Sounds of Summer, Shared Stories, and E-scooters, Oh My! 🌞 🔊

As the summer heat bears down, our cities and population centers are bursting again with the sounds of life, people, parties, traffic and tourists. Though it’s an uneven reopening and reckoning, as many are grappling with workforce shortages, supply chain disruptions and gasoline prices. We’re also seeing “signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs” of inflation escalating across numerous indices. Along with the weirdness there are bright spots to behold, including new technologies and platforms for marketers, insights into placemaking strategies, and scooters driving success. Read on for our thirty-second edition, and let us know if something tickles your fancy.

– Your Bright Brothers Team

Our April Trends Report broached  “All Things Audio”, and now Facebook (the “Borg of the Internet” for you ST:TNG fans), has rolled out their own Live Audio Rooms to compete with the likes of Clubhouse, Spotify and Twitter, as well as a podcasting feature. And even more functionality is expected in the coming weeks. Are you using it? What do you think of these expansions into familiar waters? Will you be assimilated? Zuck says #resistanceisfutile

Photo credit: Chase Chappell, Unsplash

We’re really into this read “Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character,” by Charles R. Wolfe with Tigran Haas that was partially published on NextCity on July 5^th.  In particular, this excerpt resonates with us, “I advocate for methods that favor individual input, including memories, stories, observations, art, and sense-based contributions,” – as it evokes lessons and suggestions we recently shared as well. In our last edition, we showed you that Canadian-based placemaker Jay Pitter recommends community walks and “collecting community stories”. A month ago we shared how “Queering the Map” includes user-generated stories pinned with LGBTQ narratives. Both of these are essential tools for successful placemakers. Placemaking isn’t about painting over the past with a fancy new mural, or installing Adirondack chairs and oversized Jenga blocks in the middle of the night to create a sense of place. It’s about the people, stories, history and heritage that contribute to making great places exceptional and alluring. You want yours to be both.

Photo credit: Tom Barrett, Unsplash

…that your first TikTok post can reach millions? Check out this roundup of social media strategies from Local First Arizona, that features none other than Bright Brother’s Strategy Group’s very own co-founder, David Romako. While the content in the article is geared towards independent businesses, the tips, tricks and advice are assuredly essential for your merchants and ratepayers. And we know of a few destination marketing organizations that are slaying it with TikTok today, so please heed the wisdom of professionals and read all eight super savvy suggestions for success.

Photo credit: Solen Feyissa, Unsplash

According to recent data published by Yelp, diners are back in a big way, and already exceeding 2019 numbers. The pent up desire to get out, eat out and return to a sense of normalcy are driving dining demand in droves. Meanwhile the hospitality industry is still reeling from a dearth of employees who don’t want to return to a thankless workplace. Some quick bites include nearly 7,000 new restaurants opening in May 2021, abnormally astounding spikes in seated diners in cities like Honolulu (up 853%), Las Vegas (up 589%), and Denver (up 320%). Outliers include New York state, for example, where numbers are still down 20% less than May 2019. Eat up the data with some visually delicious charts, graphs, maps and more here on Yelp.

Photo credit: Dan Gold, Unsplash

We’ve dissected the data from a recent study on e-scooters and discovered some fast-moving insights. Most interesting is that visitors using the rented transportation lead to several positive points, including increased spending. According to a research team at Australia’s Griffith University’s Cities Research Institute and Neuron Mobility, that analyzed the usage patterns of visitors versus locals in Townsville found that the two-wheeling tourists travelled farther and more extensively, made more trips and spent more in the local economy. While many cities originally had concerns about e-scooter rentals creating headaches locally, this latest data seemingly indicates attributes that outweigh initial concerns and make the case for embracing this lighter mix of mobility for a multitude of reasons.

Photo credit: Christina Spinnen, Unsplash