Sometimes you encounter a client whose situation breaks the mold. Such was the case with Spartanburg, South Carolina. What started out as a traditional tourism BrandPrint morphed into an internal campaign that has been creating quite a stir on a national level.

Key Challenge
No fun to be found. Spartanburg, South Carolina, started out wanting a traditional tourism campaign. But early research showed that Spartanburg’s problems went deeper than lackluster tourism. Residents believed that when it came to culture and a good time, Spartanburg was a bust. What’s the point in pursuing visitors, when your residents direct them elsewhere for entertainment?

Critical Insight
North Star’s research uncovered that the internal audience – residents and students attending the city’s five small colleges – had the mindset that Spartanburg was dead; nearby Greenville was the place to go for entertainment. Good stewardship of resources demanded that the branding shift from tourism to a city-driven initiative targeting the internal audience and promoting the idea that Spartanburg is a cultural hub. While the city could be the brains behind this campaign, in order for it to be considered “cool,” the city’s cultural leaders and icons must be the face and voice of the brand.   

Brand Strategy
Provide the young citizens of Spartanburg with a sense of community through a cultural movement that celebrates the creativity, ideas and beliefs of the creative class.

Initial Concepts

To elicit a response with Spartanburg’s youth the brand identity needed to be hip, edgy, high-tech and in-your-face. An innovative, ground-breaking website became the communication heart of the movement.  

Evolution of the Idea

 

Brand Action

This unique brand called for a unique Brand Action plan, including reaching young people in the places and spaces that have meaning to them. 

Press

A few months after the launch, articles from Greenville papers were saying, “Neighboring Spartanburg has a more soulful feel through projects like Hub-bub, which is trying to create an artistic class.” Kids started wearing Hub-bub t-shirts around town and “cool website” listings regularly include Hub-bub.com.

Greenville Getting a PULSE Check: Group Hopes to Make Greenville Hipper

 

Results

• In 2005 – one year after the launch of Hub-bub – RevPAR was up 21.4%.

• Check out the cultural stir at www.hub-bub.com

• Spartanburg’s Hub-Bub campaign was the winner of the 2006 3CMA Savvy Award for Best Citizen Participation in a Communication Marketing Process. 

Kudos

"We have PEOPLE downtown! People are parking IN parking garages AT NIGHT! Who Knew? We are very excited about what seems to be igniting here. North Star has done us a great service in what they've contributed."
-- Mark Scott, City Manager, Spartanburg, South Carolina.

 "I have lived in Spartanburg most of my 48 years, and I have never seen anything catch on with the velocity that this has. In our first eight months we approached audience figures of 10,000 people.  This is quickly redefining our city as a creative community.”

--Betsy Teter, Executive Director of the Arts Organization, HUB.BUB.com