{"id":245387,"date":"2012-09-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-14T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/marketing-south-park\/"},"modified":"2012-09-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-14T07:00:00","slug":"marketing-south-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/marketing-south-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing South Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Business group takes next steps in branding unique, walk-able neighborhood<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por David Schwab | Reportero SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Marketing
Cafe Madeleine is a South Park gathering place. (Photo by Dave Schwab)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The South Park Business Group is currently finding itself, and part of that self-discovery is determining just the right brand to help market the many merchants in the neighborhood. It\u2019s the next logical step in the development of the business organization, which was formed in 2004 and was incorporated in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were only a few businesses about eight years ago in South Park, and they got together and started putting on walkabouts and trying to draw attention [to the area],\u201d said SPBG Marketing Director Marsha Smelkinson. The group\u2019s quarterly Walkabout open houses have been a success, with the next one scheduled for Oct. 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last several years, that process has continued, meaning more businesses opening up, more customers and visitors coming, more attention brought to the community and more people joining this effort to spread the word,\u201d Smelkinson said.<\/p>\n

Delivering the singular message about what South Park\u2019s 70-plus small businesses have to offer is what branding is about.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at a point in the road where it\u2019s time to get the word out more,\u201d said Maureen Ceccarelli, owner of 25-year-old Studio Maureen & The Next Door Gallery. Located at 2963 Beech St., Ceccarelli\u2019s store is one of the oldest businesses in South Park, a pocket community at the Southeast corner of Balboa Park between Golden Hill and North Park.<\/p>\n

A \u201chidden gem,\u201d is how Ceccarelli said she characterizes the South Park business community\u2019s main areas, which extend along Beech Street between 28th and 30th streets; on 30th Street between Beech and Laurel streets; and on Juniper Street between Fern and 31st streets.<\/p>\n

Ceccarelli said she hopes SPBG\u2019s ongoing branding efforts will clue in those people unfamiliar with the community on the fact that South Park is \u201csmall enough to navigate and get a feel for, just by walking a couple of blocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Marketing
Grant's Marketplace is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary. (Photo by Dave Schwab)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

South Park\u2019s character and walkability are what make it unique \u2013 and neighborly \u2013 said Jeniffer Thompson, co-owner of Culinary Creative and Chad Thompson Photography at 3011 Beech St.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not commercial,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a community of people that all know each other. We\u2019re talking small businesses all in it together, living and working and biking in our own neighborhood. It has a feeling that you don\u2019t really get anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Branding is a challenging undertaking in South Park, partly because of the community\u2019s unique character, said Christy Jaynes, owner of Progress South Park, a home and gift store located at 2225 30th St. Jaynes also chairs the SPBG committee spearheading the marketing effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Park is difficult to define because it is so richly diverse,\u201d Jaynes said. \u201cIt is important, as a business group, for us to be able to describe South Park to those who haven\u2019t yet visited in a clear, concise way. That\u2019s what branding does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaynes said the branding effort currently underway is designed to \u201ccapture the essence of South Park\u201d and \u201cconvey the experience that awaits visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the group\u2019s branding project progresses, Jaynes said South Park merchants are keeping their roots in mind. \u201cWe love our neighborhood and know whoever comes to visit our businesses will too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The branding effort, which began approximately a year ago, is presently in the brainstorming stage with SPBG members kicking around ideas for marketing ideas to capture the spirit and flavor of South Park and its businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to let everybody else out there know is that we are a very dynamic group,\u201d said Matt Thomas, co-owner of Alchemy Restaurant at 1503 30th St. \u201cBranding will be how we express that: what we\u2019re doing [and] who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is also important to note, Thompson said, that branding offers South Park\u2019s mom-and-pop business community an opportunity to not only establish its own distinctive identity, but to also distinguish itself from nearby business districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHillcrest is really big. You get lost there,\u201d she said by comparison. \u201cHere you say, \u2018OK, I\u2019m going to have coffee at Grant\u2019s Marketplace in the morning and work my way up [the street], and I can shop local and meet new people, and pretty much do everything I need to do in an eight-block radius.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas said the branding effort will culminate in a slogan incorporating \u201ca tag line\u201d that would be the best general description of what the area has to offer San Diego. Given the area\u2019s rich history \u2013 particularly its attractive architecture \u2013 Ceccarelli said she believes history has to figure into the brand somehow.<\/p>\n

Whatever South Park\u2019s marketing brand is ultimately determined to be, Ceccarelli said SPBG, as a business micro-district within the city of San Diego, will be able to use that as leverage in applying for future city grant money.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the grants is based on tourist dollars,\u201d she said. \u201cThey want to see what we\u2019re doing to make tourists come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smelkinson said South Park\u2019s branding effort is a lot of work, but is well worth the time because the community is so deserving. \u201cBoth out-of-town visitors and residents of other San Diego communities can find something that they [will] enjoy in South Park,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For more information on South Park Business Group, visit southparkscene.com or call 619-200-4269.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Business group takes next steps in branding unique, walk-able neighborhood By Dave Schwab | SDUN Reporter The South Park Business Group is currently finding itself, and part of that self-discovery is determining just the right brand to help market the many merchants in the neighborhood. It\u2019s the next logical step in the development of the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":245388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Marketing South Park","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}