In an effort to capitalize on the nationwide demand for urban housing, driven by the “Bookend Generations” of Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and Millennials (born after 1980), the Downtown Stockton Alliance implemented a comprehensive marketing and communication campaign to develop consumers and future residents within the younger, Millennial, demographic and lay the ground work for creation of a downtown Entertainment District.
Dubbed “Attracting the Young and the Restless”, the campaign featured three major components: launching a mySpace, to generate “buzz” and communicate visually that downtown was the place for young people to be; a complete redesign of the Alliance website, www.downtownstockton.org, with an updated palette, Flash video, interactive Events Calendar, Real Estate Guide and Business Directory, and a user-friendly Visitor’s portal; and finally, construction of custom information kiosks, located on all three local college campuses, to place transportation, event, internship, employment and volunteer information directly into the hands of the target demographic.
In one year, mySpace.com/downtownstockton has become the single largest referrer to the Alliance main website, posting over 300 visits and 40 new “friends” each month. The hip, innovative downtownstockton.com, while considered a “niche” website, is taking a lead on regional cross marketing and enjoys over 4,500 unique visitors each month, from as far away as Australia, Peru and The Netherlands. These are individual entries to the site, counted only once in a 24-hour period – as opposed to the less meaningful number of “hits”. The information kiosks have distributed over 12,000 pieces of information in less than six months, clearly demonstrating a strong interest in downtown opportunities by local students, who can now volunteer online.
The results of this campaign are significant with downtown event attendance up 100-300% since 2006, a host of fresh volunteers staffing Alliance events, new sponsorships and grants representing $140,000 in cash and in kind services, substantial unpaid regional publicity and a noticeable increase in restaurant business which will add 150 outdoor dining seats to the cinema plaza in 2008. The Young and Restless are on the way to downtown Stockton.