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Scottsdale weighs downtown marketing program
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The Singing Cowboy. NASCAR program ads. Printed downtown maps and directories. These downtown Scottsdale promotions were part of a $228,090 marketing program the city undertook this past year.
The city wants to repeat the program next year to attract visitors and locals to the area’s art festivals, Old Town shops and trendy restaurants.
On Thursday, the Scottsdale City Council will be reviewing the 2007-08 proposed budget for the city’s Downtown Group, including the requested marketing amount that executive director John Little said will remain the same.
The money this past year was used to create the city’s downtown Web site — www.downtownscottsdale.com — print and distribute 250,000 downtown maps and brochures, and advertise in special event programs and magazines.
The money has also been used for promoting ArtWalk, to pay for the Singing Cowboy, Fifth Avenue Horse drawn trolley and Main Street arts banners.
Next year, Little said the proposed program will likely include Super Bowl advertising.
“The objective is to keep downtown Scottsdale on top of the mind of the visitors,” Little said.
Downtown Scottsdale has seen a major influx of private investment in recent years, with the construction of a number of high-profile condominiums and hotels that are beginning to welcome their first residents and visitors.
New development continues to emerge on the banks of the Arizona Canal, with the Scottsdale Waterfront residences, shops and restaurants on the north side and the South-Bridge project opening soon on the south side.
Taxpayer money can be used to market a city district, such as downtown or the Motor Mile auto dealerships, or an event like ArtWalk, but cannot be used to market an individual business.
Little said the current success of downtown is no reason to stop the city’s advertising.
“As successful as (Scottsdale) Fashion Square is, I still see their ads,” Little said in defense of the need to market a successful area.
In the past, the city used property assessments from businesses in a downtown Enhanced Municipal Services District to pay for marketing. That program was eventually taken over by the city. “There was a very strong feeling they had become dependent (on the marketing dollars) and to take that away would have a detrimental effect,” said Councilman Jim Lane, who has voted for the marketing program in the past.
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