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

If you had the good fortune to attend last week’s breakout session at IDA in Vancouver, you would have heard from our co-founder David Romako, along with industry luminary Mike Berne and South Granville BIA’s executive director Ivy Haisell, who collectively explored the role of “third places” in today’s downtowns. Coined in the 1980s by prescient urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg, third places are “informal public gathering places for a functioning civil society, democracy, and civic engagement,” that are neither home nor work. And they are vital to a community’s strength and civic fabric. Michael Berne recently published a fascinating article on Linkedin that investigates threats, as well as some civic solutions to third places from across the globe — and Mike posits potential solutions as to how downtowns, districts and cities can be the stewards of such vital community assets. Give it a read and give us feedback if you caught the group’s session in Vancouver last week!

Photo credit:  No Revisions, Unsplash

We’ve seen plenty of downtowns and DMOs utilize some form of bingo cards or passports to support local businesses, district gift card sales and holiday shop-around promotions, but we literally shrieked when we saw this banger from Downtown Phoenix, Inc. celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. With its proximity to Mexico and a sizable Latine population, we have to give props to DTPHX for leaning into local culture and adapting a vetted tactic with their “Lotería” promotion. The cards or “tablas” celebrate a revered game of chance that nearly every school kid loves, with colorful depictions that match local Hispanic businesses and cultural points of pride. The district worked with a community non-profit and 17 local artists to develop the iconic game pieces, which scores big points in our book. The tablas are free and offer a fun way to get out and about, and honor and preserve wonderfully local cultural assets!  ¡Bien hecho!, we say!

Photo credit: Downtown Phoenix, Inc.

…that 61% of  Gen Z and Millenials prefer short form video, under 1 minute long? Building a brand for today and tomorrow, it’s impossible to ignore the nearly 69 million Americans considered to be Gen Z. We’ve been talking about their attitudes, behaviors and opinions from a marketing perspective for years now, and in Bright Brother’s truest mandate of being “people-first”, it’s imperative to understand what the next generation needs and wants from brand. Your district is a brand that demands longevity, so understanding everything you can about the nearly 21% of our population that’s coming up today means getting into the mindset and expectations of Gen Z. To that end, Hootsuite has collated a plethora of Gen Z stats, social technographics and online shopping facts that you’ll want to explore. According to the research, “60% think digital first impressions are more important than in person ones” and that “40% of Gen Z use TikTok for search instead of Google”.  You’re welcome.

Photo credit: Eliott Reyna, Unsplash

“Hey, computer…what is the sound of all human knowledge?” That’s a big ask with an even bigger answer, and if you think you know the proper response — propose it! We’ve been following this continued trend of “all things audio” for a few years now, and we as head into the metaverse, big brands are banking on a signature sound for their logos. With a 2021 Trends Report covering audio, and newsletters covering celebrity CMOs (Chief Music Officers), podcasts for people who love cities, and AdAges’s recommendations for connecting with your market through audio, the topic continues to have legs. Now the WikiMedia foundation is crowdsourcing the answer to “what is the sound of all human knowledge” and we find this challenge particularly fascinating, plus submissions are open until 10 October, 2022. If you think you can encapsulate that sound into an auditory logo, give them your best!

Photo credit:  Soundlogo.wikimeida

Since the dawn of recorded history, the “town square” or some form of it has dominated urban life as a collective gathering spot, and a vital link for many citizens. In the late 20th century, we saw many a downtown destroyed by confluent forces like white flight, civic disinvestment and the ubiquitous death knell of a WalMart being built on the outskirts of town that sealed the fate of many mom & pop and indie industries. As we mature into the 21st century, hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and numerous downtowns are looking to reinvent or recreate their beloved town squares in the hopes of igniting a downtown revolution and restoring the former glory of their fair city centers. Will it work? With myriad small town projects at blueprint stage, the expectations are high. And as we explored in Mike Berne’s article above, coveted third spaces are currently threatened by the likes of UCDs (utilitarian caffeine dispensers) — so how do we strike the right balance, to support and celebrate hometown pride in places like Russellville, KY, Xenia, OH and Clarkesville, GA? The town square may be the answer. 

Photo credit: Paresi Design Studio