and discuss how A3 Visual can bring your organization’s placemaking into the 21st century — with undeniable, quantifiable impacts to boot!

Photo by A3 Visual

Are you feeling the pressure? Do you live in one of the most stressed out states? More than a quarter of us are so stressed out we can’t function!  And that’s not a good place to be. So if you’re wondering if your fellow states people are feeling the pinch as well, check out the results of this recent survey to see if your state made the list. Spoiler alert, you can skip this link if you live in California or NY. Now breathe in, count to ten and exhale slowly. 

Photo by Leighann Blackwood on Unsplash
 

… that the average urban office worker spends roughly $8,600 per year on food, drink, goods and services within the immediate vicinity of their building, including $1,350 in clothing, shoes, jewelry and department stores? These oft-cited stats are part of the narrative around demanding that employees return to office, however the picture isn’t that simple. It’s much more complex, and our favorite retail analyst Mike Berne points out in his latest series that the data doesn’t pass the sniff test. We’ve long been suspect of putting all your recovery eggs in one basket with corporations and cities demanding employees come back into the office full time. The genie is out of the bottle and it’s not going back. We’ve been saying this for four years now, and pegging your district’s revitalization on one, singular audience does not add up. Berne adeptly indicates how the numbers are skewed, while also digging into his vast acumen with people and retail, Mike shows us the consumer realities of where those spends are taking place, as well as mapping out some modeling behind retail’s continued shift from dated 20th century models and leaning into progressive, modern brands that utilize entirely different strategies for success in the 21st century. As place management districts, we need to modernize our approach as well. Digging deeper into the topic of RTO/RTW, we stan Joy Huerta’s commentary on Linkedin with regard to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s recent mandate requiring non-exempts to return to city hall. Joy hits the nail on the head, and from our perspective, we say both “read the room” (genie/bottle much?) and “read the comments” on Joy’s post. In particular we side with comments around women in leadership roles and the associated challenges of pure office work, wasting X number of hours a day commuting; ruining the environment while grinding so much you have no time to go to the gym or do right by yourself first. “Please secure your own oxygen mask first, before assisting others,”. Rather than finger wagging at former cubicle dwellers in an ill-informed attempt to revitalize your district, lean into your transformation. We are reminded of a quote by the lauded thought leader, architect, futurist and systems theorist Buckminster Fuller, when he said, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reimagine your district as a 24/7 destination with verdant, walkable streets, a tantalizing mix of amenities, vibrant nightlife, and day-parted placemaking activations. We say, don’t shame workers. Rather, look inward and ask “what can we do to make people want to come, dwell and spend some dollars in our district?”. The fact is that we’re never going to see an urban scenario again, the likes of which Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin rule the roost from ‘9 to 5’ daily, and just spend, spend, spend all day long in your downtown. Stop looking at office workers as a meal ticket date, and consider getting your hair and nails did before “your date.” The more attractive the offering, the more qualified suitors you will find knocking on your day. We’d love to hear your take, and know what you’re doing to get ready for your date.

Photo by Johnny Cohen on Unsplash

Do you love podcasts? For many, podcasts are an easily digestible way of consuming thoughts, inspo and ideation from the comfort of their earbuds, and we loved this little list of nine city-focused podcasts for place management practitioners, as curated by the fine folks over at Bloomberg SPARK. Give a listen and let us know if your fave urban-oriented podcast deserves to be included!

Photo by Christina Morillo

Too much of a good thing, keeping your house clean, or a pivot to rich NIMBYs? This year’s “Miami Beach is Breaking Up with Spring Break” campaign is fascinating for several reasons. While many traditional spring break destination hot spots around the States are taking a pointedly different stance this year (including curfews, bag checks and DUI checkpoints) in an attempt to manage the massive overswell of unruly spring breakers that flood into their municipalities — Miami Beach is simply saying “Do not come here,”.  Admittedly, the scads of tightly-wound college students sowing their wild oats after midterms is ritual for many. However in recent years, (another example of a pre-pandemic trend that was amplified over the past four years), many long-established spring break locales have struggled to manage excessively large gatherings, public drunkenness, violence and scores of sophomoric scofflaws associated with the annual rite of passage. While most spring break destinations enact special enforcement during the wild and wooly weeks in March, Miami Beach is putting its foot down. Recent years have seen stampedes, shootings and the expected excessive consumption associated with spring break — and that has residents and businesses on edge. But it’s also an opportunity for many businesses to haul in the revenues from spring breakers. Is Miami Beach simply facing too much of a good thing, with too many tourists? Are they simply sending a message that non-compliance with common sense won’t be tolerated? Or is it that Miami Beach has swelled in recent years with a sizable increase of affluent elite who don’t want the mess on their doorsteps? It probably depends on which side of the card you’re playing. While the city’s current mayor Steven Meiner was elected partially on a spring break reform pillar, the shocking tactics to be deployed this year (including a 6pm beach curfew, bag checks, DUI checkpoints, doubled tow fines of over $500 plus a $30 admin fee, and the closure of city parking garages) combined with a strongly worded $250K anti-tourism campaign all speak pretty strongly to the fact that the city doesn’t want you there. Additionally, the governor is sending in state police troops to assist with enforcement. Although some business owners say they’ve been locked out of the conversation. “It does not feel like we’re ever in this together,” remarked cocktail bar proprietor Dan Binkiewicz, who asserts that city officials have furthered a hostile rapport with small businesses regarding spring break initiatives, and further noted that, “it did not feel like there’s a place for small business owners,”. What’s your take?

Photo by Thiago Miranda

“We’re in the business of ‘wow moments’,” explains A3 Visual’s immersive account executive Breänna Clapp.