As the 2nd Century Project was conceived in November 2007 by Norman Block and Ray Covington, the world was a much different place.At the completion of the first phase in October 2008, we stood at the beginning of a global economic meltdown.As a result, your Research Team decided that while we had financial commitments for most of the $250,000 private goal of the planned $500,000 public/private 5-year promotion of Sanford/Broadway/Lee County to the Triangle and Greater Fayetteville community, given the circumstances, we felt that it was time to pull back and wait until the dust settled.That does not mean that the Research Team did not work or make progress in 2009, we just postponed the expenditures of funds that may not have had any positive effect.Now that the dust of the economic collapse has settled, we have some exciting initiatives to announce, but first we should review our progress to date.
Phase I Review
From December of 2007 until October of 2008, your LC2C Research Team worked hard to produce the following:
·The new “Well Centered” Branding campaign;
·A Market Analysis and Economic Development Action Plan;
·An Executive Summary of Phase I (see attached);
·A map of Lee County showing its schools and other points of interest (see attached);
·A map of Lee County showing its “Well Centered” Location next to the BRAC Investment Zone, the Triangle and the Triad (see attached); and,
·A website, www.secondcentury.org, that hosts previous visioning efforts and reports as well as the graphic information for local entities to deploy the “Well Centered” branding campaign.
This effort cost a little over $90,000, all raised privately, and many, many volunteer hours by your Research Team.We think the work product generated by Kathleen Rose of Rose and Associates Southeast and Ben Muldrow of ArnettMuldrow was very effective and has already begun to bear fruit as evidenced by the adoption of the “Well Centered” graphics by the City of Sanford.
2009 Review
With the enormous pressure on our private and public sources of funding and the uncertainty of the economic conditions, the Research Team decided to hold off on pushing forward with a full blown marketing campaign for 2009.The committee did meet several times to evaluate where the economy stood and what might be done and when.Initial efforts for several of the 2010 initiatives were explored and research was completed as to how best to execute these initiatives.The 2nd Century Research Team supported the July 2009 “State of Sanford” forum put on by Triangle Business Journal and many members were involved in the “1/4 Cent Sales Tax” effort that will result in bringing Lee County Senior High School into the 21st Century.In addition, the Research Team met with Temple Theatre personnel to help with their funding challenges in 2009 and individually supported Saving the Temple.
In December 2009, the Research Team met and decided that enough economic progress was being made that some initiatives could move forward in 2010.They felt a focus should be put on building momentum into 2012 when the BRAC relocations would take place, the southern section of the Oscar Keller Highway (421 By-pass) and the connection of I-540 to US 1 will be completed.These 3 events will provide a unique opportunity for Sanford/Broadway/Lee County to increase economic development activity.
Among the initiatives that are planned for 2010 are:
1.Community Vision Initiative$8,000.00
2.Website Coordination and Linkage$15,000.00
3.Education Brochure$14,500.00
4.BRAC related Advertising/Trade Show$18,500.00
5.Signature Communities Tour$5,000.00
6.Other potential opportunities and follow up$14,000.00
Total Spending$75,000.00
2010 Initiatives and Funding
All 5 of these initiatives are a direct result of LC2C Phase I.The Community Vision Initiative and Signature Communities Tour are 2 parts of Kathleen Rose’s 3-legged stool in her Strategies and Action Plan Introduction from the Executive Summary.The Website Coordination and Linkage comes from Kathleen’s initial presentation to the Research Team.She showed the various Logos and Websites for all of the public and non-profit enterprises in Sanford/Broadway/Lee County.While individually interesting the collective impression was not very effective.This initiative will help to increase the impact of the “Well Centered” theme.The Education Brochure will be a handout to help the Realty community and others have a standardized marketing piece to promote the good things about Lee County Schools including its STEM lab and the 1:1 Laptop initiative.Lastly, we think that the first area of marketing focus should be to get as many BRAC transferees to locate in Lee County as possible.A concentration of resources here will yield the best short term return on investment.
This will all take money.Collectively these investments will total $75,000 for 2010.We will need your financial support and will be contacting you to see how you can help.Here is some detail on each of these initiatives:
1. Community Vision Initiative
One of three major recommendations from Rose and Associates, this initiative has been undertaken by the Chamber. In late spring, the Chamber will host 50-60 community leaders for a one day visioning summit. A facilitator, contracted by the Chamber and 2nd Century, will lead the development of a long term vision; providing answers to the question: what kind of community do we want to be in fifteen to twenty years? The plan produced at this meeting will be used to direct smaller group meetings which will provide detailed strategies and follow-up.
Estimated Cost: $8,000
Completion Time: Summer 2010
Work product: research, design and compilation of community survey, employment of a facilitator, holding a luncheon meeting, writing a follow up report and publicizing outcomes in print and on line
Action needed in addition to funding: 2nd Century leaders should complete a survey, speak positively about the project, and encourage city and county elected leaders to participate in this one day event
2. Website coordination and linkage
Dana Atkins chairs a committee tasked with developing common design elements, easily identifiable links and operational synergy among the web sites of 2nd Century, all government entities, the Chamber, EDC and other community organizations like Sanford Board of Realtors. Incorporation of the Sanford logo design, centralization of future design changes and use of a common calendar are some of the decision points.
Estimated Cost: $15,000
Completion Time: Fall 2010
Work Product: specific design elements which can be used by individual web masters to bring a common theme to each site; a self-posting calendar which can be accessed by all participants; development of a visitor and tourism-friendly portion of the Chamber and EDC sites easily accessible from any of the other sites
Action needed in addition to funding: gathering and division of information to be housed on each site; eliminating duplicate information; meeting with each organization to create plan of attack; meeting with design professional/web developers to create standards.
3. Education Brochure
Norman Block, Sharon Spence and the Chamber staff have begun this project to produce a printable brochure available to the “front line sales force”. The brochure will include highlights of student and teacher successes, descriptions of unique programs which are competitive differentiators for our public schools; as well as information which interprets complicated data as AYP and ABC results. Preliminary results from a survey conducted with the Board of Realtors are attached.
Estimated Cost: $14,500
Completion time: Late spring 2010
Work Product: a glossy finish, professional, high quality brochure which describes our school system similar to a product brochure – telling the reader what
the product is, what it does, and how it works…describing functions, features and benefits. A limited number of brochures will be printed and distributed. An online printable version will be distributed by the Chamber to real estate sales agents, human resources managers as well as visitors.
Action needed in addition to funding: Spreading the word to the real estate and human resources community that 2nd Century is providing this sales tool; providing ongoing training on the information found in brochure so front line salespeople are familiar and comfortable with talking points.
4. BRAC related advertising/trade show
The Chamber is researching effective advertising to potential employees of FORSCOM and USARC who may be transferring to Ft. Bragg. Preliminary data shows significant readership of the Fayetteville Observer Real Estate Marketplace tabloid (REM) by military and civilian personnel. Twenty thousand copies of this tab are printed, with 6,200 delivered to Ft. McPherson every two weeks. Additionally, Ft. McPherson’s on-base paper, The Sentinel, has a significant readership among military families.
Additionally, the Chamber is planning a trade show type visit to Atlanta in the late spring. The format would be similar to previous visits with emphasis on education, housing and lifestyle.
The 2nd Century Research Team would oversee these projects.
Cost: $18,500
Completion time: December 2010
Work Product: six full page ads in the REM tabloid, 2 glossy insert pieces (4 page) in the REM and 13 quarter page ads in the Sentinel. Ben Muldrow’s lifestyle ads would form the basic design.
The trade show cost would be shared by those attending. The cost to 2nd Century would include marketing and advertising to the prospective attendees and for premiums and door prizes or about $3000.
Action needed in addition to funding: Participation in the event from real estate and development leaders, plus key community leaders; marketing the event on base.For marketing campaign: development of marketing pieces working with publication representatives and our own design/marketing professionals.
5. Signature Communities Tour
Bob Joyce and Kirk Bradley have investigated a route to show residential communities in the Triangle that people who work in Sanford are choosing to live in versus purchasing a house in Sanford.Kathleen Rose pointed in her Market Analysis that Sanford needed to change its housing stock to attract more of these workers.This will involve a chartering a bus to travel from Sanford to communities in the Cary/Apex, Durham and Chapel Hill Area.Lunch will be provided and it should take about 6-8 hours including travel time.While it is not solely the reason, the types of amenities offered in these communities is a large reason why we don’t capture as many of the workers as we might in the future.
Estimated Cost: $5,000
Completion time: Late spring/early summer 2010
Action needed in addition to funding: Spreading the word to the elected officials, public staff, real estate and human resources community that 2nd Century is providing this trip.
Other Opportunities
Given these 5 robust initiatives, we need to have some “dry powder” in the event one of them, especially the advertising, needs further investment.
