North Minneapolis is the one part of the city that has yet to create a brand for itself. There is no "Eat Street", no "North Loop", no "Uptown", or "Lynn Lake". How would you brand this beleaguered part of the city? Aside from the "Murderapolis" monickers, what can advertising creatives do to help change the image of North Minneapolis?
What are some positives of this community that can be capitalized upon? Diversity, community involvement, architecture, history, green space etc.
What are identifiable landmarks in this community? Theo Wirth Park, Victory Parkway, Broadway Ave., The Mississippi etc.
What are the issues that North MPLS faces? Violence, poverty, foreclosure, lack of business development, drugs etc.
What type of executions would provide the most media exposure on a limited or pro-bono budget?
Monday, June 11, 2007
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9 comments:
Unless your view of what constitutes a brand is limited to something with a freshly-brushed and combed appeal, I'm inclined to believe that N. Mpls. has a brand already; it's the place with all the violent crime, poverty, and no grocery stores. The question, then, should be how you re-brand a place like this. Luckily I don't have to figure that out. I'll just sit at my desk downloading music and wait for the account side to drop a brief on my desk.
The mission is to re-brand. Other communities under-fire (pun intended) have done similar re-branding efforts to excellent results. Take "Eat Street" for an example. This area was once a high crime/poverty location in South MPLS. By capitalizing on the diverse ethnic cuisine, and geographical location to Downtown/Uptown, the area's reputation has flourished. Not only attracting residents, but businesses in the process.
The ultimate question is what attraction does North MPLS have to capitalize on? Will it be the new Twins baseball stadium? Cheap architectural era housing? Geographical location?
I have found it to be a somewhat confusing area late at night especially with the night walkers. There's nothing worse than saying " Yes I would like a date young lady" only to find out she's on break. Maybe they should wear hats with little lights on them that can be turned on and off to sort out who's actually on the clock and who's not. Oh, and the drug dealers could be a little nicer.
I think an underutilized feature to the Northside would be the Lowry bridge and its large stinky trashpiles on the banks of the Mighty Mississip.
We could get some installation artists to take those large piles of scrap metal and make them into sculptures to be placed around the Northside.
Perhaps if we re-branded a section as The Beltway. Everyone likes a nice Beltway...
This would be a great assignment to give to a class because it's a real challenge. It's tough because for the most part, the perception of the Northside is close to the reality of it. My wife and I lived in Near North for about a year, and about a dozen people, mostly young males, were shot dead within a 1/4 mile radius of our house.
In order to change people's perception of North Mpls., you'd have to improve some of the reality first. First, a Trade campaign aimed at businesses would be crucial. Unemployment is high and rents are low on the Northside, so the Trade campaign could try to get businesses to relocate or set up shop there.
Until there are some unique reasons for consumers to venture into North, a consumer campaign would be pointless. There are some nice places to visit in North, but most of them are free: Victory Memorial Drive, Theo Wirth Park, the new Webber library, etc.
Ultimately, this is more of a Civic Planning than an image campaign. The neighborhood has to give people who don't live in the Northside good reasons to go there and spend their money on unique goods and services that they can't get in Eagan or Woodbury.
There's been talk of Glenwood Ave becoming a "Design Corridor" because of International Market Sqaure and a men's designer clothing store down the street. George and Bev Roberts envision an artists community along Plymouth near Penn. Lowry Ave has been repaved and renovated. Now if unique Hip-Hop clothing and music stores could open up, if new ethnic restaurants could thrive, then you'd have something to sell.
Until then, your best bet might be to dare teens and young adult hipsters to "cross the tracks" to venture into North for specific events, stores or restaurants. If you're looking for a slogan, I don't have one. The students in your class will have to come up with that!
Dan, you're right on the money. I also believe a little spit-shine could potentially sway trade. Beautify the streets, and business might be more apt to "set up shop". Since the Lowry ave. reconstruction I've noticed far less criminal activity. Lowry was up until last year a major strip for prostitution and drug dealing, but the reconstruction has seemingly curbed some of that.
I think one positive commodity on the Northside is affordable "era" architecture. Now if you could only convince potential buyers that this is area worth restoring...
A big task fit for a Superbeast.
I agree wih the fact that North could use some polishing. That being said, I think that positive press is lots of times a self-fulfilling prophecy. A change in perception can speed up real change. Was Eat Street cleaned up and then named or vice versa?
Todd, I believe it was semi-cleaned up, but still pretty funky by the time the "Eat Street" monicker was created. When I first moved back here in 2000 it was still pretty funkdafied.
A story about the promotion of the Bronx, from the The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/nyregion/13bronx.html?ref=nyregion
Parallels galore!
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